Cranberry Sauce
First, cranberries don’t have to be grown in bogs, and they are not restricted to New England, New Jersey, Wisconsin, the Pacific Northwest. In the South they can grow in boggy patches along the Appalachian Mountains. Rather pungent tasting raw, they are invariably prepared with sweetening of some sort. The berry became a commodity in the post-Civil War period, and recipes began appearing in southern cookbooks in the 1870s. The berries were available in town grocery stores, vended fresh in open boxes. Here is a treasury of Cranberry Sauce recipes collected by my student Gregory Solomon:
Cranberry Sauce (Housekeeping in Old Virginia 1878)
Stew two quarts cranberries; putting only water enough to keep from sticking to the bottom of the kettle. Keep covered until nearly done, then stir in one quart white sugar, and boil until thick, the color is finer when the sugar is added just before the sauce is done.
Marion Cabell Tyree, “Cranberry Sauce,” Housekeeping in Old Virginia (Louisville, John P. Morton & Co., 1878) p. 206
Cranberry Sauce (La Cuisine Creole 1885)
Stew Cranberries till soft; when soft, stir in sugar; scald a few minutes and strain, or not, just as you please; it is good either way.
Lafcadio Hearn, “Cranberry Sauce,” La Cuisine Creole (New Orleans, F.F. Hansell & Bro., Ltd. 1885) p. 39
Cranberry Sauce (La Cuisine Creole 1885)
Wash and pick a quart of cranberries; put them into a stew-pan, with a teacupful of water, and the same of brown sugar; cover the pan and let them stew gently for one hour; then mash them smooth with a silver spoon; dip a quart bowl in cold water, pour in the stewed cranberries, and leave till cold. Serve with roast pork, ham, turkey or goose.
Lafcadio Hearn, “Cranberry Sauce,” La Cuisine Creole (New Orleans, F.F. Hansell & Bro., Ltd. 1885) p. 46
Frozen Cranberry Sauce (Dishes & Beverages of the Old South 1913)
Gives a new tang to game, roast turkey, capon or duck. Cook a quart of cranberries until very soft in one pint water, strain through coarse sieve, getting all the pulp, add it to one and a half pints sugar, the juice-strained-of four lemons, one quart boiling water, bring it to a boil, skim clean, let cool, and freeze rather soft.
Mrs. R. Heim, “Frozen Cranberry Sauce,” Dishes & Beverages of the Old South (New York, McBride, Nast & Company., 1913) p.197
Cranberry Sauce (The Neighborhood Cook Book 1914)
One quart cranberries, one pint water, one pound sugar. Wash the cranberries in cold water, put them in a porcelain lined kettle with one pint water and boil rapidly ten minutes or until the berries pop; press through a colander and return them to the kettle. Add sugar and stir over the fire until the sugar is thoroughly melted (this will take about two minutes); turn out to cool. Serve with poultry, game, venison or mutton.
Council of Jewish Women, “Cranberry Sauce,” The Neighborhood Cook Book/Comp. Under the Auspices of The Portland Section in 1912 (Portland, Press of Bushlong & Co., 1914) p. 147
Cranberry Sauce (Virginia Cookery-Book 1912)
Put the berries, after carefully picking out defective ones, into a kettle with just enough water to prevent burning, and stew until the whole becomes a homogeneous mass, with no semblance of whole berries, stirring all the time, and then add the clarified sirup previously prepared, and stir a few minutes while boiling. The sirup is made by allowing a quart of water to three pounds of sugar. Allow equal weights of fruit and sugar.
Mary Stuart Smith, “Cranberry Sauce,” Virginia Cookery-Book (New York, Harper & Brothers., 1912) pgs. 111-112
Cranberry Sauce, Sauce aux Airlies (The Picayune Creole Cook Book 1922)
Wash the cranberries in cold water, and pick well, rejecting all those that float on top or are in any manner overripe and spoiled. Put them in a porcelain lined saucepan, with one pint of water, and let them boil over a moderate fire, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon and mashing the fruit as much as possible. When the berries have cooked about twenty minutes, remove the saucepan from the fire, and add the sugar, stirring in sufficient to sweeten nicely. Let them cook at least ten or fifteen minutes longer, after adding the sugar, and put into an earthen bowl, and let the sauce cool. Never strain the sauce. Many do but the Creoles have found that cranberry is a very poor and insipid sauc, compared with that of the whole fruit, when formed into a sauce in an earthen mold. Liquid cranberry is a very poor apology for the dainty crimson mold of the native fruit.
Let them stand at least overnight, or twenty-four hours, in a cool place, before serving. Serve Cranberry Sauce with Roast Turkey.
“Cranberry Sauce, Sauce aux Airlies,” The Picayune Creole Cook Book (New Orleans, The Times-Picayune Publishing Company, 1922) p.145
Cranberry Sauce (New Southern Cook Book 1906)
Put a pint of washed cranberries in a granite sauce-pan. On top of them put a cup of sugar, a wine glass of water; cover closely and cook ten minutes; never stir. Remove scum. They will jelly when cold and are nice.
Cooking School, “Cranberry Sauce,” New Southern Cook Book (Montgomery, Mrs. Kirtland, 1906) p. 26
Cranberry Sauce (New Southern Cook Book 1906)
Wash and pick over one quart of cranberries, put in a granite saucepan with one pint of cold water, cover the saucepan and boil five minutes, press through a colander, add one pint of sugar, stir until dissolved, and turn out to cool.
Mrs. Rover, “Cranberry Sauce,” New Southern Cook Book (Montgomery, Mrs. Kirtland, 1906) p. 26
Cranberry Sauce (New Southern Cook Book 1906)
Wash and pick over two cups of cranberries, put in a small saucepan with half a cup of water, sprinkle over the top one cup of sugar, cover closely and cook ten minutes. Remove scum, but never stir them.
Mrs. Lincoln, “Cranberry Sauce,” New Southern Cook Book (Montgomery, Mrs. Kirtland, 1906) p. 87