A safety tip for recipes which call for using a spice bag (or also called bouquet garni) is to tie that string off on the handle of your sauce pot. Mine happens to have a handy dandy hole in the handle, which makes for a perfect way to secure the string far away from my flame!
If you don’t have a hole, you can wind the string up the handle and loop it under itself to keep it safe.
Not only is this a great way to not set a fire, but the string makes for an easy way to pull the Bouquet Garni out of the hot liquid.
If  your recipe calls for a spice bag-bouquet garni, simply take a piece of cheese cloth, double lined, bundle it up like a coin purse, and tie it off with a long piece of kitchen twine or string. Traditional bouquet garni has you simply tie the bundle of herbs together tightly, but some recipes call for loose items like the allspice and peppers in my cranberry sauce, so using the cheesecloth works better in these cases. You can use this technique for both.

Now you have a way to infuse your liquids and sauces easily and safely.

(Click here for the Best Cranberry Sauce Ever!)