Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Ginger Pear Cranberry Sauce – Making Your Holidays More Difficult, One Condiment at a Time

You would think the vast majority of the visitors to this blog would be fine with me posting a new holiday cranberry sauce every year, but apparently that’s not the case. 

After posting the tease picture for this lovely ginger, pear, cranberry sauce, I received a bunch of comments and emails with the same basic message, “please don’t, you’re confusing us.”

Evidently, some people like our past cranberry sauce recipes so much, that they don’t know if they should stick with them, or try a new version. It’s causing quite the dilemma. Do you go with the one you know you love, and that garnered so many compliments, or do you try something new and risk it all?

Sorry, I really can’t help you decide, but at least let me make an already tough call, even tougher. This gingery, pear-studded cranberry sauce was simply amazing. I’ve been wanting to try pear in a cranberry sauce forever, and this was so fantastic that I’m a little upset I waited this long.

Anyway, I hope your Thanksgiving menu is shaping up nicely, and that tomorrow will bring a table full of fabulous food. Whether you use this cranberry sauce, or an older version, or heaven help us, one from another blog, I hope you and your family have a great holiday. Enjoy!


Ingredients for about 2 cups:
12 oz fresh whole cranberries
1 large bosc pear, peeled, diced
2 oz candied ginger, minced
zest of 1 large orange
1 cup fresh orange juice
1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 tsp garam masala (an Indian-style curry spice blend)

24 comments:

damien ang said...

nice

Unknown said...

Any substitute for star anise? It will be challenging for me to get it before Thanksgiving.

Chef John said...

Use a few cloves maybe?

Travis said...

How did you not say we are the boss of our sauce!? That was a gimme Chef John, otherwise wonderful video!

Chef John said...

I try not to use the exact same lines in every video. :)

Travis said...

How did you not say we are the boss of our sauce!? That was a gimme Chef John, otherwise excellent video (and sauce).

Tom from Fogtown said...

Just made this, Chef John!! Delicious!! I can't wait to serve this to my family tomorrow!!!

Food Junkie said...

Sounds good. While I do like the canned jelly, and what is more festive than ribbed, red cylinder decorating your table, home made cranberry sauce is dead simple to make and so much tastier. I have a few cranberries left in the fridge so I may just have to try this, it sound so good.

Vincent said...

If not from you, who did I hear the sundae idea from? I mean, I'm a modest guy, I'm not gonna take credit for something I didn't invent.

Anonymous said...

...This is a lawsuit waiting to happen...(ROTFLMAO)! Yet So True!

Notque said...

Made this, as well as your Pumpkin Pie, Carmel Apple Pie, Sweet Potato Casserole, and mashed potatoes.

Was going to do the stuffing as well, but we have some anti-mushroom folks here.

Thanks for your great recipes. This is chilled in the fridge, and has a lovely Indian feel to it with the Garam Masala.

To match a bit, I added some cardamom to the top of the sweet potato casserole pistachio crust.

Notque said...

Made this as well as many of your other dishes for Thanksgiving. The Garam Masala is distinctive and interesting in this.

Went ahead and added cardamom to the pistachio crust of the sweet potato casserole as well to go with the flavor themes.

Can't wait to dig in. Thanks Chef John!

Pure Package said...

first of all i would like to thank you for chef john. Delicious!! cranberry sauce. I love the recipe.I have bookmarked your site in my browser to check back whenever you update your blog with another useful post. Keep up the good work.

Diet meals delivered

Stephanie said...

Oooh, now I want a winter sundae!

Kay said...

A classic cheesecake with a hit of your ginger pear cranberry sauce on top. Yes, I'm going there.

Unknown said...

Chef John, did I mention how awesome your video recipes are? Well, if I didn't, "They're awesome!!!" So I, correction, my Mom (pressured by me), made this recipe and it was amazing. Truly, we ditched the can kind and replaced it with this home made recipe. It was so much more original, just like the rest of our dinner. Thank you!!!

Marshalrusty said...

Hi Chef John,

The recipe says 2oz of candied ginger, but it doesn't seem like you're using anywhere near as much in the video (I'd say 0.5oz tops). Is it really 2oz?

Thanks!

- Yuriy

Chef John said...

2 oz is correct!

sabrina said...

hi Chef John. I made your recipe for thanksgiving. Everyone loved it. I just saw your video on how to make cranberry dressing with mustard and will try it soon with the leftover. Love your videos. It's helped me learn to cook.

Anonymous said...

How much cinnamon when your grocery store is out of cinnamon sticks?

Unknown said...

How much ginger root as a sub to the candied? Can't seem to find it. Sorry to be that guy. Thanks Chef John! Awesome as always.

Unknown said...

Hey Chef John !! This turned out to be amazing !! All my friends loved it.

Unknown said...

Hey Chef John, this turned out to be amazing !! All of my friends loved it !!

George Moan said...

This is amazing! Thank you Chef John, everybody was remarked about it. This was the first time I've ever tried cranberry sauce, but I heard that this is way better than the canned version.