I was just in the store today shoping for thanksgiving. I am new to the area I am living in so I am not familiar with the local customs. The thing I really noticed, was that I could not find canned cranberry sauce anywhere.
Now, I am pretty sure I am not alone in this. My sister and I agree, and I have seen it elswhere. Canberry sauce, in our opinion, is to be served directly from the can, and in the shape of the can.
If you want to make your own cranberry sauce that’s fine, and we will try some to be polite, but we expect that jellied mass from the can to be available. Also, it should be in the shape of the can it came from. That way it can be sliced mess free in good proportions.
The thing is, when I was shopping today, I couldn’t find it anywhere. Finally, I asked the guy and he showed it to me. There was a tiny section of cranberry sauce collecting dust that nobody was paying attention to.
All I can figure is that people in these parts don’t go for the canned cranberry sauce. That is just bizzare to me.
I don’t like the canned. My grandma used to make a cranberry-orange relish, with little pieces of orange peel in it. It was the bomb. If you ever had that, you’d never go back to canned.
Now I have nothing against cranberry relish. I personally am giving “mama stambergs” cranberry relish this thanksgiving (you have to listen to NPR). Nevertheless, the jellied cranberry sauce in the shape of the can is absolutely obligitory. Thanksgiving without it is wrong.
My sister has a historical preference for a canned cranberry sauce on the table, but will also eat the low-sugar cranberry orange compote. I’ve never liked the canned stuff but I don’t mind its presence.
Pepper Mill and I have been making our own cranberry sauce from scratch fpr years. It’s so good, I’ll gladly eat it for several days afterwards. It’s good enough to put as a topping on ice cream.
I like my cranberry sauce either in the garbage disposal, or in the trash can. Or better yet, I would prefer to get a time machine, go back in time and stop the inventor of cranberry sauce while he was still in his mother’s womb, ala Terminator.
In the immortal words of Victor Borge, “I HATE CRANBERRY SAUCE!”
You know, little makes my heart sink more than going to a relatives’ house for Thanksgiving only to find out they’ve made “homemade” cranberry sauce. It’s typically just cranberries in some gooey sauce. Blech.
OK, but say your in a Cambodian prison with no chance of escape, and they offered you jellied cranberry sauce from a can or mushy sauce with whole cranberries getting caught in your teeth and such. What would you prefer?
I make kickbutt homemade cranberry relish. I.e., the chunky sauce. For years I made one with lots of sugar and port, and people wanted to spread it on bread like jam after dinner.
This year I’m making a homemade, no chunks smooth jelled version in a mold - with grappa in it. (I claim that “grappa” is Italian for “rocket fuel.”) I’m also making a chunky apricot-cranberry sauce for the people who can’t drink alcohol or don’t want that much of a kick from their cranberry sauce.
