When it comes to cranberry sauce, I've always been partial to the canned stuff. I like the shape that the can makes, and I like the simplicity of it - just crank it open and give it a couple of jiggles. However, this year, when I went to pick up the standard can, I happened to read the label and discovered that my beloved Ocean Spray is made with high fructose corn syrup. Despite those commercials that the corn refiners started running earlier in the fall, trying to convince the public that HFCS is just fine, I've been trying to avoid it. So back on the shelf went the can and I determined to make my own sauce, albeit as close in consistency to the canned version as possible.
I cooked down a bag of cranberries with some maple syrup, Meyer lemon juice and zest and some cherry cider (I would have used cranberry juice, but I didn't have any) until the berries were all popped and juicy. I then ran the whole mess through a food mill to smooth it out and get rid of the skins (I know that they are very healthy, but I wanted a can-like consistency and so they had to go). I toyed briefly with pulling out a mold (I have a few from my great-aunt) but decided that was overkill and just chilled it in a glass bowl so that you could see the bright redness.
The resulting cranberry sauce was pleasantly tangy, but with a discernable sweetness. It was still cloudier than the canned sauce and not quite as set, but I continue to be happy with the results. After a couple of days in the fridge, it's become like jam and I'm considering making more to can and give away as holiday gifts. More specific details, like measurements, after the jump.
This recipe, modified from one that I found in Frederica Langeland's A Passion for Preserves, makes a tart, sweet, and lightly spiced Thanksgiving cranberry sauce. It can be sealed in mason jars or eaten fresh.
1 pound cranberries 1 cup white grape juice 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cloves, and 1/2 teaspoon allspice, bruised. Put all three spices in a muslin bag. 1 orange, washed, finely sliced, seeded, and chopped 1/2 cup raisins 2 cups sugar
Rinse and pick over the cranberries. Place them in a saucepan with the apple cider, and bring to a boil. Add the spice bag and cook for five minutes. The cranberries should burst.
Add the orange and raisins to the berries, stir well. Add the sugar slowly, stirring until dissolved. Boil for twenty minutes, or until thickened to thick syrup consistency. Remove from heat.
When cool, remove the spice bag. If you wish to can, ladle into sterilized jars and seal. Otherwise, allow to cool and serve with sliced turkey. Enjoy!
No matter how far I dive into the foodie world, I have one stead-fast rule: You don't mess with Thanksgiving.
Now I don't mean to suggest that you can't do a little experimenting and change up the flavors here and there. It's a waste to not adapt your classic Thanksgiving recipes -- the whole process of cooking is learning the basics and then adapting them to suit your own taste-buds. But we're talking about a classic meal here -- one that is meant to not only evoke stuffed groans of pleasure, but also tap into your memories of the past -- the heaping piles of meat, the creamy mashed potatoes, and the family gathered around the table. Rather than ditching the classics for a whole new approach, perfect the traditional recipes at your disposal.
What follows are recipes for a classic Thanksgiving dinner -- taking the dearly loved basics of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, and cranberry sauce, and making them pop without removing the beloved tastes and experiences. This Traditional with a Twist meal includes recipes for brining and giving the bird a good under-the-skin rub, a sausage stuffing, roasting, homemade cranberry sauce amped up with some port, and finally, mashed potatoes flavored with some caramelized shallots.
Sure, you can have one of those silly, jiggly mounds of cranberry sauce still shaped like the can it came in, but why not delight in fresh cranberries seasoned with tasty port, courtesy of Bon Appetit and Epicurious?
Cranberry Sauce with Port and Cinnamon
Ingredients:
1 cup ruby Port 2 cinnamon sticks, broken in half 1 cup dried cranberries 1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries 3/4 cup water 1/4 cup sugar
Bring the port and cinnamon to a boil in a heavy saucepan. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 5 minutes.
Add dried cranberries, simmer until slightly softened (about 3 minutes). Then add the fresh cranberries, water, and sugar. Bring to a boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer until sauce thickens, the color darkens, and the berries collapse -- stirring often (about 20 minutes).
Transfer sauce to bowl, remove cinnamon sticks.
This can be made 3 days ahead -- cover, chill, then bring to room temperature before serving.
When I first saw the name of this dish, I thought it was just turkey-flavored muffins that you would eat as part of a large meal, like dinner rolls or bread. But it's actually made with leftover turkey, gravy, and cranberry sauce and seems pretty hearty on its own (though the inventor of the dish suggests eating them with soup and fruit). Full recipe after the jump (what, you thought we were done with turkey leftover ideas?).
I've always been a huge fan of the cranberry (did you know that in the next week, Americans will consume 80 million pounds of cranberries?). Every year I make many loaves of a cranberry bread that I pulled off the back cover a children's book when I was just a kid. However, until recently, I had never had fresh, homemade cranberry sauce. This is mostly because my mother is deeply loyal to the canned stuff (which I will be the first to admit is very tasty) and so only permits that on her Thanksgiving table.
I finally broke down recently and made a batch of fresh cranberry sauce, and let me tell you, it was delicious. I had no idea it could be so wonderful (I've been eating the leftovers with applesauce and cottage in the mornings for breakfast lately). The recipe I used was a very simple one that I found here. Spurred on by that success, I found another cranberry sauce recipe that caught my eye and I think it's the one I'm going to turn to on Thanksgiving. It's a recipe for Bourbon Cranberry Sauce and was posted by Nicole over at Farm to Philly. Because what could be better than the combination of tart cranberries, sugar and a bit of booze!
Is your family totally devoted to canned cranberry sauce, despite all your best efforts to sway them to the world of orange-scented homemade compote? If so, maybe you're looking for a way to spice up that cranberry sauce (because serving it in the shape of the can does leave something to be desired). Paula Deen, in her trademark over-the-top style, has come up with a new way of serving canned cranberry sauce. Here's how she described it in a USA Today column.
"I gave a twist to cranberry sauce one year. You take a can of the jellied sauce and slice it in quarter-inch pieces. Then you mix up cream cheese and hot sauce and a little mayo, and you make up sandwiches - no bread, just the cheese mix in between cranberries."
Sounds like an interesting approach to cranberry sauce to me, although the purists would have a heart attack if you suggested adulterating their precious canned sauce with mayo and cream cheese.
So here it is, the day after, and if you're like me, you ate way too much food yesterday.
I got to my sister's house around 11am or so, and started the day with a couple of cups of tea. Then we moved onto the meal, where I had turkey, mashed potatoes, bread stuffing, carrots, cranberry sauce, and rolls. I also made a Cornbread with Apple and Sausage stuffing that seemed to go over well, though I think it was a little dry (if you make that recipe I would either cut the number of stuffing bags to 1 1/2 or up the liquid quite a bit). I had a couple of can of Diet Coke during the meal, so I think that made me feel better about the day.
Of course, I wasn't through yet. Later in the afternoon came all the desserts. I had a piece of my sister's Pumpkin and Cheese Cake Pie, then a slice of Boston Creme Pie. When I left for home around 7:30, I took a place with me that had two slices of banana bread, another slice of the Pumpkin and Cheese Cake Pie, another slice of Boston Creme Pie, and two brownies. All of which I ate when I got home, along with a turkey and stuffing sandwich from the stuff my roommate made earlier in the day. Wow. What did you have to eat yesterday?
(Oh, and I also started feeling rundown last night, and woke up this morning with a head cold, scratchy throat, tired feeling, etc. Am I being punished by the diet Gods?)
To quote Tom Cruise on The Today Show, "Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt, Matt..."
Matt Wilson over at Cracked.com gives his list of the Best and Worst Thanksgiving Food. I made a prediction before I even read the piece that turkey, stuffing, and pie would be in the "best" category, while green bean casseroles and yams would be in the "worst." Well, I was partly right. He actually lists turkey in the "worst" category!
Whaaaaa?
He gives big props to pie, corn on the cob, and yams though. He doesn't like the cranberry sauce in a can, and it makes me wonder if he even knows you don't have to have it in can, you can actually make fresh stuff yourself!
Matt, seriously, how can you not like turkey? Are you a Communist? (Funny part about the family awkwardness though.)
So what are your favorite ane least favorite Thanksgiving Day foods?
To be honest, I don't mind the kind of cranberry jelly that comes from a can. I'm not saying that it's the epitome of gourmet cuisine, but it tastes pretty good and, thanks to some relatives I mentioned before, it's generally going to be on the table at holiday meals regardless of what else is there. But I don't want to limit myself (or my family) to the cylindrical jelly, so one of the other things that is usually on the table as well, is homemade cranberry sauce. It is bright and can be flavored in any number of ways, not to mention that it is very easy to make. From start to finish, the sauce only takes a few minutes and it can be made well in advance and stored in the fridge. This particular recipe was adapted from Bon Appetit and uses fresh cranberries as well as cranberry juice and dried cherries, which plump up as they are heated. I used organic berries and cherries in mine, but the flavor really isn't very different if you use conventionally grown fruits.
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No matter how far I dive into the foodie world, I have one stead-fast rule: You don't mess with Thanksgiving. 
When I first saw the name of 
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So here it is, the day after, and if you're like me, you ate way too much food yesterday.
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