Most of your Thanksgivings probably include cranberry sauce. It’s tradition. And it probably looks like this:
FYI: THIS IS NOT CRANBERRY SAUCE! Our pilgrim ancestors would be ashamed if they saw what Thanksgiving has become. Cranberry sauce, in my opinion, is one of the most important features of the Thanksgiving plate. Let me defend my stance by stating that the cranberry sauce provides one of the only contrasts on the plate. Everything else on Thanksgiving is warm and a bit on the salty side. Turkey, potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cooked veggies, sweet potatoes, bread. Cranberries provides a sweet/tart and cool contrast that makes the Thanksgiving plate much more interesting. UNLESS, of course, you have the cranberries pictured above.
Contrast is one of the most important culinary characteristics in my opinion. Contrasting flavors (sweet or salty), temperatures (cool to hot), textures (crunchy or mushy), and even color (think fruit salad) provide depth and intrigue to a meal. To illustrate my point, let me introduce one of the most interesting dishes from a contrast perspective, and one of my favorite desserts: Creme Brûlée. Creme Brûlée has multiple contrasts. First, there is the crunchy, hard sugar crust on top that once broken through, reveals the soft cream below. The coolness of the cream contrasts beautifully (if done right) with the warm sugar. The dish itself is often served after a hearty, meat-filled meal where you want a sweet finish. Lastly, the burnt sugar crust is bathed in various dark colors that contrast well with the off-white pudding. For these reasons, creme brûlée is the masterpiece of any table where it is served.
Back to Thanksgiving…
A couple of years ago, I found a great cranberry sauce recipe on the WCCO food blog written by Crystal Grobe: A Bite of Minnesota. Crystal usually covers local and seasonal foods, like cranberries for Thanksgiving. Anyway, WCCO had taken down that post so I had to tweet Crystal for the recipe. She replied immediately with the recipe. Here it is (parenthesis mine):
Ruby Ratafia Cranberry Sauce (makes 2 cups – I doubled this recipe for 10 people)
1 ½ cups Alexis Bailly Ratafia (I used port from a local liquor store)
¾ cup sugar
3 cloves
½ stick cinnamon
3 allspice berries (you can substitute ground allspice as well. Just a pinch is plenty)
4 black peppercorns
2-inch-by- ½ -inch strip of orange peel
1 12-ounce package cranberries, washed
In a medium saucepan, combine the Ratafia and sugar. Tie the cloves, cinnamon stick, allspice and black peppercorns in a small piece of cheesecloth (if you don’t have cheesecloth, use a tea ball – see picture below). Add the spice bundle to the saucepan. Add the orange peel. Bring the mixture to a simmer over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer gently until the wine is reduced to 1 cup, about 4 minutes.
Add the cranberries to the wine. Return to a simmer over medium-high heat then lower the heat and simmer until the cranberries pop, about 5-7 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour into a bowl. Let cool to warm then remove the spice bundle and orange peel. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
The cranberries actually do “pop” when you cook them. It takes a little while, but you’ll hear it!
The cranberry sauce will thicken and reduce in volume a bit as it cools so if it seems a little runny, don’t worry. You can prepare this a day ahead and refrigerate it for days.
