Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the berries
Wash the cranberries and remove any soft or decayed ones.
Place the cranberries in a saucepan with the water and simmer slowly, stirring frequently, especially after they begin to burst.
Once soft and thick like marmalade, pour the mixture into a colander.
Strain the juice
Use a pint cup to press the berries through the colander, extracting all the juice and pulp.
Stir the sugar into the juice and cook on the stove for a few minutes, stirring constantly.
Set and serve
Pour the mixture into a jelly mold and refrigerate until it sets.
Once jellied, turn it out onto a glass dish to serve.
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
- Their natural pectin and acidity help the sauce thicken and set as it cools.
- Granulated sugar
- Adds sweetness that balances the tartness and helps the sauce firm up into a gel.
The step that matters
Simmering until the berries burst and thicken. Berries scorch easily on the bottom of the pan, so frequent stirring is needed. Cooking until they are soft and thick releases pectin and concentrates the juice, which is what lets the sauce set when cooled.
“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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