As part of our Sense of Community series, "Table Traditions," Ann Marie Baker shared a family recipe referred to as "cranberry relish."
This holiday recipe fits in a small white bowl, on a plate next to a stack of saltine crackers and slices of cheese. The sweetness of the dish mixes with a bright tartness.
“The cranberry relish recipe is a family favorite, and we’ve been having it at the holidays for as long as I can remember," Ann Marie Baker said. "My mother made it my grandmother made it, my great-grandmother made it, and it was always around.”
Ann Marie's family was originally from Northwest Missouri, but her mother lived in Springfield for around 20 years. Ann Marie remembers her mother’s cooking abilities fondly. She says her mother encouraged her to cook, even though the skill didn’t come naturally.
“My mom was an amazing person, a fantastic cook," she recalls. "She made everything that she did look very easy. My mom always told me that if you can read, you can cook. She really believed that, but she was right. As long as you can read, you can cook," she said.
Later in life, she wanted to preserve the recipes of her mother and grandmother.
“The cranberry relish recipe is written on a simple white index card in my mom’s handwriting. As you can see, she’s written a couple things out to the side. And then you can tell it’s been a little wet. When you’re cooking, things get splattered. And so it’s showing some love from being used many times over the years,” she said.
Her mother’s sense of humor shows through in her directions to her daughter.
“She knew that my cooking skills were limited. So, with this recipe, as with a handful of others, she took that into account. In fact, in the cranberry relish recipe, it calls for cranberries, oranges, and sugar. It’s very simple. But with the oranges, the skin is to be included. It’s chopped, along with the cranberries, and included in the finished product. And she actually wrote a note on the side, ‘Please remember to remove the labels.’ From the orange. Ha ha. That was her way of kind of having fun with me, and I think about that and laugh every time I do the recipe,” she said.
Ann Marie Baker's mother passed away 20 years ago from cancer.
In her kitchen, she shows us how the relish is made. She digs through the cabinets, looking for equipment, while she explains the process.
Her instructions are as follows:
“So it’s very simple, after washing the cranberries and the oranges, we would just put them into the bowl of the food processor, and process this just a batch at a time – this is going to be loud. And they chop very quickly. And then just remove the oranges and the cranberries into the mixing bowl. Usually takes two or three batches to get about a quart and a half of berries processed. And then stir in the sugar, mix it very, very well. Pop it in the fridge, let it do its thing. And it’s interesting when it’s first made, it’s rather white. It looks very frosty almost because of all the sugar. But by the second day, that sugar is absorbed, and it’s a very bright, cranberry red color, so it’s a beautiful addition to a holiday table.”
She says the relish is served around Thanksgiving and Christmastime. She says her family created traditions surrounding this dish, which shows how important it’s become.
“But if the cranberry relish were not on the table, it was a problem. In fact, sometimes, she would hold it back and sometimes I’ve held it back and pretend to have forgotten. And my dad, or my husband, would stop the process and say ‘No cranberry relish?! Oh, that’s right, it’s still in the fridge.’ So we kind of had fun with that sometimes,” she said.
Other holiday traditions her family practices are the large Christmas meal, followed by Christmas shopping. The Bakers listen to a variety of Christmas music, from classic tunes to a capella artists like Pentatonix and Straight No Chaser.
Ann Marie and her husband have a son, Alex, who’s studying computer science and finance at Washington University in St. Louis. When I ask if she’ll teach him the cranberry relish recipe, she says he’s found another holiday dish he’s great at cooking: pie.
“He’s not made the cranberry relish, but anybody can make that, but not anybody can make a great pie,” she said.
She is the first to admit that her favorite part of the holiday season isn’t cooking.
“I am often asked if I like to cook, if I enjoy cooking, and to be honest, I don’t really enjoy the process of cooking, but I love to eat. And I love to eat good, healthy food, and so, cooking is a part of that. And so I do enjoy that process, of having a nice meal, and healthy meal,” she said.
But she added that the recipes her mother wrote for her keep her mother close each holiday season.
“It connects me with her through the food, and through the recipe, and how she wrote it down, knowing at the time I was not a skilled cook. And she was able to poke fun of that, for me, with me, by this recipe and a couple of others as well. And that just reminds me of her sense of humor,” she said.
