In the second part of my Christmas foodie treat trilogy it’s times to look at what goes with your bird. Yesterday we dealt with inside - the stuffing - so today is the turn of the boring old cranberry sauce.
For thousands of people this year their fruit-filled condiment will come from a jar marked with a brand or supermarket name, but I can tell you one thing here and now - your Gran will not stagger slightly as she leaves the table with this; but they may well with mine.
The over-inclusion of port happened the first time we opted for home-made cranberry sauce. I was back from uni for the holidays and generally helping by doing a bit of everything. I was setting the table on Christmas Eve when my mum called me to the kitchen to the scene of a disaster - the cranberry sauce had set. Yes, set. Who knew it could do such a thing without a gelling agent in it?
Fast forward quarter of an hour of head-scratching and ideas that would never work. We were beginning to contemplate whether or not any supermarkets would still be open when I decided to try one last attempt at heating it up and diluting it with a little more port. It worked and pretty soon we were back on track (even if it would have to be served warm) when the plague of a small kitchen happened. Open bottle of port in my hand, someone turned round and walked into me. Cue about an additional wineglass of port ending up in the pan.
We’ll never know quite how much of this was accidentally-on-purpose (although I suspect a large element), but it has formed the basis of the recipe ever since - port, port and a bit more port. teetotal grandparents have been known to compliment it and then stagger slightly when leaving the table, and everyone else usually ends up with a smile on their face.
Cranberry Sauce
This recipe comes from a bit of trial and error; it’s probably similar to others, but any likeness is purely coincidental. It makes about a small jam jar-full.
Ingredients
225g fresh cranberries
1 orange
4 tbsp thick cut orange marmalade
125g light muscovado sugar
50 ml port
Directions
Put the cranberries in a pan with half the sugar and put on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, or until most of the cranberries have burst. Zest and juice the orange into the pan and continue to simmer for a minute or two. Then add in the marmalade and remaining sugar, continue on the heat until these have melted.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little before adding the port (I use a bit more than 50ml, probably more like 100ml). Taste and add more sugar if desired (although it does need a slight bite to it to maximise its place on the table).
Remember not to add the port whilst simmering or you’ll burn off the alcohol (let’s be honest, it’s Christmas dinner, no one will notice a little extra booze on the table).
Edinburgh-dwelling, baking and food-obsessed, twenty-something adventure enthusiast. Runs on liberal amounts of coffee, cheese, cake and gin; bribable with same.
