This jam is tart, sweet, and savory all at once with undertones of rosemary and warm spices. The perfect accompaniment to turkey, pork and duck confit. Jarred up it is the perfect holiday gift to your friends and neighbors, and Thanksgiving host. This is a recipe that you can make well in advance of Thanksgiving, as soon as the cranberries hit the store shelves. So go ahead and check that box off your Holiday prep list.
Cranberry sauce is used to add balance to an otherwise rich meal. I usually find cranberry sauces to be either aggressively sweet or one-dimensionally tart. I prefer fruit sauces that I serve with meats to have savory elements to them: onions, garlic, stock, mushrooms, or herbs.
This recipe is an adaptation to a popular product I made at The Farm Table years ago, Cranberry-Red Onion Marmalade. I have modified and improved this recipe to make it foolproof, easy, safe for the home kitchen and even tastier.
You’ll love this version of cranberry sauce for your Thanksgiving Turkey. It is also delicious with cream cheese and crackers, on toast, with pork, duck, and other poultry, and as an accouterment to cheese and charcuterie platters, especially with pâté, duck rillettes,smoked pork rillettes and creamy cheeses. It can be added to a pan with a little broth or water or booze and butter to make a glaze for pork chops or even butternut squash and root vegetables. You can mix it with some mayo for leftover turkey sandwiches or a delicious chicken salad.
Pro Tip
Use a Tea Ball Strainer in sauces and soups to place whole spices like peppercorns, cloves and other things that you want removed from the final product. Secure the strainer to the handle of the pot with butcher twine to make it easy to retrieve.
Cranberry-Red Onion Jam Recipe
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: About 3 cups 1x
- Category: Condiment
- Method: Boiling
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
This Cranberry Sauce is seasoned with candied red onion, caramel, rosemary, cinnamon, and black pepper. A well-balanced sauce perfect for your Holiday Table.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 medium red onion
1 lb fresh cranberries
1 cup sugar
1 cup water
4 inch stick of cinnamon
1 teaspoon black peppercorns in a tea ball strainer
1 4 inch twig of fresh rosemary
Instructions
Heat the oil over medium-high heat and sauté the red onion until completely soft and starting to brown on the edges.
Stir in the sugar and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until the sugar turns a caramel color.
Stir in the cranberries and then add the water, peppercorn tea ball, and cinnamon stick.
Boil until the cranberries burst and the sauce thickens, stirring down to the bottom frequently, about 10 minutes.
Add the rosemary. Remove from the heat and let the rosemary steep for 10 minutes more. Remove the rosemary, the cinnamon stick and the tea ball with peppercorns.
Refrigerate until ready to use or can it in 8 oz jars in a water bath for long-term storage/ gifting. You can double the recipe to make 6, 8oz jars.
First Published Nov. 20, 2021.
[…] turkey, cranberry-red onion jam, salad […]