Fairytales, French Fries and Little Baby Kisses: Cranberry Sauces

Bethany:

Oh what a week. Family visiting from all over, horrific shopping experiences, poison control, sewage spewing in the backyard, and a car accident. I'll let you guess what happened to which (or both) of us. Needless to say, writing has fallen by the wayside.

Back before I got the memo that this was going to be Insanity Week, I innocently planned a Thanksgiving-esque dinner as an excuse to squeeze in a few more chances to gorge on turkey before it disappears along with candy canes and giant cartons of whipping cream and the other winter holiday specialty items.

Like cranberries. Right now, you can pick up enormous sacks of them for just a few dollars at Costco. Kevin loves cranberries, so I decided this would be the year of learning how to make cranberry sauce.

I received the recipes from a friend who is an excellent chef, but these are so simple they're foolproof. All you need is a bag of cranberries, sugar, and an orange (and a pot, and a spoon, and a food processor).

First, the cooked sauce. Pour berries and sugar into the pot over medium heat, and stir. They even look Christmassy! Keep cooking and stirring until the berries burst and reach desired consistency. Add more sugar if necessary, otherwise it's done.

(I have not yet learned to make sauce in the shape of a can, so I had to buy that one to go alongside the homemade ones. Harhar)

The cooked sauce is cosy and traditional, but what Kevin really loves is raw cranberry dressing.

I can't believe I never tried making this before. If anything, it's even easier than the cooked sauce, although harder to find in stores and generally much more expensive.

My friend's pro tip was to freeze the cranberries beforehand. I poured frozen berries and sugar into the Vitamix, tossed in a whole orange (yes, peel included), and processed away (although carefully, since the Vitamix is on loan and somehow I've already broken it and overheated it, separately). In a minute or less, the ingredients turn into a fantastic frosty delight that sent even my unsophisticated tastebuds into the wild dances of a Ratatouille-like fireworks display.

Unfortunately it's not terribly photogenic, but the taste really is amazing.

If you've been making your own cranberry sauce for years, you can laugh at me for taking so long to convert, and if you have never gotten around to trying it, give it a shot! And if anyone has a recipe for the canned jelly stuff, I'm interested.... ;)