I hate losing meals much more than I hate doing dishes—which is saying rather a lot. Part of it’s my guilt that completely good meals should not find yourself within the trash, and a part of it’s simply plain stubbornness.
So after I find yourself with half a jar of this or a random can of that, I’ve gotten inventive about discovering methods to make use of issues up. This behavior has led to some surprisingly good discoveries, however none have been extra versatile than the dregs of a can of cranberry sauce.
Most folks consider cranberry sauce as a Thanksgiving or Christmas aspect dish—and it is a good one. But its distinctive sweet-tart taste additionally makes it an easy shortcut for including advanced layers to mains, dressings, sauces, drinks, and desserts.
Just a spoonful can add seasonal taste to a meal in below two minutes, reworking on a regular basis dishes into one thing just a little extra particular.
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Why I Love Having Cranberry Sauce on Hand
This “vacation condiment” truly solves certainly one of my largest weeknight issues: how you can make easy meals style like I attempted tougher than I did.
This sweet-tart taste profile is actually beneficial in cooking and usually requires a number of elements to get the suitable steadiness. I like that cranberry sauce delivers it in a single ready-made spoonful.
And as a result of the flavour is so concentrated, I solely want a bit to zhuzh up a dish. It’s a simple go-to for including depth to pan sauces, glazes, dressings, and much more.
Tips for Using Cranberry Sauce in Your Everyday Cooking
I like to think about cranberry sauce as a taste booster fairly than a standalone sauce. For instance, after searing hen, pork chops, and even meatballs, I can deglaze the pan with wine or broth and stir in a spoonful or two of cranberry sauce, together with a little bit of butter. Within a few minutes, I’ve a fairly, shiny sauce that smells and tastes scrumptious.
Similarly, I’ll usually toss roasted veggies, particularly Brussels sprouts, with a little bit of olive oil, a spoonful of cranberry sauce, perhaps just a little honey, and a beneficiant sprinkling of salt and pepper to create a simple glaze.
For drinks and desserts, it is the best approach so as to add shade and taste with none further prep. I like shaking it into cocktails. It works nicely shaken with gin, lime juice, a touch of bitters, and plenty of ice.
As a dessert, it may be spooned over vanilla ice cream or Greek yogurt, unfold onto bars, or swirled into muffin batter earlier than baking. If you are working with whole-berry cranberry sauce and need a smoother texture for cocktails or glazes, simply muddle and/or pressure it, or crush it within the pan with a fork.
With the vacation season simply forward, it is a type of issues that may be an enormous time-saver for impromptu entertaining. I wish to whisk it right into a seasonal French dressing, unfold it onto a cheese board alongside brie and crackers, or shake it into cocktails for an easy seasonal drink.
It’s reasonably priced, retains nicely, and can final me weeks if I retailer it in an air-tight container. Now I maintain a can in my pantry always.
