Our Favorite Cranberry Sauce Is Spiked Cranberry Sauce
Tony Nik’s is the kind of bar with family photos everywhere you look. On the wall, the owner’s father as a baby, back in the Twenties. On another wall, the owner’s grandparents, who ran a laundry (but made wine and maybe other things in the basement) until Prohibition ended in ‘33. It’s the kind of bar where neighbors stop in with their dogs, mid-walk, and the bartender asks everyone (even first-timers, even former-strangers) about their Thanksgiving plans.
I loved going to that bar when I lived in San Francisco. And I wasn’t the only one, so sometimes I’d run into friends there, like Andie Ferman, who works at Junipero Gin producer Hotaling & Co. One night in mid-November, two drinks in, she changed my Thanksgiving menu forever with one short sentence: “I put gin in my cranberry sauce,” she said. I’d never done much beyond blending in a peel-on clementine, and I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea.
On one hand, spiking your cranberry sauce isn’t all that crazy. Most baking extracts, after all, start out as flavoring (say, vanilla pods) macerated and/or percolated in an alcoholic solution. And while the details are a little different, gin is another alcoholic vehicle for flavorings—usually juniper and herbs, citrus peel and spices. So it’s not really all that strange to tip a little gin into a holiday dish to add a touch of piney, crisp-winter-day flavor.
I’ve found that gin works particularly well in a fresh Thanksgiving cranberry relish (especially one with a little orange in it). I like to start with 1 ½ teaspoons for every cup of finished relish; mix it all together and taste. That may be all you need, or you may want to dribble in another teaspoon or two. Your results will vary depending on your relish recipe as well as the gin you choose (if you go with an old-school Old Tom style gin, which is slightly sweet, you may want to dial down the sugar by a teaspoon or two then adjust to taste as needed once the gin is in). Could you do a touch of orange liqueur in there, as well? I’m certainly not going to stop you. (Again, most orange liqueurs are sweetened, so you’ll want to adjust the relish recipe a bit first.)
You can add gin (or even good tequila) to cooked cranberry sauces, too, though the slightly sweeter, deeper notes of the cooked fruit have another perfect partner: whiskey. Our Turkey Day guru Anna Stockwell calls for bourbon in her cranberry-cherry-cider compote, and it’s a glorious addition, contributing a touch of warmth and vanilla-y barrel-aged flavor. That sauce is a part of our complete Thanksgiving menu, and I’m tempted to try it with a mix of bourbon and Scotch, since I happen to have both around, and the peated whiskey will add a whisper of smoke.
Of course, this boozy sauce move comes with an obvious caveat: if your guests don’t drink, don’t serve them alcohol. If some of your guests drink, divide your sauce in two bowls before spiking, add spirits to just one, and label the booze-laced version clearly. (Keep out of reach of children, too.)
But for those who are tippling, spiking your cranberry sauce creates a flavor bridge, inviting you into another sip of your Scotchy Boulevardier or your tart and fizzy French 75. And even without a cocktail pairing, seasoning your cranberries with booze makes for a meal that’s just a little more flavorful, a little more festive, and a lot more spirited.
Originally Appeared on Epicurious
