Adventures In Cranberry Excellence
As Thanksgiving draws nigh, I thought I might share a couple family favorites, among them my special cranberry sauce. It doesn’t have a fancy name…yet. It doesn’t have a fancy name yet, but I’ll take suggestions in the comments section. This recipe was gifted me by a co-worker at my old job.
Let me back up briefly and say that I’m not a fan of cranberry sauce. Only my father and youngest brother really like the stuff enough to serve up a big pile of it on their plate next to the turkey. The rest of us just like a little smear on a turkey sandwich. But this recipe is really above and beyond the standard stuff you get in the can (which my brother, the Philistine, genuinely loves) and even above and beyond freshly made cranberry sauce. It’s got a few ingredients that make it extra special.
For those, like me, who aren’t a huge fan of cranberry sauce in general, let me just tell you that not only is this fantastic on a sandwich made with leftover turkey and stuffing a week after Thanksgiving, but you can really glam up an apple pie with it too. Think of it as a sort of spicy cranberry jam…what you do is spread a thin layer over the bottom pie crust before you pile in your apple filling, and then bake like normal. Not only does it make the whole pie a lovely pink, but the extra dimension of flavor is quite remarkable.
At any rate, this sauce is about the easiest thing in the world to make. Don’t skip the first step, which is to pick over your cranberries. Pull out any questionable (or genuinely bad) berries and also any foreign material like stems or leaves or whatever. Then add in your orange zest, finely diced crystallized ginger, chopped dried apricots, sugar, orange juice, and water.
Cook it on medium until most of the berries have burst. If you want to be sure this has jelled like a proper jam, you can do the wooden spoon test. Dip the wooden spoon in the jam, then hold it sideways and swipe your finger (or a paper towel if you don’t want a burn) across the spoon. If your wiped-clean spot stays in place without jam dripping down over it, then your potion has jelled. Store the sauce in the refrigerator for at least a day before serving. The flavors meld and deepen with a little time. This can keep in the fridge for a couple weeks. I haven’t tried freezing it, but I imagine that would work as well. Enjoy!
Cranberry Sauce+
Click here for printable PDF of recipe
INGREDIENTS
24 oz cranberries
1 1/2 Cups sugar
1 Cup orange juice
1 Cup water
1 Tbsp grated orange peel
2 Tbsp crystallized ginger, finely minced
1/2 Cup chopped dried apricots
DIRECTIONS
Combine all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat and cook until berries start to burst. Sauce is best if it is made and refrigerated at least a day ahead of time, to allow flavors to ripen and blend.
