RECIPE: Cranberry Relish

For the past 10+ years I've been responsible for making the cranberries for my family's Thanksgiving dinner. I feel a little guilty. Compared to the rest of the dishes we consume on Thanksgiving, Cranberry Relish is sinfully simple.

Cranberry Relish Tutorial

Ingredients
1 bag of fresh cranberries
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup water
1/2 sugar (or more, depending on how sweet you want it)
Splash of Triple Sec (optional)

Directions

1. Wash and sort the cranberries. Remove any squishy or bruised berries, keep only the firm ones. (I think it helps to have a cute assistant with chubby wrists.)

2. In a small saucepan, combine the berries, the 1/2 cup of water and 1/2 cup of orange juice. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes.

3. After the 20–30 minutes, the cranberries will have broken down a little. Now is the time to add the 1/2 cup of sugar. I like cranberry relish to be slightly sweet with quite a bit of "bite" or tartness. I've made it in the past with 1 cup of sugar – it's still a tiny bit tart, but much sweeter. Feel free to taste it as it cooks and add more/less sugar to adjust it to your liking.

4.  Once you've added the sugar, continue to simmer until it starts to cook down and gel. (You can see that when it's the right consistency it begins to stick to the edges of the pan.) It took me 10 minutes to get it to this point. Now it's time to add a splash (or approximately 1 tablespoon) of Triple Sec. Stir to combine.

5. While the relish is still hot, pour it into a glass container or two. (I found this glass turkey years ago at Williams-Sonoma. I think he's super cute and festive.)

6. Let the relish chill (ideally overnight, but a few hours would do.) Enjoy with your turkey dinner!