Cranberry Sauce (Homemade, from Fresh Cranberries)
Cranberry sauce, here the whole-berry kind made from fresh cranberries, is a sweet-tart American sauce of cranberries, sugar and orange juice that sits next to roast turkey on the Thanksgiving table; the jellied version from a can is its supermarket cousin. You simmer the berries for about 8 minutes until two thirds of them have burst, stir in the orange zest off the heat, and let the sauce cool, when the pectin in the berries sets it to a soft jam. It makes about 500 ml, 8 servings. The 15 minutes are active time; cooling takes about an hour, and the sauce keeps in the fridge for up to 10 days, so you can make it 3 days before the dinner.
Ingredients
- 340 gfresh or frozen cranberries
- 200 gsugar
- 120 mlorange juice
- 60 mlwater
- 1 tsporange zest
- 1 pinchsalt
Method
- Tip the cranberries onto a tray and pick through them: throw out any soft, shrivelled or brown ones and any stems, then rinse and drain. Grate 1 teaspoon of zest from an orange, taking only the orange layer and none of the white pith, and then squeeze 120 ml of juice from the oranges. Do this right before cooking, because squeezed juice turns bitter if it stands for an hour.
- Put the cranberries, sugar, orange juice, water and salt into a medium saucepan. Use stainless steel or enamel, since the acid in the berries reacts with bare aluminium. The sugar will look like far too much against the berries, but cranberries are very tart and they need all of it.
- Set the pan over medium-high heat and stir until the sugar dissolves and the liquid boils, about 4 minutes. Turn the heat down to medium-low so it bubbles gently and simmer for 8 minutes, stirring now and then. After 3 or 4 minutes the berries start to burst with small pops, and that releases the pectin that will thicken the sauce. Frozen berries go in as they are, with no thawing, and need about 2 minutes longer.
- Check the sauce at 8 minutes: about two thirds of the berries should have burst while the rest still hold their shape, and the sauce should look loose and syrupy, like a thin jam. Drag a spoon across the bottom of the pan; the track it leaves should close again after a second or two. Take the pan off the heat at this point even if the sauce seems too thin, because it thickens as it cools, and anything past 15 minutes of cooking makes it gluey and bitter.
- Off the heat, stir in the orange zest; added at the end it keeps its fragrance and does not turn bitter in the boil. Taste a spoonful, carefully, it is hot. If it is sharper than you like, stir in 1 more tablespoon of the sugar now, while the sauce is hot enough to dissolve it.
- Scrape the sauce into a bowl and leave it uncovered at room temperature for about 1 hour. It looks too runny at first. As it cools it sets to a soft, spoonable jam, with whole and half-burst berries in a glossy ruby syrup. Cover the bowl only once the sauce is cold.
- Refrigerate the covered sauce. It keeps for up to 10 days, so you can make it 3 days before the dinner, and the flavour settles in the meantime. Take the bowl out of the fridge 30 minutes before serving so the sauce is not stone cold, and put it on the table next to the roast turkey.
FAQ
The usual culprit is cooking it too long: 10 to 15 minutes in total is the limit, and past that the sauce turns bitter and gluey. Orange can add to it, because the juice and the zest carry a bitter compound, and squeezed juice gets worse after 30 to 60 minutes of standing, so squeeze it fresh and add the zest only once the pan is off the heat. To rescue a batch, stir in a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon of sugar while the sauce is still warm and taste again, or add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar. Do not squeeze in more citrus, since that adds bitterness instead of hiding it.
Homemade cranberry sauce keeps for 10 to 14 days in a covered container in the fridge, and America's Test Kitchen gives 7 days for its simple version, so making it 3 days before the dinner is well inside both limits. The flavour settles during that time, which makes it a better sauce, not a compromise. Take the bowl out 30 minutes before serving. The sauce uses a burner and not the oven, so it leaves the oven free for the turkey and the Sweet Potato Casserole. To freeze it, use an airtight container; it keeps its best quality for about 2 months, though it can turn a little watery after thawing.
Yes, and there is no need to thaw: add the berries to the pan frozen and give the sauce about 2 extra minutes, which is what America's Test Kitchen does with unthawed berries. Ocean Spray also lists fresh or frozen berries for its basic sauce. Cranberries freeze very well, so you can buy a few 340 g bags in autumn and cook the sauce in spring; in the freezer they keep their quality for about 10 to 12 months. Judge doneness by the berries and not by the clock: stop when about two thirds have burst.
Hot cranberry sauce always looks too thin, because the pectin in the berries sets as the sauce cools. Take it off the heat when about two thirds of the berries have burst and a spoon dragged across the bottom leaves a track that closes after a second or two; within about 1 hour it sets to a soft, spoonable jam. If it is still runny after a night in the fridge, simmer it for another 2 minutes, but no more, since over 15 minutes in total brings back the bitterness. If it turned too thick, a splash of water or orange juice stirred in over low heat loosens it.
Yes to both. Use 180 ml of plain water in place of the juice and water, as America's Test Kitchen does in its simple sauce, or swap the juice for apple juice, which is less bitter than orange. Keep the 200 g of sugar either way, because the berries need it. The sauce is not only for turkey: it goes just as well next to the Honey-Glazed Ham, and leftovers are good spread on a sandwich with sliced turkey.
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