Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Make the sauce
Combine cranberries and water in a saucepan to prevent scorching.
Stew gently over medium heat, stirring frequently and mashing the fruit for about 20 minutes.
Once the berries are smooth, remove from heat and stir in sugar to taste until dissolved. Do not boil again.
Shape and set
Rinse a mold with cold water and pour in the fruit mixture to harden.
Alternatively, press the fruit through a coarse sieve to remove skins, then pour the smooth sauce into a mold.
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
- Cranberries
- Provide the tart flavor and pectin that thickens the sauce as it breaks down.
- Sugar
- Sweetens the tart fruit and balances its acidity.
- Water
- Creates steam to soften the berries so they can be mashed.
The step that matters
Do not boil again after adding sugar. Once the sugar dissolves, boiling further can over-thicken and dull the fresh fruit flavor, and it can make the sauce overly stiff or sticky when it sets.
“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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