Thanksgiving is one of my family’s favorite holidays. No present-induced stress buying. No worrying about whether your costume is cool enough (or obscure enough, for those hipsters out there).
Just gathering with family and friends and eating. Ohhhh, the eating.
One thing that I have never been a fan of, however, is cranberry sauce. Perhaps it’s because just saying “cranberry sauce” conjures up images of the can-shaped gelatinous goo of my childhood.
Then, a few years ago my wife came across the best cranberry sauce recipe ever. Not only does it taste great on its’ own, but it pairs incredibly well with turkey, especially slightly salty turkey. It also makes a great mayo or mustard substitute on post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwiches.
And the kicker – it fills the entire house with the most wonderful smell of the holidays! I love it when she makes it, just for the way it makes the house smell.
We originally found the recipe at Williams Sonoma (you can find it here), but we add our own twist to kick it up the holiday-ness.
We like to double up on the cinnamon, cloves and orange juice. Sometimes we even throw in some nutmeg, just to mix it up. The additional spices add a little extra flavor, and the additional orange juice cuts the tartness of the cranberries just a little more. Taken together, they also add to the incredible smell that will absolutely fill your home.
Below is the original recipe. This is a great starting point. You may decide to make your own personal tweaks. Either way, it has changed my mind about cranberry sauce forever.
Ingredients:
1/2 orange
2 cups water
1 tart apple, such as Granny Smith, pippin or McIntosh
3 cups fresh cranberries
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Directions:
Sort the cranberries, throwing out the soft ones. Tip: this is a great job for the little ones who like to help. Just make sure they don’t throw out any good cranberries. It also frees you up to do the rest.
Squeeze the juice from the orange and set it aside. Tip: I recommend using a whole orange and adjusting the level of juice to your taste to cut the tartness of the cranberries.
Clean out the inside of the orange rind and cut half of it into small dice. The smaller the better, since smaller pieces will soften up a little more.
In a small saucepan over high heat, add the rind to the water and boil for 10 minutes, then drain.
Peel, core and cut the apple into ½ inch thick slices, then cut the slices into dice. Add to the apples along with the orange juice, sugar, cinnamon and cloves (and nutmeg if you are like us) into the pan with the orange rind.
Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to low and partially cover the pan. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until the sauce thickens, the apple is tender and the cranberries have burst. This could be 10 to 15 minutes. If the cranberries take longer to burst, try adding more orange juice to cook a little longer. Plus, it adds to the overall aroma.
Put the cranberry sauce in a heatproof bowl and let cool for at least 1 hour before serving. If you are making this the night before, just cover it and put in the refrigerator. Then, on Thanksgiving, take it out at least an hour before dinner and let it come to room temperature.
Put in your favorite serving bowl and enjoy.
Don’t forget to refrigerate the leftovers for turkey sandwiches.