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Tasting Notes
This dish was inspired by the classic sparkling brunch cocktail. The flavors of a mimosa, orange and champagne go very well with tart cranberries.
The champagne helps break down the tough skins of the berries while adding acidity and brightness and the orange juice adds sweetness to the dish. We use the zest of the oranges too, which imparts a slightly bitter note. A vanilla bean lends additional sweetness and fall spices like cloves, star anise and cardamom add spicy notes and bring the rich aromas of Thanksgiving to your kitchen.
Tips & Techniques
- Don’t over-sweeten. We add just enough sugar to balance the tartness of the cranberries without overpowering it. Don’t go overboard with the sugar or the cooked-down cranberries will be too sweet.
- Let it gel. The natural pectin in cranberries will thicken the mixture as it cooks. There is no need to add gelatin or additional pectin to get jelly-like consistency of cranberry sauce.
- Purée by preference. For a very refined sauce, puree the cooked cranberries in a food processor before serving. But if you prefer chunks, you can just puree half the sauce – or skip this step entirely and leave all the berries intact.
Toolbox
These tools are the ones we find especially helpful when making this dish.
- Tea ball. Place tea leaves, herbs or spices inside this spherical mesh infuser to lend their flavors to water, broth or sauce – and then remove the spices with ease. If you don’t have a tea ball, you can save yourself the time of fishing out loose spices by wrapping them in cheesecloth.
Paring knife
Medium pot or high sided sauté pan
Rubber spatula
Mesh tea ball or cheesecloth
Blender or food processor
- 4 cardamom pods
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 star anise
- 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
- 1 quart fresh cranberries (about 1 pound)
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- Zest of 3 oranges, grated on a Microplane grater
- 1 vanilla bean
- 1 cup Champagne
- Juice of 1 orange
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- Kosher salt
Serves: 8
Total Time: 30 minutes
Active Time: 10 minutes
- Tie the cardamom, cloves, and star anise together in a piece of cheese cloth or enclose in a tea ball; set aside. Using a paring knife, split the vanilla bean lengthwise. Using the back of the knife, scrape seeds out.
- Add a medium sauce pot over high heat and add grapeseed oil. Add the cranberries and sugar.
- Add the orange juice, champagne and orange zest and stir to combine. Add the vanilla bean seeds and the vanilla pods (these will impart flavor and be removed prior to serving) to the pot with cranberries. Add the tea ball with spices. Cook until the liquid is reduced, the cranberries are soft and the mixture is very thick, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the tea ball and the vanilla bean pod. Add butter and season lightly with salt. Add butter and season lightly with salt if needed for flavor.
- Let the mixture cool slightly. At this point you can leave the berries whole or purée the sauce in a blender to make it smooth. (For varied texture, purée half and leave the other half chunky).
Make it Tonight
Make a duck bahn mi (Vietnamese sandwich) in your own kitchen. Spread a french roll with cranberries, add sliced seared duck breast, top with julienned carrot, diakon radish and cliantro that has been dressed with Thai vinaigrette