Cookin' Canuck - Boozy Cranberry Sauce Recipe w/ Port Wine & Cloves (2024)

FAQs

What is port wine sauce made of? ›

A delicious silky sauce perfect for drizzling over a beef roast or wild game. This sauce is a reduction of a tawny port, red wine and beef stock and is perfect for when you're sharing a special dinner.

You open the can, slide the contents onto a plate, and either slice it into neat rounds, or break it into chunks to serve it. I have known people to eat it with a spoon straught out of the jar. Some people arrange round slices of cranberry sauce on lettuce leaves and top them with mandarin oranges from a can.

Adding a teaspoon or two of fresh lemon or orange zest, a tablespoon of chopped candied peel, or even a splash of juice to your canned sauce will brighten flavors and bring in some homemade flavor.

Port is a Portuguese fortified wine that is made by adding distilled grape spirit, usually brandy, to a wine base. The addition of the high-alcohol spirit stops fermentation and “fortifies” the wine.

Port wine is typically richer, sweeter, heavier, and higher in alcohol content than unfortified wines. This is caused by the addition of distilled grape spirits that fortify the wine, but also halt fermentation before all the sugar is converted to alcohol, and results in a wine that is usually 19% to 20% alcohol.

Cranberry sauce can be served either as a gooey liquid or as a solid jelly. The jellied version is solid enough to retain the shape of the container in which it's placed whereas the sauce version is much more fluid.

Cranberries are also rich in vitamin C and fiber, as well as the metabolism-boosting mineral manganese. And yes, you reap all these benefits whether the cranberry sauce on your holiday table is homemade or canned, jellied or whole-berry.

While you won't taste it, salt helps equalize the sweet-tart flavor of your cranberry sauce while making it a better pairing for the rest of your savory sides and, of course, the turkey.

What thickens cranberry sauce? ›

The sugar in the syrup helps the mixture thicken. It could also be because you haven't cooked the mixture long enough. The cranberries need to cook long enough to burst so that they release plenty of pectin which is a thickener naturally found in cranberries.

One possibility is that you may not have used enough sugar: Sugar helps the sauce firm up, so be sure to use the full amount called for in a recipe. Another possibility is that the cranberries need to boil for longer, releasing their pectin and ensuring a jelly consistency.

Use a dose of citrus

Adding citrus to canned cranberry sauce is an easy way to make it taste more homemade, too, which is always a good thing. A teaspoon of zest from fresh lemon, lime, or orange added to the warmed sauce will release their oils to brighten the sauce and inject a citrusy flavor for a zingy twist.

When to Toss Cranberry Sauce. Cranberry sauce will last for two hours at room temperature. Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for 10 to 14 days. Canned cranberry sauce that has been opened will last up to a week in the fridge.

But that's not the case for prepared cranberry sauces, where prices are up. Lochner pointed out that processors set those prices, not growers, and that there are higher input costs unrelated to berries — like “processing the fruit and getting it to market.”

Port is a medium-tannin wine with notes of ripe, musky berries like raspberry and blackberry, bitter chocolate, and buttery, nutty caramel. Older ports contain concentrated notes of dried fruit, while younger ports taste of lighter-bodied red fruits, like strawberries.

What does Port Wine Taste Like? Port is a sweet wine with flavors of raspberry, blackberry, caramel, cinnamon, and chocolate sauce.

The best Marsala wines come from the region of Italy where the wine gets its name, the area surrounding the city of Marsala. Unlike sherry and port, Marsala has a unique complexity that sets it apart, and since it is made in both dry and sweet varieties, it the perfect choice for cooking, from sweet to savory meals.

Port wine gives a light sweetness and deep color to this sophisticated make-head gravy. Technique tip: This gravy can be made up to five days before you plan to serve it. Store it in the fridge in an airtight container. Swap option: You can substitute red wine and 1 tablespoon honey for the port.