I will be serving cranberry sauce for my father on Thanksgiving Day.
Even though it’s been 27 years since my father has been alive to enjoy Thanksgiving, his favorite holiday, serving cranberry sauce is a family tradition. Keeping his tradition is one of the joys of Thanksgiving, the finest holiday on the calendar.
When I was a kid, jellied cranberry sauce — you know, the kind that comes in a can — was often on the Thanksgiving table. I loved to slice the cylindrical jellied sauce with ridges from the can.
As an adult, I’ve tried various recipes, including some relishes with chopped fresh cranberries. They’re good, but for Thanksgiving Day I prefer to cook the cranberries.
I like watching the berries pop, pop, pop in the bubbling sugar water, pouring the mixture into the cut-glass bowl that was my grandmother’s and placing the deep red sauce on my table. It all brings my father back to me for the day.
This recipe is basically an adaptation of the recipe you’ll often find on the packaging of fresh cranberries. The holiday-like aroma of the spices as they simmer fills the house.
The sugar content in this recipe is 1½ cups. I subbed some brown sugar — I ended up using a cup of white sugar and a ½ cup of brown sugar — and the flavor was full of holiday sweetness, contrasting with the tart berries.
That sweet-tart flavor complements turkey. Skip the mayo and spread cranberry sauce on your leftover turkey sandwiches.
Cranberry sauce, whether you use package directions or a recipe of your own, is easy and fast to make. This recipe took about 30 minutes to assemble and cook. Cooling time doesn’t count because you can do other things as the cranberries cool.
There’s no reason to serve canned cranberry sauce, unless you prefer the flavor or your kids want to have some fun slicing it.
