Canned Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving is definitely about tradition (sigh).  One year my 2 housemates and I decided we were going to be grown up and do our own meal.  We ended up in a huge argument about what was "traditional" and the final beef was about whether all the food should be on the dining table (my friend from VT and I were firm on that) or whether some of it should be on a side table (our friend from IL was definite on that).  The next year we invited some neighbours and they brought sweet potato pie (he came from Tennessee and his mama always made it)  Another year we invited everybody from my work and we had all kinds of "traditions" including zen vegetables.  Cool!

Did anyone see the "advertising feature" in Saturday's Times Weekend -- on "Thanksgiving the Easy Way"?  Recipes and photos.  OK, turkey slathered with bacon is not my thing but it may well be part of someone's tradition in the US.  But mackerel pate for a starter?  And caramelized oranges for dessert?  
And the picture of their cranberry sauce was dis-gust-ing; looked like mashed up prunes    The recipe called for boiling the cranberries in orange juice, water and sugar (and a drop of port).  May taste OK    [That's not how I do my cran-orange relish, btw.  Mine is raw berries chopped up with organge and left to marinate in sugar.  Maybe some chopped up nuts and the orange zest on top for serving]
Each to his/her own!

The recipe called for boiling the cranberries in orange juice, water and sugar (and a drop of port).  May taste OK    

I've always done mine this way. With orange zest and Grand Marnier, though. It's an American recipe and one I've used for 20+ years.

Raw cranberry sauce?? Is that how people do it??

Yes, that's how I thought homemade cranberry sauce is made as well - maybe a bit less orange juice, a bit more port...  

I've had that raw relish stuff before when someone brought it & I know people who love it, but it didn't appeal to me. Maybe it was just the recipe of the person who brought it but it was kind of too bitter with peel/raw cranberries, not sweet enough, and just too...raw, I guess?  

I love smoked mackerel pâté, and it actually crossed my mind as a -- hmmmm, that would be a nice (posh) starter, but I didn't think it'd be something that most of our guests would go for, lol!

And yeah, we roast a whole butterflied boneless turkey breast that gets stuffed with a herby/lemony/buttery flavouring, and then some bacon slapped on top & around it, because bacon improves just about everything!    It's more for moisture/flavour though - as it's mostly pulled off at the end during carving, so there are primarily just slices of turkey on the platter but if someone wants to nab a piece of bacon (and understandably so!) - particularly the turkey carver, then I'm not going to smack their hands away. I mean - bacon?!  

My family would have done a whole turkey thing - that more often than not would have turned out overly dry. So I found/cobbled together this recipe for the butterflied boneless turkey breast since I've been over here, we all like it, and that's how we roll. 

I wouldn't do caramelised oranges for dessert though, I mean, wtf?!  

Just watching Sunday Brunch, and Simon Rimmer says something like 'in honour of Thanksgiving, which is on Thursday in the USA'... and he proceeds to make fried chicken!!

Just watching Sunday Brunch, and Simon Rimmer says something like 'in honour of Thanksgiving, which is on Thursday in the USA'... and he proceeds to make fried chicken!!

  

I don't have my mother's cranberry recipe but it def involved boiling with sugar and orange juice. I've never heard of the raw recipe but I certainly would give it a try.

Just watching Sunday Brunch, and Simon Rimmer says something like 'in honour of Thanksgiving, which is on Thursday in the USA'... and he proceeds to make fried chicken!!

 

A friend of mine made pumpkin fritters the other night and they were AMAZING. A good option if you're tired of pumpkin pie!

I wouldn't say no to caramelised oranges if they were served with other stuff on the side. Some good creme fraiche with booze in it and a spiced shortbread biscuit or two, perhaps? But on their own, that wouldn't do it for me.

We do the bacon on the turkey thing at Christmas (we don't do Thanksgiving dinner so it doesn't apply for us), but I don't eat the bacon. Blech. Still, the husband insists it improves the turkey and most people seem to agree. I'm not a huge turkey fan and can really take it or leave it, so I'm not really bothered whether the bacon is there or not.

I was at Waitrose this afternoon and they had fresh cranberries, if anyone is looking for Thanksgiving. 

I love smoked mackerel pâté, and it actually crossed my mind as a -- hmmmm, that would be a nice (posh) starter, but I didn't think it'd be something that most of our guests would go for, lol!

Yum!


I realise now my cranberry sauce assault / abuse from Mrs R is fast approaching.......

A friend of mine made pumpkin fritters the other night and they were AMAZING. A good option if you're tired of pumpkin pie!

Recipe, please!

I've always done mine this way. With orange zest and Grand Marnier, though. It's an American recipe and one I've used for 20+ years.

Raw cranberry sauce?? Is that how people do it??

Recipe please?  Cranberries, orange juice, water and sugar sounds easy!  I've done something similar before, but without orange juice.

Recipe please?  Cranberries, orange juice, water and sugar sounds easy!  I've done something similar before, but without orange juice.

Cranberry sauce

Ingredients
2 cups (475 ml) water
2 cups (380g) granulated sugar
1 orange, peel and juice (+ a little more orange juice if needed)
1 lb (455g) cranberries
2 Tbsp Grand Marnier

Put the water and sugar in a heavy saucepan. Peel the orange using a potato peeler, making sure to only get the peel, not the pith. Slice up the orange peel into thin matchstick-length pieces. Juice the orange and try to get ½ cup (118 ml). If your orange didn’t yield enough juice, just top up with some ordinary orange juice. Add the juice and orange peel to the saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for a good 20 minutes until it’s thick and syrupy.

Rinse your cranberries and add them to the saucepan. Put the lid on and wait about 5 minutes until the berries have finished popping – like popcorn, but not as noisy.
Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool a bit before stirring in the Grand Marnier.

That’s it! Then just pop it in some sterilised jars and try not to eat it all before Christmas. Mine yielded about 4 ½ jam jars-ful.

I just did a "semi-homemade" cranberry sauce that I whipped up this Thanksgiving. I used a jar of the Ocean Spray cranberry sauce and emptied it into a saucepan over low heat. Added a bit of water to thin it out, and added orange zest, cinnamon, and freshly grated nutmeg to taste. So good, and makes a huge difference. I'll do the same thing this Christmas. Probably would have been even better if I used cinnamon sticks instead of ground cinnamon.