Jellied Cranberry Sauce, Made Not Opened
bout to pop it open
That is me holding up a can, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. The tin of jellied cranberry is a genuinely good thing and the ridged cylinder sliding out in one piece is part of the fun.
But it is also forty minutes of work to make, it costs about the same, and it tastes of fruit instead of tasting of a can. The trick is that it has to be strained — whole-berry sauce has skins and seeds in it and will never set smooth. Pushed through a sieve, it sets into exactly the same sliceable block.
Set it in a straight-sided tin or a clean can and it turns out in one piece with ridges, which matters more than it should.
- Makes
- About 3 cups
- Hands-on
- 30 minutes
- Set
- 6 hours, cold
- Texture
- Strained smooth
What you need
Everything
- 24 oz fresh or frozen cranberries
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 strip orange peel
- A good pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, at the end
And
- A fine sieve
- A straight-sided tin, loaf tin or a clean food can, lightly oiled
How it goes
1 — No added pectin and none needed
Cranberries are one of the highest-pectin fruits there is. They set on their own as long as there is enough sugar and the mixture gets properly hot. Adding pectin makes it rubbery.
2 — Simmer twenty minutes until every berry has burst
Berries, sugar, water, orange peel and salt. They pop audibly for the first five minutes, then collapse. Every single one has to break or the pectin stays locked inside it.
3 — Push it through a sieve, do not blend it
Through a fine sieve with the back of a ladle, working it until only dry skins and seeds are left. A blender just chops the skins smaller; they still stop it setting clear.
pro tip — It takes about five minutes of real pushing. Scrape the underside of the sieve too — a surprising amount collects there.
4 — Back in the pan for five minutes
The strained purée returned to the heat and simmered to drive off the water you added during straining. It should coat the back of a spoon heavily.
5 — Lemon juice off the heat
Acid helps the pectin set and keeps the colour bright red rather than brown. In at the end so it does not cook off.
6 — Into an oiled straight-sided tin
A loaf tin, or a clean food can with both ends cut out and one covered in foil, lightly oiled. Straight sides are the only way it turns out in one piece.
7 — Six hours in the fridge, uncovered first
It sets as it cools. Cover it once it is cold, not before, or condensation sits on the surface.
8 — Turn it out and slice it in rounds
Run a knife round the edge, invert onto a plate. It should drop out holding the shape of the tin. Cut in thick rounds with a wet knife.
Bout to pop it open. Or make it, and pop something else open instead. LFG.