Making cranberry sauce from scratch
As we ramp up to Thanksgiving, it's time to start giving thought as to recipes for The Big Day. If you are lucky enough to just be bringing a side dish to Thanksgiving dinner, I highly recommend making cranberry sauce from scratch.
Apparently, almost 75% of Americans serve canned cranberry sauce instead of fresh. I totally understand this (Thanksgiving is enough work as it is, and if there's anything you can shift off to a canned good, a lot of people will go for it). But it's a shame because homemade cranberry sauce is incredibly cheap, easy, and delicious. And it doesn't have that terrible metallic taste that all canned goods have.
Bags of fresh cranberries go on sale in the produce section the week before Thanksgiving. Although the stuff will keep for up to a week in the fridge, I recommend making it no more than two days ahead of time. It starts to get a bit watery after that. Luckily you can easily make it the night before. I wouldn't try making it Thanksgiving morning, because it needs a lot of time to chill in the refrigerator. If you are really pressed for time, it keeps well in the freezer.
To make cranberry sauce, all you have to do is simmer the cranberries in water, add sugar, and any other flavorings you might want. That's it. That's the whole recipe.
Looking for a more elaborate set of instructions? There's probably a pretty decent recipe on the back of the bag of cranberries. Here's another great basic recipe, with suggestions for optional flavorings.
You will probably want to make more than one kind, because it's super easy, and it makes you look fancy. My family usually does a basic sauce, and a sauce that has a lot of orange flavor. You can add orange zest, and even orange juice to give it a little more flavor. Adding minced bits of orange zest and peel can help make it easy to visually distinguish between the two types.
Banish canned cranberry sauce forever!
Image courtesy Flickr/3m1ly