ny biker
12-14-2016, 01:02 PM
I made cranberry sauce last night, for the first time ever. It's an understatement to say that I'm not much of a cook. So even this simple recipe was an accomplishment for me. I love cranberry sauce so this will not be my last time making it.
I used the recipe from Ocean Spray, which is printed on the bag of fresh cranberries:
http://www.oceanspray.com/Recipes/Corporate/Sauces,-Sides-Salads/Fresh-Cranberry-Sauce.aspx
If you read the comments after the recipe, you'll see variations that people have tried. Originally I was going to try the simple variation of using orange juice instead of water and cutting the sugar in half. But there were only big bottles of OJ at the store which was more than I wanted to buy, so I went with the basic water + sugar + cranberries. I was making it for the holiday potluck lunch at work, so I made two batches simultaneously using two saucepans.
In general it was a success, though I felt that the sauce was a bit thin. I wanted it to gel more. I don't know if this was because I did not let it cool all the way to room temperature before I put it in the refrigerator. I kind of had no choice, though, because by the time I got home from post-work shopping it was almost 11 pm, and I literally was eating a PB&J sandwich for dinner while standing at the stove keeping an eye on the two saucepans and stirring them occasionally. After cooking for 10 minutes I took both pans off of the heat and let them sit, covered, as the recipe said. At 12:30 am they were still warm but I poured the sauce from both pans into a plastic storage container and put it in the refrigerator so I could go to bed.
I guess I might have done something else wrong, like stir it too often while cooking or have the heat too high or too low. The water was only bubbling slightly while it cooked. Or maybe I did everything right, and it was just supposed to be the consistency that I ended up with?
At any rate, it was a success, several people thanked me for making it and said they enjoyed it, and now I have leftovers to add to my yogurt or spread on my waffles or whatever. And I think I read that it can be frozen, so maybe I will put some away for later.
In the future I might just make half the recipe (half a bag of berries) at a time, for a smaller batch just for me. Also someone suggested adding a cinnamon stick and some orange zest.
BTW visiting Cape Cod last summer and learning a bit about the way they harvest cranberries made it more fun to buy the fresh berries and make the sauce.
I used the recipe from Ocean Spray, which is printed on the bag of fresh cranberries:
http://www.oceanspray.com/Recipes/Corporate/Sauces,-Sides-Salads/Fresh-Cranberry-Sauce.aspx
If you read the comments after the recipe, you'll see variations that people have tried. Originally I was going to try the simple variation of using orange juice instead of water and cutting the sugar in half. But there were only big bottles of OJ at the store which was more than I wanted to buy, so I went with the basic water + sugar + cranberries. I was making it for the holiday potluck lunch at work, so I made two batches simultaneously using two saucepans.
In general it was a success, though I felt that the sauce was a bit thin. I wanted it to gel more. I don't know if this was because I did not let it cool all the way to room temperature before I put it in the refrigerator. I kind of had no choice, though, because by the time I got home from post-work shopping it was almost 11 pm, and I literally was eating a PB&J sandwich for dinner while standing at the stove keeping an eye on the two saucepans and stirring them occasionally. After cooking for 10 minutes I took both pans off of the heat and let them sit, covered, as the recipe said. At 12:30 am they were still warm but I poured the sauce from both pans into a plastic storage container and put it in the refrigerator so I could go to bed.
I guess I might have done something else wrong, like stir it too often while cooking or have the heat too high or too low. The water was only bubbling slightly while it cooked. Or maybe I did everything right, and it was just supposed to be the consistency that I ended up with?
At any rate, it was a success, several people thanked me for making it and said they enjoyed it, and now I have leftovers to add to my yogurt or spread on my waffles or whatever. And I think I read that it can be frozen, so maybe I will put some away for later.
In the future I might just make half the recipe (half a bag of berries) at a time, for a smaller batch just for me. Also someone suggested adding a cinnamon stick and some orange zest.
BTW visiting Cape Cod last summer and learning a bit about the way they harvest cranberries made it more fun to buy the fresh berries and make the sauce.