off to a good start

November 16 2009 by Kristin at The Kitchen Sink in Uncategorized » 18 comments

First, let me just say thank you for your responses, both in the comments and in emails and even a couple phone calls, to my last post. It felt a lot like one great big virtual group hug; maybe you couldn’t feel it, but I could: firm and comforting and warm. It’s so reassuring to read your cheering-on and so inspiring (and, at times, hilarious) to read your own stories. So, thanks. And a real live hug from my mother-in-law helped tremendously too.

I’m actually in a much better place on the whole topic of Thanksgiving than I was last week—less terrified, more focused on the excitement. I’ve nailed down our menu (which you can see here, on a new page that pulls together various Thanksgiving-y recipes) and I’ve got lists and schedules that I would be far too embarrassed to show anyone but Kevin (because, frankly, I think they even scare him a little bit).

I’ve also got a pretty decent jump on the actual cooking. I spent a chunk of Saturday morning kicking up a cloud of flour in the kitchen—whizzing up pate brisee in the food processor; stamping out a supple creme fraiche biscuit dough into thick rounds; letting a tart dough rise slowly into a spongy, springy mass. These things all reside now in the freezer—the pate brisee hardened into two salad plate-sized disks, the biscuits flash-frozen into little hockey pucks, the tart dough slid into an oiled ziploc bag.

And then there’s the matter of the cranberries—typically my least favorite element of any Thanksgiving spread. I figured that I might as well get them out of the way. They’d freeze well and I’d be able to check a dish off my menu—the one that excited me the least, no less.

At Whole Foods, a giant heap of bagged cranberries had appeared, seemingly out of thin air, near the front door. I plucked two bags from the pile and, really, that was probably the biggest effort that this recipe required from me. From there, it was all downhill. I dumped the bags—a pound, in all—into a buttered baking dish. Into this, I poured an amount of sugar that would normally make me blush (but this is Thanksgiving, which is simply not the time for moderation where things like sugar or butter or cream are concerned), a dash of spicy cinnamon (I’m still making my way through a bag of Penzey’s Vietenamese Cinnamon my mom sent me—one of the many reasons why she’s a keeper, that mom of mine) and a glug of bourbon (the scent of which I inhaled happily as the stream tumbled into the dish). Stirred together, the mixture took on the appearance of cranberries packed in snow—the snow, of course, being sugar (see above regarding the need to eschew all tendencies toward moderation).

Sealed with foil and set on a sheet pan, the whole thing went into the oven at moderate heat, where it popped and hissed and generally smelled ridiculously good for the next hour. That hour created the space of time I needed for the aforementioned floury projects. If not for the popping, hissing and perfume, I might have forgetten all about the cranberries altogether until the oven timer dinged.

While I had been pulsing, pastry-blending and kneading, the oven had been working a kind of magic on the cranberries. Gone were the sugar-showered firm-as-marbles cranberries I’d slid into the oven a mere hour ago. In their place was a jammy panful of burst cranberries glowing and glistening in a deep shade of magenta. Even if I didn’t like them, at least they’d be pretty.

But, here’s the thing. I did like them. Quite a lot, actually. A mouthful of them is both tart and sweet, the cinnamon and bourbon imparting an almost mysterious depth. And the texture was beautiful—the cranberries only partially burst, leaving at least a little bit of pop! to occur as you chew. There was jiggle, to be sure, but nothing like the tubes of cranberry sauce that slide out of a can. This was an honest jiggle, the kind you might elicit from a spoonful of homemade preserves.

So, things are off to a good start, I’d say, this Thanksgiving. My freezer’s stocked and my mind’s at ease. Heck, I can even be assured that, for once, I’ll like the cranberries.

Bourbon Cranberry Sauce

Adapted from Bon Appetit

Yield: About 3 cups

About 1 tablespoon unsaltedbutter, for greasing the baking dish
1 pound (about 4 cups) cranberries
2 cups sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup bourbon

Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine all ingredients in a buttered 9×13-inch baking dish. Cover tightly with foil and bake until cranberries are tender and sugar is dissolved, stirring once, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven, carefully remove the foil and allow the cranberry sauce to cool completely. Refrigerate cranberry sauce until well chilled. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead.) Transfer to bowl and serve.

[Note: I froze the sauce and intend to take it out of the freezer a couple days before Thanksgiving to allow it to thaw.]

18 comments so far. »
| Leave a Reply

Kara says on November 16 2009 at 12:33 pm:

LOVE Penzey’s Vietnamese Cinnamon… just finished off our bottle this weekend (I need a whole bag of it like yours!), as a matter of fact.

But to the real point… your cranberries! Wow Don’t hate me if I say that I actually like those of the canned variety but this might just make me think twice. Now I have to convince my mom to make room for them on our spread!
Lindsay says on November 16 2009 at 12:37 pm:

So excited about all of your Thanksgiving posts! Sounds like you are doing a great job. I’ll be traveling home for Thanksgiving this year, but I will be hosting Christmas for the first time. Hope everything goes as well for me. Thanks for the inspiration and courage! Good luck!
Dawn in CA says on November 16 2009 at 1:21 pm:

Your least favorite part of the meal? I can’t imagine Thanksgiving without cranberries. Glad you found a recipe you like. Bourbon blends so well with so many turkey-day foods. I’m planning a reprise of my own bourbon-laced sweet potatoes this year. Hooray! Thanksgiving really should be more than just once a year.
kate says on November 16 2009 at 2:01 pm:

If you ever wish to try something else with cranberries, which are amazing all winter long on things like oatmeal or yogurt or even ice cream, my most favorite cooking method is to use brown sugar and a few cardamom pods along with about a half cup of dried cherries per 1# bag. Cook it to a nice thick sauce and then remove the cardamom husks. Transcendent.
MommyAmy says on November 16 2009 at 2:06 pm:

Excellent! I’m hosting my very first Thanksgiving this year and I hadn’t even thought of cranberry sauce yet! Thanks for saving my bacon because I’m sure there would have been loud complaints, and this recipe really couldn’t be easier! Especially the make-ahead part of it!
Jenn says on November 16 2009 at 3:04 pm:

Wow, those are beautiful! And they sound amazing! We usually use canned cranberry sauce but I might have to convince my mom to try this! Good luck w/ Thanksgiving, you can do it!!
Jen @ My Kitchen Addiction says on November 16 2009 at 7:15 pm:

This cranberry sauce looks beautiful. Cranberries are one of my favorites, so I’ll definitely give it a try!
Whitney says on November 16 2009 at 9:47 pm:

I’m in charge of cranberries (among lots of other things) next week and yours look amazing. I personally never liked cranberry growing up. I’m not sure if we even had any (even the canned kid) growing up but now that I can pick up the real fresh kind, they have grown on me.
Dolce says on November 17 2009 at 8:13 am:

See ? You are going to be fine, you even liked the cranberries! I say that’s a good sign
ingrid says on November 17 2009 at 8:55 am:

I love cranberry sauce both the canned (I know sad) and fresh. I’m going to see if my dear sister in law would like me to bring some as one of my contributions to our family feast.

Thanks for sharing and I’m glad that things are going so well!
~ingrid
Rachael says on November 17 2009 at 4:08 pm:

I just bought this Bon Appetit at Home Depot! When I saw this recipe, I knew it had to go in my “test recipe” pile. I’m so glad you did a trial run. Looks and sounds amazing. Happy cooking!
Kristin at The Kitchen Sink says on November 18 2009 at 8:03 pm:

Kara: It’s the best. And I of course don’t hate you (but I do think you should convince your mom to add this sauce!).

Lindsay: Thank you! And good luck with your own feast, which will be here before you know it, if the sudden appearance of Thanksgiving is any indication.

Dawn: I completely agree! Maybe quarterly? Think of all the bourbon-laced dishes we could make then. (Like we need Thanksgiving as an excuse.)

kate: Wow — that all sounds amazing. I’m particularly intrigued by the yogurt idea. Thanks for the ideas!

MommyAmy: Good luck to you!

Jenn: Thanks! I hope you try this recipe.

Jen: Thank you! Hope you do!

Whitney: I saw your Tweet about the orange/date recipe, which sounds lovely.

Dolce: Ha! Fine, you’re right. : )

ingrid: Not sad! Tradition is tradition.

Rachael: To you too!
Sierra says on November 19 2009 at 11:45 am:

3 cups doesn’t sound like much…we’ll have 13 people at thanksgiving, do you think it should be doubled? also, if i do double it, do i need to use a bigger baking pan or can the cranberries be layered in the same size pan?
Kristin at The Kitchen Sink says on November 19 2009 at 12:14 pm:

Hi Sierra: Yes, if you’ll have a lot of cranberry lovers, I would double it. I’m only having 8 people, many of whom will only take a small spoonful (if any) cranberries, so I stuck with a single batch. And I would recommend using a bigger pan with sides at least a couple inches high or even two separate 9×13 inch pans. Many commenters on Epicurious noted a bubble-over problem in the oven (which I did not have). Good luck and Happy Thanksgiving!
Julia says on November 20 2009 at 6:02 pm:

Love cranberries. These look gorgeous. And I love your style of writing. Glad I stopped in!
Sierra says on November 22 2009 at 10:08 pm:

Thanks Kristin! Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
Jenn says on November 27 2009 at 3:53 pm:

I made your cranberries for Thanksgiving, and we all loved them – the whole pan disappeared, and there were none for leftovers….So, I ran to the grocery first thing this morning, and whipped up another batch for turkey sandwiches this week!
Cranberries: The Thanksgiving Superfruit says on May 11 2011 at 8:39 am:

[...] Bourbon Cranberry Sauce [...]