Cranberry sauce is a holiday superhero. Just when your palate needs a break from all that gravy-drenched turkey and stuffing, it swoops in with tart, juicy astringency to clear the clingy richness. It’s a respite for the cook, too, who can step away from the grind of peeling potatoes or rolling pie dough to simply dump berries and sugar in a pot and let it all bubble away.
Behind the Recipes
The Best Cranberry Sauce Is Relish
The easiest part of the Thanksgiving meal just got easier, brighter, and delightfully aromatic.
By and
Published Sept. 23, 2024.
But cranberry relish does all that and more.
Because it’s raw, relish delivers not just bracing acidity and wine-like astringency but also a burst of vibrant aroma that would inevitably get zapped if the fruit were cooked. Plus, the cranberries are usually ground up with chunks of whole orange, which sweeten and soften their sharp edge while enhancing depth and vibrancy. And there’s no better ROI: Chop the ingredients in the food processor, pop the relish in the fridge for an hour or so to let the flavors meld, and serve—or leave it in there for a few days if you want to work ahead.
Grinding a 12-ounce bag of cranberries with half of a skin-on orange, half a cup of sugar, and a pinch of salt yields relish with well-balanced flavor: lively, floral citrus fragrance from the zest; bitter depth from the pith; and moderate acidity from the juicy segments (pH = about 4) that tames the cranberries’ sharp bite (pH = 2.5) so the relish is pleasantly, not mouth-puckeringly, tart. But since oranges range widely in size, I tried a whole clementine instead and was delighted with the results.
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A Case for Clementines
Orange—peel, pith, and all—is a classic component in cranberry relish. The juicy flesh contains significantly less acidity than cranberries and thus tempers their tartness; the bitter pith contributes depth; and the skin adds floral aroma.
But if you want a standout cranberry relish, swap the orange for clementine.
Grinding a whole one into the mix is easy, and its aroma is distinctly tropical and more complex than that of an orange. Both types of citrus contain the flavor compounds limonene (orangey), linalool (floral), pinene (piney), and myrcene (peppery/resiny), but clementine adds the savory, fatty flavor of decadienal as well as the coconutty/woody essence of wine lactone.
Clementines are easier to work with—consistent in size, often seedless, and convenient if you keep them on hand for snacking purposes. But it’s their fragrance that really sold me. The zest contains an exceptionally complex cocktail of aroma compounds that send not just classic orange flavors but also hints of coconut and tropical flowers swirling with each bite.
One other point for flavor and convenience: Use frozen cranberries instead of fresh and your results will be markedly juicier and more tender. Freezing the berries damages their cell walls, so they’re softer and readily release their liquid—a technique similar to one called cryo-blanching, which was developed by chefs Alex Talbot and Aki Kamozawa from the blog Ideas in Food. It’s like cooking without heat, so you get fruit that’s tender without sacrificing any of its volatile aroma.
Plus, frozen cranberries are sold year-round, so the relish need not be seasonal. It’s a great cheese board condiment, for example, and is just the thing to perk up sandwiches or proteins such as salmon, pork, and duck.
Give it a whirl for the holidays—and beyond. It’ll be the most unlikely showstopper on the table.
