Mulled Wine Cranberry Sauce

This may be the second time I've made it, though perhaps the first time documenting it as a blog post. The recipe ratio comes from Bon Appetit November 2005 issue. The amount of wine was too much; the end result tasted too much like boiled wine with cranberries. Also, the amount of sugar was too low; this made the sauce not only taste like wine, but like wine with sour cranberries. And, the orange fruit segments did nothing for the sauce; and added too much texture. My corrections are noted below. I wouldn't necessarily say that I have adapted the recipe, more like I am fixing it's glaring mistakes. I'm not sure that the variety of dry red wine has anything to do with the flavor; after all, this is just a condiment the roast turkey. Cranberry sauces are typically pumped full of sugar (to balance the tartness of the fresh cranberries). I am ambivalent about how this sauce came out. The wine drinkers that sampled it on T-day were pleased with how it tasted and there was a lot of it leftover.

The additional sugar depends on how sour/tart the sauce tastes to you. It may need more or none at all.

Wine used: Woodbridge Merlot

Ingredients

2 navel oranges
One 12-oz bag of fresh cranberries, washed and picked over
6 oz dry red wine
2/3 c brown sugar + up to 1/3 c granulated unbleached cane sugar
2 tbsp crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp ground nutmet

Directions

1. Zest oranges with a fine grater, then juice the oranges.

2. In a medium-sized sauce pan, combine whole cranberries, orange juice, orange zest, wine, sugar, ginger, and spices. Bring to a boil then simmer over low-medium heat until most of the cranberries burst, about 20 minutes, and the sauce has thickened slightly.

2a. Taste the sauce. It is too sour, add more sugar.

3. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Cool to room temperature. Cover and chill until ready to use; or serve warm.

Kitchen Notes:

• This ratio is terrible. Came out tasting very sour and winey.
• The original 1 1/2 c dry red wine was too much liquid.
• Do not make again (note to self).