This little fish-shaped dish is my family’s cranberry sauce server. It is simply the perfect size for a can of cranberry jelly. I grew up with a clear glass one that my mom still has and a few years ago, when I found this milk glass version at a thrift store for $1.50, I snatched like it was the most valuable thing in the store. To me, it was.
The only wrinkle in this tradition is the fact that I gave up commercially made cranberry sauce a few years ago. I make so many preserves that it seemed silly to continue to buy this particular one. What’s more, most of the store bought stuff is made with high fructose corn syrup, a substance I try to avoid when possible.
So this year, I decided to do something a little silly in order to satisfy my desire to slide a can-shaped tube of cranberry sauce into my little fish dish. I made a batch from scratch and molded it into the can shape using BPA-free cans. I searched out a neutral-tasting food so that the cans wouldn’t impart any additional flavor to the jelly (these cannellini beans were perfect and tasted so good in a batch of sausage and kale soup). I also made sure to find a can that had a flat bottom, so that I could use a can opener on it in the event that the jelly was hesitant to exit the can.
I made a very basic cranberry jelly. Combine 5 cups whole cranberries with 3 cups granulated white sugar, 1 cup apple cider and the juice of 1 lemon in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and cook until the cranberries burst, stirring regularly. If it begins to look too thick, add a splash more water.
Fit a food mill with its finest screen. When cranberries are finished cooking, pour them into the bowl of the food mill and work them through. You could also use a fine mesh sieve and a rubber scraper if you don’t have a food mill. Continue to mill the cranberries until all that remains in the bowl of the food mill is seeds and skins.
Set a wide mouth funnel into your well-cleaned cans and scrape the warm cranberry sauce into the can, leaving a bit of space at the top.
Cover the filled cans with foil or plastic wrap and place them the fridge to set. If you can, give them at least 12 hours of chilling for optimum molding.
Just before you’re ready to serve, gather your equipment. Can of molded cranberry sauce. Butter knife. Can opener. And the all-important fish dish.
Carefully slide the butter knife down along the side of the cranberry jelly and run it in a complete circle to loosen. Take care when you to this so you don’t end up slicing all the can ridges off the jelly. They are part of the joy. Once the sauce has been loosened, invert the can into your dish and give it a little wiggle.
Sometimes the jelly begins to slide out immediately. If it remains stuck, use the can opener to crack the vacuum by beginning to take the bottom off the can. I’ve found that you don’t have to remove it all the way, even just a little bit of air in there helps move things along. Gently slide the cranberry sauce out onto your plate.
Serve with pride, knowing that you’ve managed to maintain a family tradition while sticking to your culinary guns. And, should you be curious, this cranberry jelly recipe is also appropriate for funneling into glass jars and processing in a boiling water bath canning. Ten minutes for pints and half pints will more than do.
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Love it!!
love the milk glass fish!
My husband thinks this is the best thing he’s seen in a very long time.
The cranberry sauce sounds great and I love your fish dish! Happy Thanksgiving:@)
This is fantastic! I may just do this to fool some members of my family who ardently reject my home made cranberry sauce because it “doesn’t taste as good as canned”.
Ha ha! I hope they say how good the cranberry sauce is this year so you can tell them it was home made!
Very cool! I am going to make this. I will try using pectin instead of lemon juice (son is allergic). Thanks for sharing this recipe. Great pics!
Nanci, no need to add pectin. Cranberries are very high in it naturally. The lemon juice is just there for the flavor, not to aid in set.
Absolutely brilliant. Pulling the wool over at Thanksgiving… do you plan to tell guests before or after taking part? You have my thumbs (way) up as an RD!
Cheers,
*Heather*
Heather, because I’m not hosting this year, I think I’ll have to share the news that my cranberry sauce isn’t actually the canned kind. But I’m hoping that the “traditional” shape will encourage people who might not otherwise try a homemade sauce to take a nibble.
You rock my world! This very well may just make Thanksgiving for me!
You. are. a. genius.
That’s all.
xo
Aww, thanks lady!
So awesome! I, too, grew up with the stuff from a can, and miss the shape sometimes, because I avoid the canned stuff for the same reasons as you. Nice work!
This is so retrofabulous! Love!
This is great! While I didn’t grow up with the can shaped cranberry tradition, my husband did and he maintains it as something we need at Thanksgiving dinner. Now we can have the best of both worlds. Love it!
Love the milk glass fish! I have a large version and use it to hold fresh fruit on the kitchen table. Now I need a small one for cranberry sauce which, strangely enough, we eat all year with chicken, turkey, pork, and even beef. Homemade cranberry sauce, of course.
So freaking cool. And, and and: Love the fish plate. Of course it was the most valuable thing in the store!
Okay, is it pathetic that the first thing I did after reading this post was google “Milk glass fish dish”? Seriously…love it!
Also, you are brilliant. My mom makes a chunky cranberry relish for Thanksgiving, but I’ve never liked it…always preferred the taste and texture of the stuff from the can. But this looks like it has just the right texture. And I love the can idea.
If it helps, the little fish dish was made by Glasbake.
Don’t like whole cranberries in my sauce can I strain this for non chunky version? Thanks
This is a strained version. That’s what the food mill is for, it removes the skins and seeds and leaves you with a smooth product.
awesome!!
I love it! I tried my hand at cranberry sauce last year and canned it in wide mouth pints so that it would still slide out in one piece, but it was definitely missing the can ridges. To me and my siblings, cranberry sauce simply must have the can ridges to be “real” cranberry sauce.
So glad you posted this today! I always make the whole cranberry sauce but still buy a can of jellied for the “kids”(coming home from college). My store was out of organic jellied cranberry sauce so this recipe is a lifesaver. I have a traditional serving dish too – a fancy glass dish shaped like a pear that I bought for my mom when I was a little girl. It cost me 25 cents at the “little farm store” that a neighbor had down the road. Traditions mean a lot. Enjoy yours!
Love that, brilliant.
Best post EVER.
Love the idea so fun!
Funny that you did this because my father-in-law tells a story every Thanksgiving of his Mennonite mother would make her cranberry sauce the same way! LoL
OMG you just made my day. My family has this running joke about the cranberry sauce and how it’s the most amazing thing on the table because the chef spent all that time carving the ridges. And for the past few years we’ve just had two cranberry sauces – a good one and one out of the can, just so we don’t ruin the joke. I HAVE to do this now.
Marisa is absolutely brilliant! Love, love it. And, love the plate!
Thanks meg!
That’s fantastic! And a very sweet story about the fish dish – so glad you found your own
Thanks for posting this, I will be trying it.
Just curious, is there any use for the leftover skins/seeds or do you toss them?
I just tossed them. There’s not much leftover and texturally, they’re sort of challenging. However, you could always bake the into a quick bread if you can’t bear any waste.
Hilarious! This is great!
I am definitely going to try this…..my hubby only likes the stuff in a can………YUCK……..BUT even this can fool him!
Searching for food mills – what brand is yours? Couldn’t tell from the handle who’s the manufacturer…. would you recommend? TIA.
I don’t actually recommend my food mill. The first time I used it, all the little legs designed to prop it up on the bowl broke off. I’ve used the OXO food mill in the past and found it to be excellent.
This is just too cool. Thanks for the great idea!
how wonderfully whimsical!!!
I never thought to do this, brilliant! Love that you also found cans without BPA lining. I am also making my own sauce at my in-laws tomorrow, I think most of the family would be more comfortable with it “looking” like it came from a can!
Marisa — I thought about this the other day to fool everyone who turns their nose up at homemade cranberry sauce. I haven’t eaten canned since I’ve made my own. Now I am DEFINITELY doing it — gotta go fish some cans out of the recycle! Love your dish also. Have a nice Thanksgiving.
Love the recipe, but how many cans do you need for this recipe, didn’t see that anywhere.
Oops, sorry about that. It makes two cans.
Nanci: Those were my thoughts exactly!
Is this the same recipe (just larger) as your November ’09 post which you said wouldn’t set up firmly enough to unmold? Maybe the proportions are different? I hope so, because I want to serve this to my “healthy food” averse family. If it has ridges and can be sliced into rounds, my family will love it!
You know what, I was totally wrong about that ’09 jelly not setting up. I’ve since learned that cranberries have tons of pectin and almost always set up.
You are a genius
I don’t have my act together enough to do this this year, but I’m adding it to my list for next year! We never have canned sauce (my mom makes the greatest relish, my grandmother’s recipe) but my dad adores it. Next year, we’ll have both 
Thank you! I needed something to smile about!
This makes my kids and I (as a non-canberry eater) very, very happy.
Marisa, this is hilarious! I think you should wait until after dinner to tell. Love the fish dish!
So you know —
My family has a small farm and is one of Ocean Spray’s suppliers. I am showing them this post, as they will be HUGELY amused.
(We actually made our own relish from scratch, because if you can get the berries direct from your own bog, then…bonus.)
I love this so much! I make my own cranberry sauce and miss the can shape
This makes me so happy. Holidays are all about traditions — from specific dishes to meal presentations (can ridges on cranberry sauce included) — and finding a way to respect your own traditions within a modern lifestyle is so very, very excellent.
[...] cranberry sauce growing up, so I don’t have those great memories (and great plates!) like Marisa. She makes excellent points about all the reasons to skip traditional jellied cranberry sauce [...]
HA! Love this! I also love that milk glass fish! Fantastic!
Ha! This is awesome. Very funny and also very cool at the same time. I never thought about re-canning it.
Yes, I also have family folk who insist on canned cranberry sauce and this would do the trick. Thank you for sharing!
This is AWESOME! Thanks for sharing.
That’s a great idea! It’s a shame that i can’t find fresh cranberries in Italy
Brilliant, just brilliant! I am thankful my friends and family are very happy with my homemade cranberry sauce!