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Tangerine Cherry Cranberry Sauce

See how to make a classic holiday cranberry sauce.

By allrecipes · From Open Recipes · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Tangerine and cinnamon work together. They rank in the top 10% of all ingredient pairs, and 24 recipes mention both. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

The recipe

12 servings
Prep10 min
Cook20 min

Ingredients

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Rinse the fresh cranberries and discard any soft or shriveled ones.

  2. Combine the tangerine juice, white sugar, star anise, cinnamon stick and whole cloves in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.

  3. Add the cranberries and dried cherries to the pan and bring the mixture to a gentle boil.

  4. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until most of the cranberries have burst and the sauce starts to thicken.

  5. Stir in the tangerine zest and simmer for 5 more minutes.

  6. Remove the pan from the heat and take out the star anise, cinnamon stick and cloves.

  7. Let the sauce cool for about 15 minutes, then transfer it to a serving dish or jar.

  8. Refrigerate the sauce until chilled, at least 1 hour, before serving.

By allrecipes. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Tangerine + cinnamontop 10% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together24 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together14,027 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).

  3. Star anise + cinnamontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together312 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  4. Star anise + clovetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together184 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Sugar + cinnamontop 4% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together30,777 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

Sugar and cinnamon share little aroma chemistry, yet 30,777 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, tangerine, star anise, cinnamon):

  1. Clovethe original
  2. Cardamomabout as good a flavor fit
  3. Gingerabout as good a flavor fit
  4. Nutmegabout as good a flavor fit

Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, tangerine, star anise, cinnamon. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).