Cranberry Sauce or Relish

SilverSage

Resident Crone
When I was growing up, Thanksgiving was always at Grandma's house. And cranberry sauce was always from Ocean Spray. There were 2 or 3 cans of the jellied sauce, and one can of the whole berry stuff. Obviously, we were a jelly family (actually we're Irish Catholic so there were lots of kids, therefore lots of jelly).

As an adult, I have made my own jellied sauce. I've made whole bean cranberry sauce. I've made the cranberry-orange relish so many other people enjoy (I don't). A couple times I made something I found in Bon Appetit or Gourmet that was Cranberries and Roasted Shallots in Port Wine. One year I just did the cranberries in port wine.

This year I'm looking for something new. What have you got? Can you help me find something spectacular to accompany my turkey?
 

QSis

Grill Master
Staff member
Gold Site Supporter
Sorry, I can't help with this one, SS. I'm vehemently anti-anything-sweet on my savory dinner plates.

I make a slight concession at Thanksgiving when I put a teaspoon of canned cranberry jelly next to my turkey.

Lee
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
We always have a can of ocean spray jellied cranberry sauce in the pantry and it always was part of thanksgiving. I even made a perfect version of it back in grammar school in Ms. Schlagel's home ec class. Nowadays, I make a compote of fresh cranberries, bourbon, orange segments (chopped) and zest. Adding sugar to the cooking process helps it gel.
 

Mr. Green Jeans

New member
I'm trying out this version:



BAKED CRANBERRIES WITH COGNAC, ORANGE ZEST AND WALNUTS

1 bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
1-1/2 cups sugar or to taste (can substitute Splenda)
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
Juice and Zest of one large orange or 1/4 cup frozen orange concentrate, thawed but not diluted
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (opt)

Mix together berries, sugar, cognac, juice and zest. Place berries in sprayed shallow casserole. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes 1 hour, or until berries have absorbed most of the liquid and have popped. Sprinkle with nuts. Serves 8-10.

Can be done ahead. Great served hot, warm, room temperature or chilled.
 

BamsBBQ

Ni pedo
Site Supporter
here is my ingredients that i use...

the first one i put:

brown sugar instead of white
orange juice instead of water
sometimes segments of mandarin orange

the other is a spicy one

add a little jalapeno for mild but i use habanero for myself
add a little burbon or some other liquor
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
I'm trying out this version:



BAKED CRANBERRIES WITH COGNAC, ORANGE ZEST AND WALNUTS

1 bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
1-1/2 cups sugar or to taste (can substitute Splenda)
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
Juice and Zest of one large orange or 1/4 cup frozen orange concentrate, thawed but not diluted
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (opt)

Mix together berries, sugar, cognac, juice and zest. Place berries in sprayed shallow casserole. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes 1 hour, or until berries have absorbed most of the liquid and have popped. Sprinkle with nuts. Serves 8-10.

Can be done ahead. Great served hot, warm, room temperature or chilled.


Thanks, MGJ! This sounds interesting. Something new - just what I was looking for.
 

Sass Muffin

Coffee Queen ☕
Gold Site Supporter
I've always liked the whole cranberry sauce heated, with a little sugar, cinnamon and black pepper added... it tastes great on the bird :)
 

lifesaver91958

Queen of the Jungle
Gold Site Supporter
I used to like cranberry sauce when i was younger but for some reason the stuff seems to have gotten too sweet over the years.
 

lilbopeep

🌹🐰 Still trying to get it right.
Site Supporter
Hub has to always have the canned for dinner and sammies. I also make uncooked cranberry, tangerine and pecan relish (this year I will use a sugar sub probably Ideal white and brown subs). Everyone eats both.
 

JoeV

Dough Boy
Site Supporter
Our family was always a jellied sauce family until someone brought a relish of cranberries and mandarin oranges and other goodies in it. We still have a can of Ocean Spray jelly on the table, but everyone devours the fresh made relishes. A couple of recipes have materialized from different people in the family, but the relish is the preferred way to consume cranberries on Thanksgiving.
 

VeraBlue

Head Mistress
Gold Site Supporter
Mr. GJ...I like the idea of baking instead of simmering. Think I'll try it (here's hoping this oven in the rented house gives me enough room!)
 

Rob Babcock

New member
I vote for the jellied stuff, chilled in the fridge and served right out of the can. Sometimes I completely turn off the chef part of my brain and bow to tradition.:chef::yum:
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
I'm trying out this version:



BAKED CRANBERRIES WITH COGNAC, ORANGE ZEST AND WALNUTS

1 bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
1-1/2 cups sugar or to taste (can substitute Splenda)
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
Juice and Zest of one large orange or 1/4 cup frozen orange concentrate, thawed but not diluted
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (opt)

Mix together berries, sugar, cognac, juice and zest. Place berries in sprayed shallow casserole. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes 1 hour, or until berries have absorbed most of the liquid and have popped. Sprinkle with nuts. Serves 8-10.

Can be done ahead. Great served hot, warm, room temperature or chilled.

MGJ,

I did this without the nuts. It was terrific! The cognac was perfect with the cranberries, and we really liked the texture. Thanks!

I hope you liked it as much as we did.
 

Mr. Green Jeans

New member
MGJ,

I did this without the nuts. It was terrific! The cognac was perfect with the cranberries, and we really liked the texture. Thanks!

I hope you liked it as much as we did.

SS, we did exactly the same (OK< I would have done the nuts but MIL can't do nuts) and got a thumbs up at the table. I then used some of the sauce and made the BBQ using the dark meat off the bird. I cooked it in a crock pot for about 2 hours. That was dee-lish as well.
 

SilverSage

Resident Crone
I made this one again this year. It was declared to be our new tradition! Once something is a tradition, I'm not allowed to change it.

Thanks again, MGJ for a great recipe.


I'm trying out this version:



BAKED CRANBERRIES WITH COGNAC, ORANGE ZEST AND WALNUTS

1 bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
1-1/2 cups sugar or to taste (can substitute Splenda)
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
Juice and Zest of one large orange or 1/4 cup frozen orange concentrate, thawed but not diluted
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (opt)

Mix together berries, sugar, cognac, juice and zest. Place berries in sprayed shallow casserole. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes 1 hour, or until berries have absorbed most of the liquid and have popped. Sprinkle with nuts. Serves 8-10.

Can be done ahead. Great served hot, warm, room temperature or chilled.
 

Leni

New member
Sorry that I didn't see this until today. You might want to try this one also.

AMARETTO CRANBERRY SAUCE

MAKES ABOUT 1 QUART

2 cups, sugar
1/8 teaspoon, salt
1 cup, water
4 cups (one full pound - read the label!) raw cranberries
1/3 cup, orange marmalade
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 cup, blanched whole almonds (or substitute slivered almonds, instead of whole, but the whole ones look prettier)
1/3 cup, Amaretto (almond-flavored liqueur)


Bring the sugar, salt and water to a boil in a saucepan. Boil this syrup for 5 minutes. Add the (picked over, washed and dried) cranberries and cook for about 5 minutes, until most of the skins have burst (no need to wait for them all to burst - that will detract from best texture). Remove pan from heat, then stir in marmalade and lemon juice.

Allow sauce to cool, then stir in the almonds and Amaretto. Chill before serving.

NOTE: Use Amaretto to your taste, or even eliminate it - or substitute another liqueur such as Grand Marnier. If the taste is too “raw,” for your palate, the liqueur may be gently heated and cooled before adding to cook off some of the alcohol (do not allow liqueur to boil).

VARIATION:

For a Spicy Cranberry Sauce, add 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, or a slice of fresh ginger root, to the sugar mixture before boiling for 5 minutes. Then, add a diced hard pear to the sugar syrup and boil for 3 minutes more before adding cranberries. When the cranberries have mostly burst (instead of adding the marmalade and almonds), stir in the juice and grated zest of one lemon and just 1/4 cup of Amaretto.

This is from another cooking website that I go to.
 

Johnny West

Well-known member
I'm trying out this version:



BAKED CRANBERRIES WITH COGNAC, ORANGE ZEST AND WALNUTS

1 bag fresh cranberries washed and picked over
1-1/2 cups sugar or to taste (can substitute Splenda)
1/4 cup Cognac or brandy
Juice and Zest of one large orange or 1/4 cup frozen orange concentrate, thawed but not diluted
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (opt)

Mix together berries, sugar, cognac, juice and zest. Place berries in sprayed shallow casserole. Bake uncovered for 45 minutes 1 hour, or until berries have absorbed most of the liquid and have popped. Sprinkle with nuts. Serves 8-10.

Can be done ahead. Great served hot, warm, room temperature or chilled.
I’d love to try this one!
 

medtran49

Well-known member
Gold Site Supporter
It’s very good. I still use this recipe many years later.

Didn't you make a Cranberry, some kind of cheese, puff pastry appy type thing some years back? I think I made it or something like it and we loved it.

Try making the Cranberry orange relish without the pith, but use the zest and flesh. I don't like it made with the pith because of the bitterness but do like it if the pith is omitted. Obviously cut down on the sugar some since the bitterness doesn't need to be masked.
 
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SilverSage

Resident Crone
Didn't you make a Cranberry, some kind of cheese, puff pastry appy type thing some years back? I think I made it or something like it and we loved it.

Try making the Cranberry orange relish without the pith, but use the zest and flesh. I don't like it made with the pith because of the bitterness but do like it if the pith is omitted. Obviously cut down on tge sugar some since the bitterness doesn't need to be masked.
Yeah, it was pretty simple. Cranberry Brie Bites. Cut puff into squares and press into mini muffin pan. Add a cube of brie, a dollop of cranberry sauce, sprinkle with walnuts. Bake till puffy and melted. I think the whole recipe is in here somewhere.
 
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