I Buried Paul II

How is it already late November? I am pretty sure yesterday was August 18th. Somehow, today is Thanksgiving Day in the USofA. This year, Mr. Food It Yourself, my dad, and I shared the holiday with Mr. Food It Yourself’s family. I am thankful that I got to spend the day with family, sharing a delightful meal and enjoying each other’s company. As usual, I made cranberry sauce.

I have posted previously why I believe that canned cranberry sauce is a waste of a steel can. I have been making whole berry sauce for years. Sometimes I make it with nothing but cranberries, water, and sugar. Other times, I spice it up. This year I did a batch with orange juice, cinnamon, cardamom and clove. I sweetened it with maple syrup. It was delightful!

I had been thinking, though, can jellied cranberry sauce be made at home? If so, how difficult is it? I personally prefer whole berry sauce, but many people do not like the texture of the berry skins. Also, there is something oddly satisfying about the unmolding process of the jellied stuff. A quick browse around the interweb led me to this recipe from The Spruce Eats. To my utter surprise, jellied cranberry sauce also requires only cranberries, water, and sugar. Yes, you read that correctly- jellied cranberry sauce is not any more complicated than whole berry sauce. Here is how it all went down.

The first step is super simple- just dump the berries, sugar and water into a saucepan. I was surprised that the recipe only required a 10 minute simmer. A little research on cranberries gave me the answer. Cranberries are naturally rich in pectin, the web-shaped carbohydrate compound that makes jams and jellies jell. Over-cooking will break down the pectin and prevent the sauce from setting up. The berries popped open and broke down just fine in the 10 minutes I had them on the stove. The most difficult part of the whole process was getting the cooked berries through the mesh strainer. I switched from a wooden spoon to a rubber scraper. It worked better. Here is what I was left with after the straining phase:

I carefully spooned the cranberry pulp into a strait-sided jar (a half-pint Ball jar, to be precise) and let it chill in the refrigerator. I should add that I did this a few days before Thanksgiving. Not only because the sauce needs a while to firm up, but also so I could re-strategize if the sauce failed to set. After 24 hours it looked pretty solid.

Finally, just before dinner was served, we attempted the unmolding.

Both cranberry sauces were well received. It may have helped that the turkey was perfectly cooked. (My in-laws do the fried turkey thing- amazing!) It also helped that the table was full of love. I firmly believe that a shared meal always tastes better.

What new dishes have you shared with your family lately? How did they turn out? Let us know in the comments section.