Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Pick the cranberries clean, removing any stems, sticks, or dead leaves.
Wash the cranberries in a colander or sieve with two changes of water.
Cook and sweeten
Place the cranberries in an enamelled stew-pan with the remaining water from washing.
Cook over steady heat, stirring frequently until the cranberries are soft.
Mash the cranberries with the back of a spoon until they are shapeless.
Remove from heat and gradually stir in the brown sugar while still hot.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Fresh cranberries
- Their pectin and acid help the sauce thicken and set as it cools.
- Brown sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the cranberries' tartness and adds a caramel note.
The step that matters
Stirring in the sugar while hot. Sugar dissolves most easily into hot fruit, giving a smooth, evenly sweetened sauce. Adding it after removing from heat avoids scorching while still dissolving fully.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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