Homemade cranberry sauce made with fresh cranberries and a little dry white wine for a smooth savoury flavour. The perfect side dish for your festive turkey dinners!
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Homemade Cranberry Sauce
I was not much of a cranberry sauce fan until I discovered this savoury recipe. In the past I have found most cranberry sauces a little too sweet for my tastebuds, but this recipe strikes the right note. It’s chunky with a smooth savoury flavour, and now I can’t imagine serving my festive turkey dinners without it!
Fresh Ingredients and Standard Spices
This sauce is super easy to prepare. It’s a recipe made with basic fresh ingredients and standard seasonings you will probably find in your spice cupboard. If not, they’ll definitely be easy to find at your local market. No need for outlier ingredients you won’t use again. I don’t know about you, but fussy ingredients are just not my style.
Garlic and Grannie’s Vintage Lemon Juicer
This recipe doesn’t actually call for fresh garlic although I bet it wouldn’t hurt. I just loved the purple colour in the skin of these two organic garlic bulbs, so tossed them in for extra colour and texture in the photographing mix. Next to the the vintage pink ceramic lemon juicer that once belonged to my Grandmother, I think the garlic bulbs are a great fit!
What’s A Cheesecloth Sachet
The recipe suggests the whole cloves and broken cinnamon sticks get tied into a cheesecloth sachet. Cheesecloth is also called Cooks Cloth, but if you can’t find this, a wide strip of medical gauze will work too. Just make sure you cut the piece big enough that it will stay tied together so the ingredients don’t slip out. I have made this recipe without the sachet, and I have to be honest, it was almost impossible to find and remove the cloves. I would recommend creating this little cheesecloth pouch because no-one wants to bite into whole cloves!
Preparing Ingredients Ahead
I find it easier if I prep everything ahead and set it aside until it’s ready to be added to the pan. For me it’s part of the fun. I love to pull out my favourite little vintage bowls, pouring cups and mixing spoons, and really turn this into a mini cheffing affair!
Dry White Wine Boosts the Flavour
Like many great sauces, this one calls for a splash of dry white wine, well half a cup to be exact, but that’s just a splash isn’t it? We try to keep a few extra bottles of white on reserve for recipes that like to indulge. How about you? Make sure you have your vintage wine glass at your fingertips so you can give the wine a little sip too! I suggest a silver goblet for white wine while you cook because really, who likes white wine at room temperature?
Cranberries Cooking Down into Sauce
I thought it would be helpful to include some photos of the fresh whole cranberries cooking down into sauce. This way you will know what to expect from start to finish. I like to use a cast iron frying pan because it keeps the heat, but any pan large enough will do.
You can see from these pics how the liquid really does get cooked away. One thing you should know, the whole cranberries will splatter as they split and burst. This is a great cue that it’s time to slightly reduce your heat.
Pick a Vintage Serving Dish
Once my sauce is cooked down I like to remove it from the pan right away. Depending on my timing, I will often move it right into a vintage serving dish and set it aside to cool. If I make this the night before I will pop it into the fridge once it’s cool, but I like to serve my cranberry sauce at room temperature, so definitely pull it out early enough to lose the chill.
I recently thrifted this vintage Wallingford pewter dish. I picked it up with the cranberry sauce in mind, because it’s the perfect size for the 2 cups of sauce this recipe makes. You can see how chunky the cranberries stay. I love it this way!
For years I have served my cranberry sauce in this vintage Kosta Boda ‘Monet Water Lily’ crystal bowl by Swedish designer Mats Jonasson. This pretty little dish was also inherited from my Gran, and I remember enjoying turkey dinner at her house with cranberry sauce served in the same dish! I love how the petal shaped rim frames the cranberry colour in the dish. It really does remind me of a flower!
How about you? Do you serve cranberry sauce with your turkey meals, and do you have a favourite serving dish? I would love to hear about what you do!
Thanks for stopping by!
Photographs © Audrey Would! Vintage Home
| Prep Time | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20 minutes |
| Servings |
Cups
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- 3 cups fresh cranberries
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1-1/4 cups White Sugar
- 1/4 - 1/2 cup fresh squeezed juice from 1 large orange
- 2 tbsp shallots, minced (finely diced onions work too)
- 1/4 cup celery, finely chopped
- 1/4 tsp dry mustard
- 1 cinnamon stick broken into 3 pieces
- 3-5 cloves (tie cinnamon stick & cloves into cheesecloth sachet)
- salt & pepper to taste
Ingredients
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|
- Squeeze juice from the orange and set aside
- Place cranberries, water, wine, orange juice, sugar and cheesecloth sachet into a sauce pan (I use a cast iron frying pan)
- Bring to a boil and stir frequently
- Add remaining ingredients, reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens, about 10-ish minutes
- Remove cheesecloth sachet containing cinnamon sticks and cloves
- Adjust seasoning to suit your taste
- Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools
This sauce can be served chunky or pureed. We serve ours chunky, and prefer it at room temperature. Finishing touch, serve in a fantastic vintage bowl! For years I served this sauce in a beautiful crystal bowl that belonged to my grandmother (seen in the last photo), the same bowl she served cranberry sauce in when I was growing up. The pewter bowl featured is a thrifted vintage find I recently picked up! Enjoy!
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