Kitchen Code

It seems that the best recipes are always the ones we never write down. A dash here, a pinch there or until it tastes right are all common enough measurements in my family. I was recently assigned the task of transcribing a few of our favorite Thanksgiving recipes. Loose recipes torn from our favorite magazines, and more commonly ones written on scratch paper, fill the green file folder that holds all of our classic sides, sweets and stuffings.Most of the recipes were easy enough to decipher, but the real challenge came from my mother's cranberry sauce. It reads, ''Skin Dice Pears, 3/4 cups, sugar over pears, put enough water, add clove, allspice and squeeze lemon''. Not entirely cryptic, but certainly troublesome enough to cause confusion. After a quick tutorial from the riddle master herself, I managed to get everything down on paper and most importantly into the pot and on the stove.

Cranberry Sauce with Pears

Ingredients

4 pears, peeled and diced

2 tablespoons of granulated sugar

1 tablespoon of lemon juice

Pinch of ground clove

Pinch of allspice

1 bag of fresh cranberries (cooked according to package instructions)

Method

Place pears and the next 4 ingredients in a medium saucepan. Add enough water so that the pears are just covered. Cook the pears over low heat until they have softened slightly and remove from the heat. In a large stockpot, cook the cranberries according to package instructions. Allow the sauce to cool slightly and while the sauce is still warm add the pears to the cranberries using a slotted spoon. Thin the cranberry sauce with a couple tablespoons of the pear liquid until it reaches your desired consistency. You do not need to use all of the liquid, just enough so that the sauce is slightly thinned. Taste the cranberry sauce and adjust the seasonings as necessary. You may need to add more sugar and/or lemon juice to balance the flavors. At this point, I begin by adding sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and a teaspoon of lemon juice (if necessary), tasting after each addition. As the sauce becomes less tart, I add sugar in teaspoon increments, until it is just right, again tasting after each addition.

Perfect Blueberry Sauce

After much research and taste-testing, I managed to concoct what I believe to be the perfect blueberry sauce. Like any basic fruit sauce, you begin with a base of equal parts sugar and water. To that I toss in a generous helping of fresh blueberries and let the magic begin. I add pure vanilla extract in combination with lemon juice and lemon rind, which gives the sauce a sweet, slightly tart bite. I use both the lemon juice and lemon rind to develop a more complex lemon flavor. The oil from the rind renders a concentrated flavor, while the juice is much milder in comparison. Both of these ingredients are fabulous flavor boosters and you can use the zest virtually anywhere you use the juice. Plus, you don't even need to break out your zester, just toss it in the pot and let it go. I learned this trick courtesy of the fabulous Ina Garten. Now who says television can't be educational? But I digress--back to the sauce. The final ingredient that takes this sauce from good to great is ground nutmeg. If you can get your hands on freshly grated nutmeg, it will be all the more delicious. All you need is a pinch, but it rounds out the flavor perfectly. The end result is a beautifully rich, deep purple sauce, loaded with antioxidents--albeit slightly hidden ones.

Perfect Blueberry Sauce

1 cup of water

1 cup of sugar

1.5 cups of fresh blueberries

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 whole lemon rind

2 tbsp lemon juice

1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Simmer for 15 minutes or until the sauce thickens. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Pour blueberry sauce into a fine-mesh sieve and press on the blueberries to extract all the juices. Discard the solids. Cover and store in the refrigerator.