something unusual in cranberry sauce?

[serious]

I made two varieties this year, one raw/chopped with sour cream,
horseradish and sugar and one cooked with sugar, crystallized ginger
and orange peel grated. Anyone have something truly unusual or
'unexpected?'

[plum]

I made a raw cranberry relish based on the raw starfruit-mustard oil relish in the Mangoes and Curry Leaves cookbook. It was a surprising twist, but the other guests liked it better than I thought they would and emptied the bowl, leaving the more traditional cranberry sauce the wallflower of the event.

I have a sour tooth, so I chopped up the cranberries with about half a cup of loosely packed dark brown sugar. I left it to macerate while I dealt with the spices. Their recipe calls for heating 2 tbsp mustard oil, and sauteeing black mustard seeds, kalonji and cumin seeds until the mustard seeds pop, and then add in half a cup of chopped shallots and two chopped green chilies. When the shallots go transparent, stir the whole mixture in with the cranberries.

I used 1/2 tsp black mustard seeds, 1/4 tsp kalonji and 1/4 tsp whole cumin seeds. For chilies I used seeded jalapenos because I was afraid it might be too hot for my guests, although for myself I would fast forward to something hotter.

When I first mixed them together it was a little jarring and I wasn't sure about it, but after sitting in the fridge overnight, it was surprisingly well rounded, savoury and not too spicy. The shallots offer a complementary note that goes well with turkey.

[NYchowcook]

cranberry quince chutney -- with quince jelly and the usual chutney ingredients. It's on epicurious website.

[JK Grence the Cosmic Jester]

Champagne cranberry sauce. Just switch out the water in your recipe for champagne. I'll bet it would go nicely with the crystallized ginger and orange one.

[Mission]

Horseradish of course!

[Curmudgeon]

A cup of Zinfandel instead of water and only 3/4 cup sugar. The package recipe. I've been doing this for at least 20 years.

[Rummy]

Chiles de Arbol and just a touch of fresh, squeezed lime, served warm. Perfect with deep fried turkey.

[DiningDiva]

A Manhattan. Make yourself a Manhattan while the cranberries are cooking. Add about half the Manhattan when you take the cranberries off the heat. They get better with age.........

[AnneInMpls]

DiningDiva, I like the way you cook! This sounds like a much easier version of the Bourbon Cranberry Relish that my gourmet friend makes.

Anne

[bananie]

Blueberries-I simmer a bag of cranberries with 1/2 cup water and sugar (to taste). When that's done I throw in a pint of wild blueberries, generally frozen that have been defrosted, and cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg. I usually make it a day or two ahead since it seems to improve that way.

[Leucadian]

Cranberry Chutney from Madhur Jaffrey: this is what cranberries were made for. Ginger, garlic, vinegar, sugar, hot red pepper.

[howboy]

Bourbon

[cacao]

Cooked cranberry chipotle 'salsa'; with tangerine juice, red onion, diced red pepper, and one deseeded, rehydrated, chipotle pepper.

[oakjoan]

I've always been partial to that uncooked one with orange juice and peel processed with cranberries til roughly chopped. I'm sure there are a million recipes out there for this one.

[GG Mora]

Ginger & jalapenos.

[julesrules]

I like to make a chutney with apples, onion, red bell pepper, ginger, garlic, cumin and coriander.

[Ruth Lafler]

Speaking of coriander, I once had an amazingly delicious fresh cranberry relish that included cilantro.

[babette feasts]

Cranberry and gin.

[HaagenDazs]

Curry Powder

[JMF]

Coffee poached pears with cranberries. Make strong sweet black coffee (Plain or with a pinch of cardomom). Poach peeled, sliced pears. Drain, saving poaching liquid for some other use. Tastes great. Cut pears into 1/2 inch pieces.

Cook cranberries with sugar until they pop and sauce gets thick, you can add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, etc. in tiny pinches, but not too much. Combine the two while still hot. Let sit for a few hours then rewarm just prior to serving.

[serious]

That's different..and I like that it's served warm..thanks. I
just made a third I found at epicurious with figs and port.