By Mark Bittman
- Total Time
- 1¼ hours, or more
- Rating
- 4(298)
- Notes
- Read community notes
There's more to the cranberry than sauce, you know, and this simple roast is happy, yet unexpected, proof. Its preparation is as simple as can be: generously dust the meat with sugar then sear in a skillet. Once browned, toss in a bag of cranberries, orange peel, orange juice, a good half cup of sherry vinegar and a pinch of cayenne. Cover and simmer until tender. It's a lively, perfectly-balanced, cold-weather meal. It also makes a mercifully easy Christmas main.
Featured in: THE MINIMALIST; A New Partner For Cranberries
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Ingredients
Yield:4 to 6 servings
- 1tablespoon butter or extra-virgin olive oil
- ½cup sugar
- 12-pound piece beef tenderloin, or 3-pound piece chuck or brisket
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- ½cup sherry vinegar or good wine vinegar
- 112-ounce bag cranberries
- 1orange
- Cayenne, to taste
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Preparation
Step
1
Put butter or oil in a casserole or skillet with a lid, and turn heat to medium-high. Put sugar on a plate, and dredge meat in it on all sides; reserve remaining sugar. When butter foam subsides or oil is hot, brown meat on all sides, seasoning it with salt and pepper as it browns.
Step
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When meat is nicely browned, add vinegar, and cook a minute, stirring, then add cranberries and remaining sugar, and stir. Strip zest from orange (you can do it in broad strips, with a small knife or vegetable peeler), and add it to pot; juice orange, and add juice also, along with a pinch of cayenne. Turn heat to low, and cover pan; mixture should bubble but not furiously.
Step
3
Cook, turning meat and stirring about every 30 minutes. Tenderloin will be medium-rare in about 1 hour, or when its internal temperature is 125 to 130 degrees; cook it longer if you want it more done. Chuck or brisket will take 2 hours or longer; it is done when tender. Taste, and adjust seasoning if necessary. Turn off heat, and let roast rest for a few minutes, then carve and serve, with sauce.
Ratings
4
out of 5
298
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Cooking Notes
Gila
This worked nicely with both brisket and chuck roast, done in the Instant Pot (60 minutes at pressure, 20 minutes natural pressure release) without further modifications. The cranberries themselves were too tart for me and several others in the crowd, but the meat was delicious.
Karen
Delicious. Used a rump roast, but a chuck would be better. Braised in oven at 325 for about 30 minutes/lb.
Deborah Yetter
This is wonderful with a center cut pork roast. Have it every Christmas.
Barbara Wheeler
A technique to avoid the burnt sugar mess, from an old Gourmet cookbook: Salt and pepper the beef and brown on all sides, then sprinkle each (large) side with a half teaspoon or so of sugar and sear again very briefly (in the Gourmet recipe, for stew, each side was sprinkled at the same time with a teaspoon of flour). This provides the extra caramelization on the surface of the meat without leaving rock-hard caramel on the pan. The sugar specified in this recipe would then go into the sauce.
LeeBee
I have been serving this roast for my giant Hanukkah party every year since I first found it in Mark Bittman's earlier cookbook. 15+ years. I use brisket and after cooking in advance and freezing, I reheat it the day of the party so it cooks twice and is a huge hit. I've stopped coating the meat with sugar after too many burned pots. I just add the sugar with the other ingredients.
Francie
Our family loved this. I used 3 pound grass fed chuck roast, browned it in olive oil (with S,P, and 1 teaspoon sugar), then put it into slow cooker and deglazed pan with red wine vinegar, orange juice, orange peel, sugar, cayenne. Added teaspoons of sugar judiciously as I added cranberries to the sauce, gradually. This will be a good, simple fall and Christmas meal, using two roasts or a larger one. I was afraid it would lack flavor without onion, garlic, or herbs, but it was delicious.
rosalind
Less sugar!!Caramelized onionsCarrots
Kathy
No fresh cranberries in March, so I subbed a can of whole berry cranberry sauce and skipped the sugar. Cooked until I could shred the beef and threw in some sautéed mushrooms at the end. Husband loved it.
Oregon
5stars excellent. I used a 2lb vension hind roast and 2lb beef chuck steak. Same pan. I followed another reviewer's idea to salt and pepper, then sprinkle sugar on all sides before searing. Great sear color and a clean pan. I then put it in the roaster w the sauce ingredients w foil and tight cover at 170 for 3 hrs. I was very nervous about overcooking it, but it was beautiful medium rare. My guests loved it! Will definitely do again!
Gail
I prepared this in an Instant Pot, and it cooked nicely. However, the sauce was intensely sour (from the cranberries) and bitter (from the orange peel, which may have been the fault of the particular oranges I bought). In order to make it palatable I had to add brown sugar, raisins, and prunes to the sauce, along with some ketchup. My family found it very unpleasant in its original incarnation.
rosalind
Less sugar!!Caramelized onionsCarrots
Adele
I added a cup of beef broth and used both white and brown sugar. Turned out delicious.
VicJane
I used 1/4 tsp orange oil instead of zest and juice; served on brown rice. Because I really like cranberries, I buy a lot when they’re in season, but if I had none, I’d use dried—you wouldn’t need to pre-soak since there’s enough liquid in this dish.
LeeBee
I have been serving this roast for my giant Hanukkah party every year since I first found it in Mark Bittman's earlier cookbook. 15+ years. I use brisket and after cooking in advance and freezing, I reheat it the day of the party so it cooks twice and is a huge hit. I've stopped coating the meat with sugar after too many burned pots. I just add the sugar with the other ingredients.
LeeBee
I've been making this every year with brisket for about 15 years for our big family Hanukkah party. I've tried many variations to avoid the burnt sugar problem including not dusting with sugar at all and just adding it to the pot. I always make it in advance and freeze it. The morning of the party, having defrosted it overnight, I slice it and put it in the oven to reheat. The double braising makes it even more incredibly delicious. Everyone loves it and begs for the recipe.
Francie
Our family loved this. I used 3 pound grass fed chuck roast, browned it in olive oil (with S,P, and 1 teaspoon sugar), then put it into slow cooker and deglazed pan with red wine vinegar, orange juice, orange peel, sugar, cayenne. Added teaspoons of sugar judiciously as I added cranberries to the sauce, gradually. This will be a good, simple fall and Christmas meal, using two roasts or a larger one. I was afraid it would lack flavor without onion, garlic, or herbs, but it was delicious.
Joanna
Combination of flavors just did not work for me. Weird.
Sandy
Delicious and easy, with 1300 gram elk shoulder muscle (essentially the bicep). Sauce takes care of the inherent dryness (no intramuscular fat) of the elk. Next time I would use half the sugar and braise in oven(instead of on stove top and turning every 1/2 hour).
linda
Do not have access to fresh cranberries or frozen. Would unsweetened dried cranberries work? What could I substitute?
Kristin
I bed seedless red grapes would work better than dried cranberries. Or golden raisins? Dried cranberries are probably too dry.
Mary Rose
Used a chuck roast and did stove top method as described in the recipe. The results were delicious, but not as tender as I had hoped. Will definitely try the braising method next time and let it cook on low heat in the oven. But, it is a keeper and we’ll make it again.
Susan Semel
Could you use Splenda for a diabetic instead of sugar?
anniea
Is the meat supposed to look raw? It looks so unappetizing.
twwren
Agree. Photo looks like a plate of roof shingles. Sorry, but it does.
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