It’s that time of year again. That holiday time. Time to start thinking about turkey and stuffing and whether to brine or dry brine. Time to start assembling recipes and making shopping lists.
But there’s one thing to cook right now. Cranberry sauce. Here are five reasons why.
1. Cranberry sauce is ridiculously quick to make. It takes about 15 minutes.
2. Cranberry sauce is ridiculously easy to make. A kid could do it.
3. Cranberry sauce is ridiculously easy to make unique. Sure, you can go with a basic sauce (like this recipe by yours truly for Bon Appétit magazine). But why stop there when it’s so simple to give your sauce a little something-something?
A few recipes to inspire you (also by yours truly and mostly for Bon Appétit):
- Cranberry and Apple Sauce (pictured)
- Quince and Cranberry Sauce
- Cinnamon and Clove Cranberry Sauce
- Cranberry Sauce with Vanilla Bean and Cardamom
- Pineapple Cranberry Sauce with Chiles and Cilantro
4. What you’ll end up with will be about a thousand times better than stuff from the jar or can. Obviously.
5. Cranberry sauce keeps really well. You can make it now, cross it off the year’s most daunting culinary to-do list, and it’ll still be perfection on Thanksgiving Day. You can even store it in its serving vessel—just remove the plastic wrap and plunk it on the table. Doesn’t that sound luxurious?
I think so.
Happy Thanksgiving. It’s a little early to be saying that—but not to be making cranberry sauce.
