Thinking outside the can for Thanksgiving and making a cranberry sauce recipe?
Learn the pitfalls of homemade cranberry sauceand how to avoid them.
What is this, you say?
You’ve only had cranberry sauce out of a can?
Sorry, friends, you’ve been missing out.
Nothing beats the vibrant red hue and sweet-tangy flavor of homemade cranberry sauce.
If your cranberry sauce is too thick, it’s most likely overcooked.
When you cook cranberries (or any berries), they burst, releasing pectina natural thickener.
Cranberry sauce is also best served after it’s cooled, which will thicken it further.
But what if you’ve been cooking it forever and it’s still not right?
You may have added too much liquid to the cranberries.
Add too much and you’ll be stirring at the stove much longer than expected.
Again, more time on the stove will fix this problem.
Another possible blunder that can cause cranberry sauce to be too thin is using too little sugar.
You’ve got 15 minutes.
Do you whip out a saucepan and start cooking?
You could, but how many steaming pots of hot cranberry sauce have you seen lately?
But, back to our original scenario, what should you do?
you could make a cranberry relish instead.
Think of it as a raw cranberry sauceno cooking required.
A food processor can make quick work of all the chopping.
Let the cranberries macerate with a touch of sugar and voila!
You’ve got yourself cranberry sauce (ish).
A basic cranberry sauce has only three ingredients: cranberries, water and sugar.
The sugar, while necessary, doesn’t need to be granulated.
Maple syrup, brown sugar and even honey can make your cranberry sauce more dynamic.
And don’t forget the spices!
And one last overlooked remedy for cranberry sauce: a pinch of salt.
