Cranberry sauce - general principles and methods of cooking
Cranberry sauce is a sweet and sour dressing mainly for meat and pastry dishes made from fresh cranberries. For example, in North America, cranberry sauce is often served with turkey, and in the UK - with many types of poultry (including chicken).
Sweet and sour cranberry sauce gives the meat or poultry dish a very special festive and bright taste. In addition, in some countries, refueling is traditionally served with cheese dishes and various concoctions. Especially cranberry is valued in northern latitudes, where it abounds in large quantities. Here people know about its healing power and use it not only for culinary, but also for medicinal purposes.
Cranberry sauce is unique in its own way, it is prepared quite simply, and very quickly, five to fifteen minutes will be enough (depending on the availability and time of cooking). The density of cranberry sauce is achieved by boiling or adding flour, starch. Due to sugar, lemon juice, salt, pepper and other auxiliary ingredients, you can get exactly the shade you like.
Cranberry Sauce - Food Preparation
For the preparation of cranberry sauce, as a rule, use fresh whole fruits. If they are not available, the berry frozen in the freezer will fit perfectly. So, to make a delicious sauce, you need to sort the cranberries, rinse them in running water, dry, knock over a colander, and then grind with a blender. Sometimes an “old” method is used to obtain the puree mass - an ordinary sieve.
Cranberry Sauce - the best recipes
Recipe 1: Cranberry Turkey Sauce
Introducing an uncomplicated American recipe for making cranberry sauce, which is traditionally served at Thanksgiving turkey. However, it is quite possible to apply to any other type of poultry, meat, fish and, of course, tea with pancakes or Russian fluffy pancakes.
Ingredients:
- three glasses of cranberry
- single orange peel
- a glass (or a little less) of sugar
- half a cup of orange juice (better than natural)
- half a cup of red wine
Method of preparation:
Everything is quite prosaic: we fold the ingredients into a deep enameled container, bring the mass to a boil, reduce the fire to minimum boiling and boil until the cranberries burst. When the berry emits juice and the sauce thickens, turn off the stove. Mass slightly cooled and grind with a blender. Ready cranberry sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time.
Recipe 2: Cranberry Sauce for Meat
The extraordinary combination of meat with cranberry sauce has been known for a very long time. Mainly this combination is used by the countries of North America (Canada, USA), while other countries rarely prepare cranberry dressing. The sauce according to this recipe is universal, that is, it fits to any kind of meat, it is made very simply and quickly, however, any dish turns into a festive treat.
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. cranberries
- 150 gr. onion bulb
- 300 gr. sugar sand
- 150 gr. apple vinegar
- a pinch of cinnamon
- a pinch of salt
- pinch of allspice
- a pinch of garlic powder
- a pinch of celery seeds
- glass of water
Method of preparation:
Cranberries and chopped onions pour a glass of water, bring to a boil. Cover the pot tightly with a lid and simmer the berries for about ten minutes on low heat. Next, the mass is passed through a blender and again lowered into the pan, adding all the spices and vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer the sauce to a state of uniform ketchup. Ready cranberry sauce is cooled and served with any meat - fried, stewed, baked or boiled. Examples of dishes with cranberry sauce
Recipe 1: Cheese croquettes with cranberry sauce
As mentioned above, the combination of cheese and cranberries is very popular in some countries. Cheese for our "balls" is desirable to get soft and creamy. To add a “spark” to the dish, you can put a bit of garlic and spicy greens in it.
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. soft cream cheese
- two chicken eggs
- garlic, herbs to taste
- vegetable oil
- breadcrumbs
- one glass of cranberries
- half a cup of grape juice
- to taste sugar
- a pinch of sesame
Method of preparation:
1. Grate the cheese (if it is too soft, then mime with a fork), mix with eggs. To taste add garlic, sesame and greens. We roll small balls from the mixture and roll them in breadcrumbs.
2. Take a deep saucepan, pour vegetable oil. We heat it up and start lowering the balls one by one in a saucepan, frying them in a large amount of oil. It is convenient to lower the balls with a slotted spoon.
3. Making the sauce: to do this, mix the cranberries, sugar, grape juice and boil the mixture over low heat until thickened, stirring constantly, then pass through a blender. Slightly cool the balls spread on a plate and pour the resulting cranberry sauce and serve to the table.
Recipe 2: Turkey with Cranberry Sauce
Cranberries blend perfectly with turkey - this is an indisputable proven fact! As a side dish for such a turkey, you can safely serve steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes or boiled rice. By the way, try cooking a chicken with this sauce, and she will definitely succeed! You can experiment with tender pork and even sea fish. But first turkey.
Ingredients:
- 500 gr. turkey fillet
- vegetable oil - to taste salt, pepper (or spices for turkey)
- 200 gr. cranberries
- 1-2 table. spoons of honey
- one orange
- a drop of good port wine (or red wine)
Method of preparation:
1. Remove the orange zest from the orange, grate it three. Squeeze out 50 ml of juice (we don’t need it anymore).
2. Cut the turkey fillet into medium, even cubes. Fry them in vegetable oil for about twenty minutes. At the end add spices, optional garlic, herbs and a drop of port wine for taste.
3. Prepare the cranberry sauce. To do this, mix the cranberries, honey, zest and orange juice and stew the ingredients for 15 minutes on low heat. Next, grind in a blender. The sauce is ready.
4. Fill our turkey with cranberry sauce and stew the dish for another five minutes under the lid. If you wish, you can then sweat it in a very hot oven for the same time. Then we get and enjoy. Enjoy your meal!
Cranberry Sauce - useful tips from experienced chefs
- For cooking cranberry sauce, culinary experts advise us to pick a dark red ripe berry. If you use unripe or unripe cranberries, then the prepared sauce will be slightly bitter;
- It is necessary to boil down cranberry sauce in an enamel container so that the acid component of the berry (acid) cannot “contact” with the metal and produce a harmful substance. It is also prohibited to use aluminum cookware!
