Cranberry Sauce is a Holiday Feast staple that folks have always been divided over. Some say it’s too sweet to compliment savouries. Others say it’s too tart. But you can fix that! Herewith, some sugges-tions for better cranberry sauce…
There are simple additions that will help ‘tune’ your Holiday Cranberry condiments to the savoury side, and tone down the fruit’s natural tartness to balance it with the other festive flavours on your menu…
Just a spoonful of sugar…
… Helps the medicine go down, Mary Poppins famously counselled. But too much, as usually found in commercially-prepared Cranberry sauces, just makes things worse. And even if you make your own, from fresh berries, the natural tartness can skew the flavour too far the other way.
But there is a single, unified theory of Cranberry sauce that can address both of those unloved situ-ations.
In from the ‘cold’
Many folks give Cranberry sauce the cold shoulder when it’s passed around the festive table. One ex-planation that’s been offered is, the flavour of Cranberry really only goes well with dark meat. My dear, departed stepdad was one who supported that contention. In fact, he went as far as to carry out his own historical research in the issue.
Dad discovered that Cranberries – native to North America – have been around since the first New World Thanksgiving, when the indigenous people introduced them to the Pilgrims. But Cranberries were an important food on their own to the ‘locals’, who subsisted largely on foraged foods including berries, nuts and roots. It was, to them, a high-energy, highly nutritious side. It was the newcomers and their descendants ‘demoted’ Cranberries to condiment status.
A few teaks can restore the lowly cranberry to it’s former, rightful place in the festive feast.
The basic concept
As social media culinary influencer Merlyne Miller points out, good cooking is all about balance. And she recommends several basic adjustments that can work wonders.
First, she says, canned commercial cranberry sauces – and most ‘home’ recipes – are too sweet. But you can easily restore flavour balance to them by adding a squeeze or two of lemon juice (fresh pre-ferred), to counter the excess sweetness. Add a little lemon at a time, tasting after every addition, until the balance is just right. She also suggests adding some tart fruit – her favourite is quince – to up the acid component in the flavour profile without ephasising the ‘bitter’ side.
She also suggests you can balance off excess sweetness by adding a Bay leaf. I know that sounds cra-zy, but Bay has a deep, fragrant, umami flavour that really does complement cranberry beautifully.
Balance via contrast
Food & Wine contributor Stacy Ballis agrees with Miller on adding acid. But she also suggests making cranberry more savoury by adding specific spices. Specifically, she recommends a hint of hot pepper – one of the less fiery varieties such as Aleppo or Poblano – or a pinch of Sweet Paprika.
Or, you can go the other way, adding your own blend of ‘winter’ spices, which might include clove, all-spice, mace, nutmeg or even cardamon. In this context, cinnamon or ginger (fresh preferred) stand out as a possible ‘crossover’ spices bridging to the hot pepper option.
My take
I, personally, tend to favour the ‘winter spices’ solu-tion. But that may be because I favour another cranberry preparation over the traditional sauce – whether jelly or full-berry.
My stepdad discovered, during his research ‘expedi-tions’ another classic cranberry condiment that em-bodies all the flavour-balancing principles Miller and Ballis discuss.
Cranberry Relish requires a little work, but it’s worth it. The ingredients list includes sweet, umami-ish Brown Sugar, tangy fresh orange, cinnamon and cloves… Plus a dash of Grand Marnier (or any Orange and Brandy liqueur you like). Don’t use a blender or food processor to prepare it. You’ll just make mush of it. A grinder attachment for your stand mixer makes light work of this dish.
… But Dad always used an old-fashioned hand-cranked ‘meat grinder’ to produce a coarser, classic relish-like texture…
~ Maggie J.