Dana's New Traditional Relish.

This cranberry relish takes the traditional raw cranberry approach and pairs it with apples cooked in a bit of cider and spiced with cinnamon and ground cloves. The contrast between tart raw cranberries and soft, spiced apples gives it more texture and depth than a straightforward cranberry sauce.

The ratio format (1 part cranberries, 2 parts apples, 1 part sugar) means you can scale this to any size without doing math. Making for four people? Use one cup of cranberries, two cups of apples, one cup of sugar. Cooking for a crowd? Just multiply.

Mix everything together, chill, and let the flavors meld. The sugar draws juice from the cranberries while the spiced apples soften the tartness. It gets better the longer it sits.

Kitchen Tips

• Cook the apples in cider just until tender. You want soft pieces, not applesauce. They need to hold their shape when mixed with the cranberries.
• Chop or pulse the raw cranberries in a food processor for a more relish-like texture, or leave them whole for bigger bursts of tart flavor.
• Chill for at least two hours before serving. The sugar needs time to dissolve and the flavors need time to come together.
• This keeps well in the fridge for up to a week, so make it ahead of Thanksgiving.

Variations

• Orange twist: Add grated orange zest and a splash of orange juice to brighten the flavor.
• Nut crunch: Stir in chopped pecans or walnuts before serving for texture alongside turkey.