Time Commitment
I spent an hour making the homemade cranberry sauce. Prep for the store-bought one, for those unfamiliar, goes: open can, pour onto serving plate, eat.
Leftovers Potential
Either of the sauces can be refrigerated for about two weeks.
What The Testers Said
First let me introduce our panel.
THE HEALTH NUT
A delicate eater, the health nut is calorie conscious but also likes to eat well
THE FOODIE
Calorie agnostic, our foodie judge has a sophisticated palate and a love of cooking
THE DUDE
Ambivalent toward food trends and health concerns, this guy just wants to be fed when he's hungry
THE KID
Between ages of 9 and 12 years old, not jaded, typically not into strong flavors
Testers sampled both cranberry sauces blind, and with turkey. Everyone found the biggest difference between the two to be texture; the homemade sauce had a distinct Jell-O springiness.
The Health Nut: Store-bought. "The homemade's flavor is a little more mild and the texture more gelatinous, which isn't what I'm looking for in a cranberry sauce."
The Foodie: Store-bought. "How can you beat the tangy, sweet flavor of store-bought cranberry sauce? It's a holiday classic."
The Kid: Homemade. "It's just like Jell-O."
The Dude: Store-bought. "Seeing that cylinder of cranberry sauce with the lines still on it from the can just makes me so happy."
The Verdict
Fake It.
Don't fix it if it ain't broke. Granted, the homemade recipe was jellied--not a relish or chutney that brings more complex flavor and texture to the jewel-red berry. But the truth is, jellied cranberry sauce out of the can is a Thanksgiving classic, with a tangy, fruity flavor and pleasing texture that seems to pair perfectly with rich holiday fare. Spending an hour of your precious Thanksgiving prep time making your own just isn't worth it.
--Elizabeth Gunnison
