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Holiday Classic: Gravy & Cranberry Sauce

Published: Nov 25, 2015 · Modified: Feb 3, 2021 by Michael Ruhlman · 10 Comments

Cranberry-Sauce

Cranberry sauce, an essential side dish at any Thanksgiving dinner. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

My dad made this cranberry sauce when my daughter was very young. He was mystified, as I recall, having never cooked cranberries before, always used the kind with can-ribs, sliceable. That his granddaughter loved it made it very special to him. He continued to make it. His granddaughter is no longer four but rather seventeen and she will be making it this year (and so did I, because I wanted to share it in this post and think of my dad while it cooked). It's really simple, can be done today or the day of (or several days ahead, next year). Just throw everything in the pot, bring it to a simmer, and set a timer for 90 minutes. It will thicken up, but you may want to give it another 20 minutes if it's soupy (you can always add more water, what you cooked out of it, if you find it's too thick when it's chilled). Make real cranberry sauce. It goes fabulously well with turkey and everything else. There's a reason for it; the unique berries grew in America on the East Coast where this whole thing, meaning, um, America, began. Tomorrow the entire country celebrates our singular food-centered gift: this free country and free speech that we must honor and cherish and protect and rejoice in (despite our differences, and they are vast, happily).

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

The cranberry sauce is done or it's not going to happen. Time to think about gravy, the easiest part of the meal (if you made good stock), and what brings the meal together. People freak out about gravy. I don’t know why. Gravy is easy as pie. Actually, easier than pie. All it is is a delicious, rich stock thickened with flour. In cooking school, they call it velouté, French for velvety. You take a great stock and give it a velvety texture. Flour-thickened sauces got a bad name when bad “French” restaurants served heavy, badly made sauces. Properly prepared, flour-thickened sauces are light, flavorful, and refreshing. I prefer them to heavy reductions, which, prepared thoughtlessly, are gluey with protein and make the tongue stick to the palate. The key is dispersing the flour uniformly through the sauce. We do this by combining the fat (butter or rendered chicken or turkey fat) so that the granules of flour are each coated with fat to prevent their clumping together. We accomplish this by adding flour to the fat and stirring. But we want to do more than just coat the flour. We want to cook it, too, so that you don’t taste any raw flour. Flour can be cooked pale (it will smell like pie crust), or it can be deeply browned, which gives it a wonderful nutty flavor but reduces its thickening power. (Someday I should do a quick plain roux video to show how easy it is, starting with equal parts fat and flour by volume, then adding more flour till you have a thin paste—3 parts flour to 2 parts fat is ideal if measuring by weight, but for small quantities, by eye is fine.) The below gravy is simply minced onion cooked in the rendered chicken fat; flour is added and cooked; stock is added and brought to a simmer as the flour absorbs the liquid and expands in the heat to thicken the sauce. Skimming foam is key for a good for smooth velvety finish (that’s one of our new offset spoons in the last photo, for basting, tasting, and skimming!). Flavor it any way you want. Sage? Chopped giblets? Sautéed mushrooms? Go for it. White wine is always a good idea for acidity and flavor. Season to taste with salt and a few drops of lemon or vinegar. You can make this any time of the day and keep it on a low burner or do it the night before and refrigerate. But the most important thing? Make loads—it’s one of the best parts of the meal and it helps to keep the food hot! Many a dry turkey breast has been saved by delicious gravy.

Gravy is nothing more than flour-thickened stock. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.

 

Stock-1   1. In a medium saucepan, combine the onion and fat over medium heat and cook until the onions are completely tender and just beginning to brown (if you want to brown them, go ahead), 5 or 10 minutes.   Stock-2   2. If you want a thin gravy, add 4 tablespoons of flour, for a thicker gravy, add 6 tablespoons. Continue to cook the onions with the flour till the flour lightly browns and loses its raw smell.   Stock-4   3. Turn the burner to high and pour in the stock, whisking continuously as you do.   Stock-5   4. Keep cooking until the gravy comes to a boil and thickens. Season with salt to taste. Skim and discard any foam that collects on the side of the pan. Add a few drops of lemon juice or white wine vinegar.   Gravy is nothing more than flour-thickened stock. Photo by Donna Turner Ruhlman.   5. Taste. Does it need more acidity or salt? Add it. Would you like to put pepper in it? Go ahead, it's your gravy. Fan of giblets? If you roasted the gizzard and heart with the turkey, chop those up and add those. Too thick? Add a little more stock from the cool cooking method I posted on Monday. Too thin? Either make a quick roux of fat and flour and add that or a slurry of cornstarch and water. When it's perfect, it can keep warm for ages, covered, while you work on the rest of dinner. Serve piping hot.   Stock-7     If you liked this post on Gravy and Cranberry Sauce, check out these other Thanksgiving posts:

  • My recent pots on Holiday Dressing, Roasted & Braised Turkey and Roasted Vegetables and Potato Gratin.
  • My other holiday recipes Butternut Squash Soup, aged eggnog, and easy turkey stock.
  • Wisconsin grows the most cranberries in the USA, learn more about this fruit that floats.
  • Want a different seasoned gravy for Thanksgiving try one of these.

© 2015 Michael Ruhlman. Photo © 2015 Donna Turner-Ruhlman. All rights reserved.

Cranberry Sauce for my Dad

Print Recipe
Course sauce
Servings 2 cups

Ingredients
  

  • 1 12-ounce bag of cranberries
  • orange juice to cover about 2 cups
  • ¼ Meyer's rum
  • ¾ cup brown sugar less if you like tart, more if you've got a serious sweet tooth
  • pinch of salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • 2 tbsp Grand Marnier optional
  • zest from half an orange

Instructions
 

  • Combine all ingredients except the Grand Marnier and orange zest in a pot. Simmer on medium-low to low until thick, about an hour and a half, or until you have 2 cups. Taste, and add more sugar if you wish, but it should be somewhat tart.
  • Allow to cool.
  • Serve cold or at room temperature, adding the Grand Marnier (if using) and, last, the orange zest before serving.

Easy Turkey Gravy with Onion

Print Recipe
Course sauce

Ingredients
  

  • ½ Spanish onion, cut into small dice (½ to ¾ cup)
  • ¼ cup turkey fat or fat saved from a roasted chicken or butter
  • 4-6 tbsp all-purpose flour
  • 1 quart turkey stock
  • salt to taste
  • lemon juice or white wine vinegar to taste

Instructions
 

  • In a medium saucepan, combine the onion and fat over medium heat and cook until the onions are completely tender and just beginning to brown (if you want to brown them, go ahead), 5 or 10 minutes.  
  • If you want a thin gravy, add 4 tablespoons of flour, for a thicker gravy, add 6 tablespoons. Continue to cook the onions with the flour till the flour lightly browns and loses its raw smell. 
  • Turn the burner to high and pour in the stock, whisking continuously as you do.  
  • Keep cooking until the gravy comes to a boil and thickens. Season with salt to taste. Skim and discard any foam that collects on the side of the pan. Add a few drops of lemon juice or white wine vinegar.  
  • Taste. Does it need more acidity or salt? Add it. Would you like to put pepper in it? Go ahead, it's your gravy. Fan of giblets? If you roasted the gizzard and heart with the turkey, chop those up and add those. Too thick? Add a little more stock from the cool cooking method I posted on Monday. Too thin? Either make a quick roux of fat and flour and add that or a slurry of cornstarch and water. When it's perfect, it can keep warm for ages, covered, while you work on the rest of dinner. Serve piping hot.
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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Joan

    November 25, 2015 at 1:19 pm

    No southern woman, ever, put vinegar in her gravy.

    Reply
  2. Allen

    November 25, 2015 at 1:53 pm

    For gravy, is it possible to sub bread for flour?
    Anyone tried this?
    I'm away & have no flour. I have a plethora of butter & bread

    Reply
    • Stuart

      November 25, 2015 at 3:36 pm

      Not really, Allen. The four is cooked with fat to make a roux for thickening, bread won't act the same. Instead, try another thickener - like a starch slurry with cornstarch, arrowroot, or tapioca flour if any of those are easier to get (just mix with as little cold water as it takes to dissolve the starch) - add to the stock, and bring to a boil.

      Reply
  3. Allen

    November 26, 2015 at 4:30 am

    Thank you Stuart,
    I made a trip to the store, $1.99 for a small bag of apf saved the gravy,
    my wife gave it thumbs up & she tells it like it is.
    she is a gravy snob because her mom makes the best.
    Happy thanksgiving all!

    Reply
  4. Brian

    November 27, 2015 at 9:10 am

    My 4th year making this cranberry sauce and it once again was a hit. Even the "i'm not a big fan of cranberry sauce" loved it.

    I think I made too much this year though. Can it be frozen?

    Reply
  5. Plaze

    November 27, 2015 at 11:41 am

    I can see difference between my tongue and yours guys. Czech never mix salty and sweet tastes in one meal. Have a good one.

    Reply
  6. Vidya

    December 10, 2015 at 10:44 am

    Wow, looking yummy, will surely try it,thanks for sharing 🙂 do visit my blog too for more yummy recipes

    Reply
  7. John Strube

    November 18, 2023 at 7:29 pm

    Wife is telling me no onion in gravy, I want to try his exactly…. How can I talk her off the ledge of the Arkansas mountains…

    Reply
    • Michael Ruhlman

      January 11, 2024 at 7:37 pm

      delicate negotiations for sure.

      Reply
  8. john n augustine

    November 23, 2023 at 11:54 pm

    made the cranberry sauce but it turned out very thin and not jellied I believe caused by adding the myers rum

    Reply

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Hi, I'm Michael Ruhlman, an award-winning author and cook who writes about chefs, food and cooking, among other things.

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Hi, I'm Michael Ruhlman, an award-winning author and cook who writes about chefs, food and cooking, among other things.

More about me →

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram

See my books!

Ratio App for iPhone

After I wrote my book Ratio: The Simple Codes Behind the Craft of Everyday Cooking, a colleague and I built a ratio calculator for iPhones that allows you to cook without recipes. For doughs, batters, custards, sauces, stocks and more, simply plug in the amount of one ingredient and the amounts of the other ingredients are instantly calculated. It's also a handy reference for dozens of our most common preparations. ($4.99 in the app store.)

Collaborate

I’ve collaborated on a dozen books, including cookbooks and a memoir. If you'd like to collaborate on a project, please contact my agent, Gail Hochman, [email protected], at Brandt & Hochman Literary Agents, Inc.

For speaking engagements contact, Kip Ludwig, [email protected].

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