Cranberry Jalapeno Relish

How many come to your house at Thanksgiving

I have two six tops, so usually 12. So I have two dining rooms, but they can see each other

Is it too hot? It's yummy! See? Yes! Yeah. I just... Y'all, I am so happy today

Wait, in my 25 years of professionally cooking, there were a lot of people good to me along the way

And so when I see somebody who shares my love of food

I love reaching out to them and bringing them and introducing them to my friends out there

Her name is Christina Garcia. And she's just beautiful

And we want to know everything about you You got three minutes

Oh wow, oh wow, great, thank you No, I'm kidding about the three minutes

And I'll do anything to help you Christina has been kind enough to agree to share

Cranberry sauce with jalapenos Cranberry sauce is one of my favorites I always make my cranberry sauce using fresh berries

Yes. So I'm happy to help you. If you would just instruct me, I will be your kitchen wench for the next few minutes

Well, I'm going to grab a glove here because I'm going to chop these jalapenos and put them in this water that I'm boiling so that I can soften them up like I would do the cranberries

Okay so wait now You putting in a little bit of water Now at this point do you put any sugar in there Yeah we put a scoop of sugar in there One scoop of sugar Just one for now Okay you want it mounted or leveled

That's good. That's good for now. Now, you were actually raised in Texas

In Texas until I was nine, and then I moved to Kansas City. Were you raised in a home that was into American tradition

or was your Mexican traditions really heavy in your family? Oh, y'all, she is leaving the seeds in the alabama

You know what? That was something I was going to say. I should take the seeds out

No, baby. Light up our world. Seriously, and we're going to cook them anyways

Seriously, and I know you don't like stuff real hot, but it'll be good. Well, you know, my husband likes for me to hurt him

He likes for me to make things so hot that he has this dish rag to mop his brow

That's what I do. You do? Yes, I love hot stuff. You know, they say eating hot stuff, y'all, it speeds up your metabolism

So I should be eating jalapenos by the bunch. All right, so I don't think you ever answered my question

so I'm ready to hear everything from you. Growing up, I was always in the kitchens with my aunts and uncles

and it was always part of it from sorting beans to grinding the spices up

and everything was old-fashioned. Did your family become very Americanized, or have y'all kept the Mexican tradition really firm in your home

I still make tamales from scratch. I still make homemade tamales. Are you first generation or second

I am actually second. Second. Second, yes. So, do you have children

I have 18-year-old daughter Selena. I named her after the Tejano music star

She doesn look old enough to have an 18 And then my son Walker is 12 years old and I named him after Walker Texas Ranger Walker Texas Ranger

I love it. So have you ever worked in a restaurant, or were you like me, just home cooking

My mother, when I was really little, she had a restaurant in St. Joe, Missouri

She did. She had actually two. And then my aunt in Texas, she has one

and she's had it since the 70s. it's still real successful. Wow. Now, are these Tex-Mex or..

She's authentic Mexican, yes. Authentic Mexican. It's a very good Mexican restaurant

It's been there forever. Wow. Wow. Yes. So you've been exposed, kind of like me

through family members. I'm going to trade sides with you so you can tend to your dish

Now, this is probably one bag of fresh cranberries. Yes, one pound bag

And you get those in your produce department. And I will make my cranberry sauce very similar, Christina

with water, cranberry, sugar, and I will put the zest of an orange usually in mine

And so I see we're very, very close in our thinking, except this is your twist

So we're picking up what each other's putting down here. She has probably added about a cup and a half of sugar

to this pot, which is about what I do when I'm making mine

Perfect, yes. I think it could stand some more jalapenos. That looks great. Nuh-uh

Yes, I do! I put seeds in there. I love the red and the green, though, you know

The colors. It's almost like jalapeno jelly. Yes. May I start zesting your lime for you? Yes

All right now do you just use the zest or do you do any of the juice I have to use this a little bit I maybe cut a little bit and I might just put a little squeeze in it Okay put a squeeze in there Okay because I do the same thing with the orange

I put a little of the orange juice in there. I love orange cranberries. Now, how many limes do you want me to zest

That's good. Oh, that's good. So just like the zest of one lime

This is looking really nice. Yes, it's looking good. I'm smashing the cranberries just to make it a little bit more

Uh-huh, you're breaking that down. And I'm assuming that you, it looks delicious

I love cranberry sauce. I love, at the end of the day

my favorite part of having turkey is eating a turkey sandwich with white meat

on white bread with a little cranberry sauce on it. Mm-hmm. And a quarter of a cup of mayonnaise

That's good. I like mayo. I like real mayo. I love it

That's good. I'm finally going to be able to get Michael Grover to eat cranberry sauce

It's delicious. You're my new friend. Thank you. I want everybody, I want our friends to taste this

All right, you want to take it? You want to take it over there and let our guests try this

Wait, I don't. This is delicious, y'all. I will be making Christina's hot cranberry sauce

for my husband, Michael, because he likes hot stuff. Woo