Cranberry Sauce - A Love Story

I love cranberry sauce!

However, it was not until I met my husband that I ever made my own. The first time the subject of cranberry sauce arose, we found ourselves on opposite sides. I explained to him that starting from my earliest Thanksgivings and Christmases, I  recall fighting with my brother over which one of us, the the children in the family, would exercise the privilege of opening the can  of cranberry sauce and plopping the quivering cylindrical mass out on to the special silver plate my family reserved for it and it alone. Further arguing would take place over who which one of us would get to eat the end piece, the one imprinted with the pattern from the lid of the can.

In retrospect, this was an odd tradition considering that my family were otherwise the make it yourself types, at times making all our own bread and even making yogurt and cheese from our own goats milk. But we were quite simply devoted to canned cranberry sauce, and it always had to be jelly style, no berries, or chunks as we called them. I laugh at myself now that I never imagined that I would like to taste homemade sauce, let alone make it myself for my own holiday meal.

Luckily for me, my husband (boyfriend at the time) insisted that he could not imagine a holiday meal without homemade sauce and so I agreed to give it a try (though I insisted on purchasing a can of my old favorite jelly style to have on standby). It only took making and eating it once, for me to be converted for life.

When I got started making my own sauce I used Allrecipes' Cranberry Sauce I recipe. Over the years I have modified it to a point I am quite happy with. It is thick,  tangy, sour and sweet.

 

Cranberry Sauce My Way:

Sugar - 1 Cup

Orange Juice - 3/4 Cup

Cranberries - 12 Ounces

Instant Tapioca - 2 Tablespoons

Heat the sugar and juice in a saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.

Add most of the cranberries along with the instant tapioca. 

 Cook on medium heat, stirring frequently. When the berries have popped and you can mash them up a bit, add the rest of the berries and continue cooking until the most recently added cranberries are popping and soft. ( adding the berried in two stages allows some to cook down into a jam like consistency while others stay nice and solid). At this point transfer the sauce to a bowl and allow it to cool down before covering and refrigerating it.

I find it best made the night before, giving it ample time to thicken and chill in the fridge.

 - Ash

All photographs used in this post are my own.

Second Helping

It is the end of Thanksgiving weekend.  A time when most Americans give thanks for their blessings and eat lots of food.  Lots of food usually means at least some leftovers.  As great as Thanksgiving dinner is, it's not something I like to repeat for the next few days.  Besides, my belly only has so much room!  I like to mix it up, alter the leftovers.

My two favorite foods on the Thanksgiving table are cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie with whipped cream (not cool whip!)  Years ago I made the simple pumpkin pie recipe on the pumpkin puree can.  It was pretty good.  End of story.  This year, I made my two favorite things all by my self.  I used the Cooks Illustrated pumpkin pie recipe.  I cheated a little bit due to work/time constraints...I used pre-made crust.  It was still amazingly good.  Smooth, creamy, good.

The cranberry sauce was truly my first attempt. I know what I like, so I used that as a guide.  Basically, I would have been happy how ever it turned out.  When I was a kid I liked the cranberry sauce that came out of a can and stayed the shape of the can.  You know what I am talking about, I bet you like it, too.  It's ok to admit.  I was in middle school before I really decided to give the relish style an honest try.  I have been a fan since.

This year I decided to jump in and try to make cranberry relish.  I looked at half a dozen cranberry sauce recipes online and basically frankensteined a really yummy dish.  I used fresh chopped and cooked berries, mandarin orange, pecans, and fresh ginger.  Ginger and cranberry.  So good together.

I cooked half the bag:

I chopped the other half in the food processor.  (That thing is a great kitchen gadget by the way) I mixed half the chopped berries in the pot on the stove and put the orange slices in a bowl with the rest of the fresh chopped berries and a sprinkle of sugar.

Then it was time to mix it all in one bowl.  When I was a kid I think it was the nuts I did not like.  Now I do.  So I added pecans.

Fresh ginger was the perfect touch.  It was a wonderful balance of texture, sweet, tart, and a touch of spice.

Well, it's leftovers now and eating out of the fridge by the spoonful is good, but maybe there is another way to enjoy this ruby red stuff.

Yep, on top of a bed of spinach and baby greens with a drizzle of olive oil (the cranberries are acidic enough there is no need for vinegar) and an extra sprinkle of nuts.

I sipped on a nice port while eating this delicious salad.  What a great dinner!  Who says leftover have to be boring?!

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Cranberry Relish

12 oz bag fresh cranberries

1 can mandarin orange slices reserving the juice (or fresh)

sugar to taste

1/2 to 1 tsp freshly grated ginger

about 1/4 cup pecans or walnuts

Rinse the berries.  

Drain the syrup from the oranges into a sauce pan and add about 2 Tbs sugar on medium heat just to dissolve the sugar.  

Add half the berries stirring occasionally.  

They will begin to pop and the liquid will thicken.  

Meanwhile, chop the other half of the berries in a food processor with about 2 Tbs sugar (you can use up to 1/4 cup if you want it sweeter).  

Add half the chopped berries to the pot on the stove.  

Continue cooking until the sauce has thickened to your desired consistency.  

Cool about 5 minutes while you mix the orange slices and ginger into the fresh berries.  

Add cooked sauce and nuts to the freshly chopped berry mixture.  Stir.  

You can serve immediately or chill first.