Cranberry Sauce From Scratch, A Lesson in Compote

A sweet bowl of lies.

Here’s a holiday secret: cranberry sauce isn’t a sauce at all. It’s a compote. Yup, the same kind of compote you might serve on top of a slice of cheesecake or a stack of waffles. That is, it is simply a fruit cooked in syrup. Making a compote is similar to making a jam, and instead of using packaged pectin we’ll be using apple for that jelly-like quality.

Why the distinction before the recipe? Because I embrace the compote-osity of my cranberry “sauce” and don’t serve it over turkey, I serve it on the side as a companion to dessert items and treat it as such by adding toasted walnuts for texture. I am completely transparent in my love for sour fruits, however, and urge you to eat your “sauce” how you see fit!

The Ingredients:

• 1 lb bag of fresh cranberries

• 1 medium apple, diced

• 2 - 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar

• 1 1/2 cups water

• 1/2 cup orange juice (fresh squeezed from two oranges preferred)

• The zest of two oranges

• 2 tsp ground cinnamon

• Pinch of nutmeg

• Pinch of cloves

• Pinch of salt

• A little squeeze of lemon juice

  (Optional)

• 1 cup of walnut pieces, toasted

Prep-work/tips:

Don’t forget to rinse all of your fruit, including the cranberries!

You can juice an orange without a juicer. Before you zest your oranges, roll them around on the counter firmly to break up the membranes around the fruit’s juice capsules. Doing this for a few minutes will make the fruit feel softer to the touch. You can also use a pair of kitchen tongs to get a good grip on them for juicing once you’ve cut the orange in half.

To zest an orange, you will need to use a rasp or a grater with fine holes (the small size of a box cheese grater will work) to remove the colored outer skin, otherwise known as “the zest”. Be careful not to cut into the white part underneath the skin, this is called the pith and it is very bitter.

To toast your walnuts, place them on an ungreased baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for 5-7 minutes. It’s not an exact science, just pull them when they smell good and have a bit of color. This brings the nuttiness out and brings the natural oils to the surface. Raw nuts will taste a little bitter which is why I recommend this step any time you’re adding nuts to a recipe.

The recipe:

1. Combine sugar, orange juice, and water in a large saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar into a syrup.

2. Once the syrup is boiling, add the whole cranberries, orange zest, pinch of salt, and your cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

3. Reduce pot to a simmer and allow the cranberries to open, you will hear a “pop!” like popcorn. This can take anywhere from 8-10 minutes for all of the cranberries to burst, just take your time and stir so the sugars don’t burn at the bottom. Once most of the berries are open you can use a wooden spoon to burst the stubborn ones.

4. Add your diced apples and allow to cook for a few more minutes, this will release the pectin in the apples and make your compote more jelly-like.

5. (Optional) Reduce the heat to low and stir in your toasted walnut pieces. The oils from the walnuts will velvet your compote and make it glossy.

6. Reduce your heat gradually and continue stirring until cool, scraping down the sides as you stir. This step is important for anything sugar syrup based, it prevents crystallization of your compote and keeps you from having a crunchy sauce after refrigeration.

And there you have it! I recommend tasting your cranberry compote after you add in the apples but before you start the cooling process to see if it needs any more spices or sugar. If you decide to add in additional sugar to taste, don’t just dump the sugar straight in the pot—combine another 1/4 cup sugar with 1/4 cup hot water and allow it to dissolve before you add it so you don’t get any crystallization started in your dish.

Happy Cooking!

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Turkey Talk: The Spatchcock

I know what you’re thinking. The what now? Spatchcock. Funny word, amazing way to cook a bird. Spatchcocking is usually reserved for roasting a chicken but I highly recommend trying it on your turkey this Thanksgiving!

To spatchcock a bird is to remove it’s backbone and break the keel and breastbone so the bird lays flat on the pan. This method not only removes the dreaded cavity from the equation (to stuff or not to stuff, that is the question) but it also allows all of the meat to come in contact with your aromatics and cook more evenly. The result is a juicy, tender turkey in almost half the time it takes to roast traditionally.

I recommend preparing your workspace and your ingredients before you get started. Let your turkey sit out and warm up a little on the counter while you prepare your spice blend and aromatics; your bird has spent a lot of time chilling in the fridge as you defrosted it and putting a cold turkey in the oven will just increase your cooking time.

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Spices and aromatics incoming.

Also, remove and throw away the turkey timer that comes with your turkey! A kitchen thermometer is a good investment and it will serve you well in many a cooking venture, it’s much more accurate and those turkey timers tell big fat lies.

For this turkey I used olive oil and the following mix of herbs and spices:

• Rosemary

• Thyme

• Tarragon

• Basil

• Granulated garlic

• Seasoned salt

• Cracked black pepper

• Himalayan pink salt

I find spice blends to be a personal preference so I’ll very rarely list amounts on this blog but the spices listed above are all a good foundation for poultry. Thyme and tarragon in particular lend themselves well to the flavors of chicken and turkey, and you can never go wrong with garlic and black pepper. Also, use more salt than you think is necessarily proper, volumetrically the same amount as your spices—while commercially available turkeys are typically salt-water injected to plump up the meat (same goes for chickens!), it’s still a lot of meat to flavor and penetrate while cooking.

A little aside on cooking fats: I used olive oil for this bird but you can use butter or rendered bacon fat, really any cooking oil that you desire. Buttered birds come out wonderfully and if I weren’t allergic to dairy I would be demonstrating this bird with butter so feel free to give it a try! Oil/fat is a necessary step, though, to get a crispy, juicy bird so don’t skip it, whatever you choose to use.

Now, it’s time to prepare your aromatics.

What are aromatics, you may be wondering? That’s the stuff you put in the bottom of the pan to make your roasts tastier. Just like adding carrots and onions (that you will inevitably throw away) under a pot roast, aromatics are essential in cooking poultry as they make the meat much tastier and juicer than just roasting on a greased pan. Adding aromatics will infuse your meat with a deep base flavor foundation, and for this turkey I chose apple, onion, and lemons but you can get creative here and put a variety of things in your pan! I absolutely recommend giving citrus a try, though, even if it sounds strange to add lemons or oranges to your Thanksgiving turkey; you end up throwing them away after the roast is done, but the flavor it leaves in the meat is just divine. Just give them a good rinse before cutting them up since you’ll be leaving the peel on your citrus fruit for optimal flavor.

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Removing the spine.

Now, on to the spatchcock! To begin, you’re going to want to lay your turkey breast side down on your cutting board. Take a meat cleaver or heavy duty pair of poultry shears and remove the spine. This will take a bit more effort in a turkey since the bones are a fair bit more hardy than in a chicken but I promise you, you can do this and it is worth it!

When the spine has been removed I always like to take a little extra time to clean up the inside of the bird; remove the ribs and any bone fragments that you cut from the spine and, if you’re feeling adventurous and have good dexterity/a sharp knife you can remove the keel (the cartilage behind the bird’s breast meat) and the breast bone. Be very careful not to cut through the breast meat or the skin. This step is not necessary but it will allow you to lay your meat completely flat and you won’t have to bother with the next step:

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Here comes the hard part!

Flip the bird over so the breast side is facing upwards and break the breastbone. For this post I picked up a very large 20 pound turkey and in doing so I made this step a little more difficult on myself (I had to stand on a step-stool Julia Child style to get enough leverage on the bird to break its sternum), you’ll have an easier time of it if you have a smaller turkey but here’s a little tip: if you’re finding the breastbone too difficult to break by willpower alone, flip the bird back over and give the keel a couple whacks with a meat cleaver. Splitting the keel will make it a little easier to break the breastbone. I also recommend dislocating the thighs at this stage so they lay flatter.

Now that your turkey is flattened out, it’s time to spice it up! Pat the turkey dry before getting started—if you leave moisture on your bird (or any meat!) it will have to reach its boiling point before it cooks off the water and starts crisping and you don’t want that.

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Now we’re getting under the skin…

Always, always, always place spices and your chosen fat/oil in between the skin and the meat! While crispy, tasty skin is a treat right out of the oven, you want to make sure the meat is just as flavorful when you’re serving it, so get your salt, spices and oil touching every bit of meat you possibly can. To do this, all you need to do is slip your hand under the skin—you may meet a little resistance but go slow, you don’t want to tear the skin since it keeps the moisture in the bird while it’s roasting. Get the underside of the bird and the inside of the thighs as well. Every bit of the bird you can reach needs to be properly oiled, spiced, and salted.

Arrange your turkey in the pan on top of your aromatics, breast side up, and tuck the wing tips underneath the thighs. Some people opt to cut their wing tips off and truss the wings under the breast but I like the breast meat to lay as flat as possible when spatchcocking. Leaving the wing tips on will allow you to neatly tuck the bird in the pan and lift the thighs a little for more even cooking. Give the bird a final once over with salt and pepper and check that everything is evenly oiled and spiced.

Now, you’re ready to bake!

Typically you can roast a spatchcocked bird on a sheet pan, but this 20 lb big boy was far too large!

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Yes, 450. This allows the skin to start getting crispy and seal over the bird so you’ll end up with juicer breast meat.

Roasting time will depend on the size of your bird, and this is where the kitchen thermometer comes in. You want to roast your turkey until the internal temperature of the breast at the thickest part is 165 degrees. 10 minutes per pound is a good rule of thumb for spatchcock, but you should begin probing for temperature every 15 minutes once your turkey is starting to look golden brown. If the turkey is a perfect color but you need a little more cooking time you can always tent a bit of foil over the skin to protect it, just don’t seal the edges down around your roasting pan or you’ll end up with a soggy bird.

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And there we have it! A perfectly roasted, juicy spatchcocked turkey!

Once your thermometer reads 165 at the breast (your thigh meat will be a bit higher but don’t fret, it’s not as dense as the breast but will still be juicy with all of the prep work we did) remove the turkey from the oven and let it rest on the counter for 15-20 minutes. You’ll be tempted to pick at it or carve it right away but don’t touch it! Resting allows the juices in the meat to settle and if you carve it before it’s had time to rest your meat will not reach its full juiciness potential.

Another tip: save the drippings from the pan and use some of it in your stuffing/dressing to replace the fat. This will bring the flavors of the turkey in to your side dishes, feel free to use it for gravy and a little drizzle in your mashed potatoes will elevate them to Turkey Day Nirvana.

Happy Cooking!

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