Afghan chutney (chatney)
Afghan coriander chatni is a sharp, hot herb sauce with garlic and vinegar. A 2008 Afghanistan manual records green or red pepper and optional walnut; heat and household versions vary.
Cranberry sauce
Cranberry jam
Cranberry sauce is a sauce of cranberries cooked in sugar syrup until the berries burst and thicken, served with roast turkey, pork, chicken and ham.
A tart berry for the roast
Cranberry sauce is a cooked sauce of cranberries, sweetened and set into a glossy, spoonable relish. Its tartness is the point. It cuts through rich, fatty meat, and that is why it is served with roast turkey in North America, and with turkey, pork, chicken and ham more widely. Outside the holiday tables it is rarely served.
The method is simple. Sugar and water make a syrup, the berries go in, and the pan boils until the berries burst and the mixture thickens. The most basic version is only cranberries and sugar, and the sweetness is adjusted to taste rather than fixed by a measure.
Indigenous use and the first printed recipe
Indigenous peoples of North America used cranberries long before European settlement. In 1606 the Mi'kmaq introduced the fruit to French settlers at Port-Royal in Nova Scotia. The settlers would probably have sweetened it with maple sugar. A dinner date with turkey is a later and better documented record.
Amelia Simmons's American Cookery, first published in 1796, is the first known American cookbook and the first printed recipe for the sauce as a companion to turkey. The popular story of cranberry sauce at the first Thanksgiving in 1621 is not supported. Plimoth Plantation's account suggests cranberries may have gone into stuffing, but probably not as a sauce, because sugar was scarce.
From the bog to the can
Cranberry sauce moved from the kitchen to the shop in the twentieth century. Marcus Urann, the founder of the cooperative that became Ocean Spray, first offered a commercial cranberry sauce to American consumers in 1912 in Hanson, Massachusetts. Canned sauce reached the market in 1941 and let the sauce sell year round.
The canned form comes in two main types. A loose sauce keeps the berries whole in a syrup, and a jellied sauce sets as a smooth log that can be slid out of the can and sliced. Both forms are commercial adaptations, and their recipes are not the same as the home sauce described above.
Regional sweetness
Taste differs by country. Europe usually prefers a slightly sour sauce, and North America a sweeter one. The difference is recorded, though the claim about North American sweetness still needs a citation. Cooks who follow a recipe from either side of the Atlantic should expect that the sugar will be adjusted to taste rather than fixed by the method.
History
Cranberries were eaten by Indigenous peoples in North America, and the Mi'kmaq introduced them to French settlers at Port-Royal, Nova Scotia, in 1606. The earliest printed recipe is in Amelia Simmons's American Cookery (1796), where the sauce accompanies turkey.
Ingredients
CranberriesPicked over, the basic sauce cooks the berries whole.
Amount not stated
Quantity not given by the source.SugarDissolved in water to make the syrup.
Amount not stated
No proportions are given; North American versions are typically more heavily sweetened than European ones.Amount not stated
Enough to make a sugar syrup.Port wine (optional)
Optional variation.
Cinnamon (optional)
Optional variation.
Method
- Make a syrup by dissolving the sugar in water.
- Add the cranberries and boil until the berries burst and the mixture thickens.
- Flavour as wished with orange, ginger, maple syrup, port or cinnamon, or add slivered almonds.
Places
United States
Documented use · Country evidenceThe sauce is first recorded as a companion to turkey in Amelia Simmons's American Cookery of 1796. Its use at the Thanksgiving meal is a documented custom, not a precise recipe history.
Canada
Traditional use · Country evidenceThe article names Canada with the United Kingdom as a country that serves the sauce at Christmas dinner.
United Kingdom
Traditional use · Country evidenceServed with the Christmas dinner, as the article records; no date is given for its adoption.
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Sources
WikipediaHistory · Method · Variants
Cranberry sauceAmelia Simmons's American Cookery (1796) is the first recorded mention of the sauce as a turkey companion.
Basic method: cranberries boiled in sugar water until the berries pop and the mixture thickens; variations with orange, ginger, maple syrup, port, cinnamon, almonds.
Served at Thanksgiving in North America and at Christmas in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Commercial canned sauce: Marcus Urann and the cooperative that became Ocean Spray; canned sauce on the market in 1941.
Europe: generally slightly sour; North America: more heavily sweetened (the article flags this claim as needing a citation).