Cranberry Sauce, Inspired by Quince

By Ben Mims
For Cooking Newbie, a blog for beginner cooks

Every year at Thanksgiving, I’m an unashamed traditionalist. I love the turkey, the giblet gravy and the green bean casserole. And although I love cranberry sauce directly from the can, it’s the one aspect of the Thanksgiving table that I don’t mind breaking from tradition with.

This year, inspired by the plentiful quince trees in my neighborhood, I’m making a spiced cranberry sauce perfumed with the fragrant orchard fruit. Related to apples and pears, quince is my favorite fall and winter fruit, smelling of an intoxicating blend of rose, citrus and sour apple. Unlike apples and pears, however, they cannot be eaten raw; their concrete-like flesh needing heat to yield it soft and tender.

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Starting a New Thanksgiving Tradition

By Katie Barreira

Thirty years ago, my then newlywed parents adopted Thanksgiving as their holiday to host. The blissfully ingenuous pair, along with seasoned sous chef Nana Noonan, undertook a feast for a family of 20.

The meal, an 18-pounder with Challah stuffing, butternut squash bake, creamed pearl onions, Grammie Barreira’s famous mashed potatoes and even the can of jellied cranberry sauce (presented on a silver platter with matching serving utensil) was a hit. It was so good in fact, that the hosts and the menu were penned in as the official bearers of Thanksgiving dinner.

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