chestnuts-msg – 1/20/08
Medieval harvesting and use of chestnuts. Roasting. Recipes.
NOTE: See also the files: nuts-msg, soup-msg, flour-msg, almond-milk-msg, hais-msg, comfits-msg, almond-cream-msg, Pynade-art.
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Date: Tue, 07 Oct 1997 22:44:52 -0500
From: Maddie Teller-Kook <meadhbh at io.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Chestnuts Roasting on an...
Bronwynmgn at aol.com wrote:
> My lord and I were given a large bag of chestnuts straight from the tree this
> evening. We have no idea what to do with them. Any suggestions? Are there
> any period recipes in which chestnuts are appropriate, and does anyone know
> how to roast them?
> Brangwayna Morgan
I just got Terence Scully's "Early French Cooking". There is a recipe
for a stuffed pork roast. The stuffing consists of pears, chestnuts,
buttery cheese and seasonings. Looks delicious. I plan to make it for a
dinner in a few weeks. Let ya know how it goes.
meadhbh
Date: Wed, 8 Oct 97 05:05:29 UT
From: "Paul Louis" <pocopup at classic.msn.com>
Subject: RE: SC - Chestnuts Roasting on an...
To roast chestnuts in any kind of quantity, 1st , slice an *x* in the tops
where they are lighter brown. You are cutting through the shell layer in order
to keep the chestnut from exploding when they are roasted. place them on a
sheet tray, and roast in a 375 oven till they open . approx. 10 min. I like
mine with a pinch of salt , other of my friends like them with butter......
Recipies I have played around with include, chestnut ice-cream, using the
roasted chestnuts ground up when baking rye bread, and tossed in a bitter
greens salad with a cranberry vinigrette.
Olga
Date: Wed, 08 Oct 1997 12:23:41 -0400
From: marilyn traber <margali at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: SC - Chestnuts Roasting on an...
> My lord and I were given a large bag of chestnuts straight from the tree this
> evening. We have no idea what to do with them. Any suggestions? Are there
> any period recipes in which chestnuts are appropriate, and does anyone
> know how to roast them?
> Brangwayna Morgan
Take them, cut a small x over the odd patch where they were attatched to
the stem, pop them into boiling water for about 5 minutes or put them
into a mesh fireplace popcorn popper over good hot coals for about 5
minutes, shaking frequently or spread them on a cookie sheet and bake at
450 for about 5 mintues. These will loosen the husk and when cooled
allow you to peel them.
Take the chestnut meats, place into honey and water, poach until soft,
then remove and puree, add spices and a dab of honey and fill small
pastrys or creme puffs with the goo.
If you take the meats, dunk in honey and do the honey roast/fry thing,
they are good rolled in coarsely chopped raw almonds as a taste and
texture contrast.
take the softened chestnuts and coat liberally with buttercream candy
mix[1bag 10x sugar, a flavor extract, enough melted butter to make a
stiff paste] and let the shell harden, they are called nipples of venus
margali
Date: Fri, 25 Aug 2000 23:35:54 -0400
From: Philip & Susan Troy <troy at asan.com>
Subject: Re: SC - interesting URL - food shopping!
> I've found a lovely site that has chestnut flour.
> Any ideas what to do with it?
> www.ethnicgrocer.com
>
> Diana d'Avignon
There's a northern Italian um, I don't know what to call it... a gateau,
perhaps. A big flat cake, or maybe an enormous cookie, made with
chestnut flour and pignoles. Castignacci? I'll have to take a bit to
look up details.
Adamantius
Date: Sat, 26 Aug 2000 12:35:29 EDT
From: DeSevyngy at aol.com
Subject: Re: SC - interesting URL - food shopping!
<< > Diana wrote:
> I've found a lovely site that has chestnut flour.
> Any ideas what to do with it?
Adamantius responded:
<< There's a northern Italian um, I don't know what to call it... a gateau,
perhaps. A big flat cake, or maybe an enormous cookie, made with
chestnut flour and pignoles. Castignacci? I'll have to take a bit to
look up details.
>>
It is, in fact, called Castagnaccio, and resembles the funny cakelike bar
cookies that my mom was so fond of making when I was a kid. I found out
later, she didn't have the patience to spoon out individual cookies and keep
an eye out the window while I was out inventing tackle-asphault-baseball and
games of the kind, so all the dough went in a big pan!
This recipe that I share below is from one of Lorenza de'Medici cookbooks.
While the printing of this recipe is decidedly OOP, the root recipe is a
period one. I do recall several years ago (maybe a decade), seeing this
recipe in a period source book and recalling that is was pretty much
identical to the one I had in Lorenza's book. Unfortunately, this was at a
time when my only interest in the SCA was fighting, hence, I neglected to
even write down the name of the source. Bad Isabeau, no biscuit.
At any rate, the full recipe and authors comments are below. I have made
this recipe several times (every time I have chestnut flour) and it is
fabulous. If you plan on serving it at a feast, I strongly suggest that you
serve it at lunch, freshly out of the oven. It definately get heavy and a
bit greasy when let to sit too long. Also, this recipe for 6 calls for an
11-in non-springform tart pan, although I now have one especially for this
cake, I used a glass 9x13in casserole pan for years with no ill effect to the
texture or baking time of the cake.
Hmm, a dear friend of mine is going to be the chef at our Baronies annual
winter formal feast next year. I wonder if I can bribe her into putting this
cake on the menu?!? <veg>
Isabeau
_________________________________
Castagnaccio
chestnut cake
This is an ancient and very popular cake recipe. Castagnaccio is
often sold in the streets of Florence during autumn and early
winter. It is best when freshly made, and should be served warm.
_________________________________
1/4 cup (1oz/30g) raisins
3 cups (12oz/375g) chestnut flour
2 1/2 cups (20 fl oz/600ml) water
6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
pinch of salt
1/4 cup (1 1/2oz/45g) pine nuts
2 fresh rosemary sprigs, finely chopped
+ Soak the raisins in water to cover for 1 hour.
+ In a bowl, mix the flour, water, 2 tablespoons olive oil
and the salt to form a creamy dough.
+ Add 3 tablespoons pine nuts and the rosemary.
+ Preheat oven to 450*F (230*C). Pour the remaining oil
into an 11-in (27-cm) tart pan (do not use a pan with
removable bottom) and add the dough. Do not pour off
excess oil.
+ Drain the raisins. Sprinkle the dough with the raisins
and the remaining pine nuts. Bake for about 20 minutes or
until the surface of the castagnaccio begins to crack.
+ Pour off the excess oil. Remove castagnaccio from
the pan and serve warm.
__________________________________
serves 6
__________________________________
HL Isabeau de Sevyngy
Squired to Sir Sakura kita no Maikeru
Shire of Gryphon's Lair
Artemisia
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2000 23:32:12 -0700
From: "David Dendy" <ddendy at silk.net>
Subject: Re: SC - Help!!!!
>I am in serious need of some information. I am cooking that Oriental
>feast weekend after next (9/23) and am in need of several ingredients
>which I cannot seem to locate. I hope some one of you will know where I
>can find them:
>[snip]
> Chestnuts
Chestnuts can usually be had, in dried form, in Italian groceries.
Francesco
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 10:08:27 -0400
From: margali <margali at 99main.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Southern California Chestnut resource?
They do make a commercial chestnut paste -
http://causses-cevennes.com/produits/Verfeuille2-UK.htm
my favorite brand. I like the glass jars.
margali
[and the ones soaked in brandy are a great secret ingredient for
stuffing ;-)]
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 17:47:49 -0700
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Southern California Chestnut resource?
>Where in southern California would you find chestnuts this time of year?
>Magnus Grehatta is doing a recipe for the Talanque Tourney this weekend
>that requires a chestnut paste, and we can't seem to find chestnuts.
>
>Surely there is an ethnic grocery or some little place that caters to
>little old ladies that would have such a thing! So far the local British
>food shops have been scoured, the natural food shops, the weird food shops,
>and nobody has chestnuts. Water chesnuts they have aplenty, but not just
>plain old regular chestnuts!!
>
>Maggie MacD.
French. French. French.
Chestnut paste is used in the making of a dessert called a Mont
Blanc. There's a brand in a can - white with brown chestnuts and
green leaves on it - i think it's Clement Faugier. Look in the
gourmet aisle of a good supermarket or in a gourmet shop. Shouldn't
be that hard to find...
Anahita
From: lilinah at earthlink.net
Date: Tue, 19 Jun 2001 19:03:28 -0700
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Southern California Chestnut resource?
>The chestnut stuff that the cook needs has to be sugar free, so the
>packaged pastes won't work in this particular case.
Probably won't be useful to you, but for anyone else...
Clement Faugier make several types of packaged chestnut thingies.
There are "marrons glaces", which are whole chestnuts cooked in and
packaged in sugar syrup. They're often in a glass jar so you can
appreciate how much like miniature pickled brains they look.
Then there are cans of chestnut puree and chestnut paste. One has
sugar. The other is unsweetened. But i forget which.
I think they also make chocolate-covered marrons glacees.
So if anyone else needs unsweetened chestnut paste, you might be able
to use this. All the Japanese chestnut pastes i've seen are
pre-sweetened.
Anahita
Date: Mon, 18 Jun 2001 09:54:39 -0500 (CDT)
From: "Pixel, Queen of Cats" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com>
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Southern California Chestnut resource?
On Mon, 18 Jun 2001, margali wrote:
> They do make a commercial chestnut paste -
>
> http://causses-cevennes.com/produits/Verfeuille2-UK.htm
> my favorite brand. I like the glass jars.
>
> margali
http://coenzymedesign.com/portfolio/chestnut/catalog.htm
They have chestnut paste, and they're in CA. ;-)
Margaret FitzWilliam
Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2001 10:52:50 -0700 (PDT)
From: Huette von Ahrens <ahrenshav at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Southern California Chestnut resource?
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Also, the French word for Chestnut is Marron.
Sometimes it is called Pate de Marron, or something
similar.
Huette
Date: Fri, 18 Apr 2003 18:03:27 -0400
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] chestnuts
From: David Tallan <DTALLAN8500 at rogers.com>
To: SCA-Cooks <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
One possibility is the Viandier's "Soutil brouet d'Angleterre" (Subtle
English Browet):
Grind together chestnuts that have been cooked and peeled, egg yolks cooked
in wine, and a little pork liver, moisten this with a little warm water, and
strain it; grind ginger, [cinnamon,] cloves, [long pepper, grains of
paradise, galingale, spikenard,] and saffron for colour, and boil everything
together.
(Scully translation no. 24, [] indicates material not in Vatican manuscript,
but in one or more of the others).
There are a number of other version of this recipe,
The Menagier de Paris has it (p. M-20 in the Hinson translation).
The Vivendier has it (recipe 23, p. 50 in the Scully translation).
Trait de Cuisine has it (p. T-2 in the Hinson translation)
I'm not sure who all has redacted it. I know that Anne Willan has in:
Willan, Anne. Great Cooks And Their Recipes From Taillevent to Escoffier.
(Little Brown and Company) 1992.
I hope that this helps,
David Tallan (Thomas)
On 4/17/03 2:29 PM, "Pixel, Goddess and Queen" <pixel at hundred-acre-wood.com>
wrote:
>>>
I was in Cost Plus the other day, and they had pound jars of peeled
chestnuts so I bought a couple. Now what do I do with them? What did they
do with them in period?
Margaret
<<<
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 13:55:53 -0400
From: Jadwiga Zajaczkowa / Jenne Heise <jenne at fiedlerfamily.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chestnuts Chestnuts Everywhere
To: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Being that chestnuts when purchased are very expensive I thought I
> would at least try to do something with this literal windfall. I know
> that they are a period nut and I have found some interesting info in
> the Florithingie - albeit some of it quite dated.
Pleyn Delight, I believe, has a recipe for turnips with chestnuts. It
didn't turn out the way we wanted it when we tried it, but I think we
probably could have gotten something we liked better had we had a lot of
chestnuts to experiment with.
-- Jadwiga Zajaczkowa, Knowledge Pika jenne at fiedlerfamily.net
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 14:14:44 -0400
From: Daniel Myers <edouard at medievalcookery.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chestnuts Chestnuts Everywhere
To: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
On Sep 20, 2004, at 1:49 PM, Barbara Benson wrote:
> So, if anyone has any interesting, period references to chestnuts to
> share I would love to accumulate some recipes (read: as many as
> possible). From all different time periods and cultures.
Here are a few from a quick search ...
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
Venison of Deer or Other Beast, If you wish to salt it in summer, it is
appropriate to salt it in a wash-tub or bath, ground coarse salt, and
after dry it in the sun. Haunch, that is the rump, which is salted,
should be cooked first in water and wine for the first boiling to draw
out the salt: and then throw out the water and wine, and after put to
partly cook in a bouillon of meat and turnips, and serve in slices with
some of the liquid in a dish and venison.
Item, if you have small young turnips, you should cook it in water and
without wine for the first boiling, then throw out the water, and then
partly cook in water and wine and with sweet chestnuts, or if you have
no chestnuts, some sage: then serve as above.
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
Subtle Broth from England. Take cooked peeled sweet chestnuts, and as
many or more hard-boiled egg yolks and pork liver: grind all together,
mix with warm water, then put through a sieve; then grind ginger,
cinnamon, clove, grain, long pepper, galingale and saffron to give it
color and set to boil together.
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
Stuffed Piglet. Have the piglet killed and its throat cut and let it be
scalded in boiling water, then skinned: then take some lean pork, and
remove the fat and innards of the piglet and put it on to cook in
water, and take twenty eggs and cook them hard, and some sweet
chestnuts cooked in water and peeled: then take the egg yolks, sweet
chestnuts, fine old cheese, and the cooked meat of a leg of pork, and
chop it up, then grind with saffron and a large amount of powdered
ginger mixed in with the meat; and if your meat is too hard, mix in egg
yolks. And do not split open your piglet's stomach but cut the smallest
hole possible: then put it on the spit, and then push your stuffing
inside, and sew it up with a large needle; and it should be eaten
either with yellow pepper if it is winter, or with a cameline sauce if
it is summer.
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
RISSOLES ON A FISH DAY. Cook chestnuts on a low fire and peel them, and
have hard-cooked eggs and peeled cheese and chop it all up small; then
pour on egg yolks, and mix in powdered herbs and a very little
free-running salt, and make your rissoles, then fry in lots of oil and
add sugar. And note, in Lent, instead of eggs and cheese, put in cooked
whiting and sciaena, chopped very small, or the flesh of pike or eels,
and chopped figs and dates.
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
A MUST SAUCE (for Starlings? don't think so: JH). Take new black
grapes, and squish them in the mortar, and boil up a bouillon, then
strain through a sieve: and then throw on powdered spices, a little
ginger and more cinnamon, or cinnamon alone for it is better, and stir
a little with a silver spoon, and throw in crusts or toasted bread or
eggs or chestnuts to thicken it: some red sugar, and serve.
From: Le Menagier de Paris (Janet Hinson, trans.)
TO MAKE A BOAR INTO A GOOD PIG. Take a boar of two years old or
thereabouts, and in May or June castrate him, and in boar-hunting
season hunt it down, singe it and butcher it like a boar. Or else thus:
take some tame pig which may be scalded, and cook it in half water half
wine, and serve in a dish of this stew, turnips and chestnuts and the
meat.
From: Le Viandier de Taillevent (James Prescott, trans.)
Subtle English soup. Take cooked peeled chestnuts, egg yolks cooked in
wine, and a bit of pork liver. Crush everything together, soak with a
bit of lukewarm water, and sieve. Grind ginger, cloves and saffron (to
give colour), and boil together.
From: Le Viandier de Taillevent (James Prescott, trans.)
Stuffed piglet or pig. Scald it, wash it well, and put it on the spit.
The stuffing is made of pork pluck, cooked pork meat, some egg yolks,
harvest cheese, cooked peeled chestnuts and good Spice Powder. Put
everything in the piglet's belly, stitch up the slit, and put it to
roast. Baste it with a spoon, while turning the roast, with vinegar and
good boiling drippings. Eat it hot with Yellow Pepper [Sauce]. Some
lazy persons eat it with Cameline [Sauce].
- Doc
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edouard Halidai (Daniel Myers)
Date: Mon, 20 Sep 2004 19:36:06 -0700 (PDT)
From: R J <chaingangorg at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chestnuts Chestnuts Everywhere
To: Barbara Benson <voxeight at gmail.com>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Congrats on the new home!
I would like to request that you contact your local
agricultural co-op extension, there is one in every
county.
The reason I mention this is that there are edible
chestnuts, and some that aren't meant to be food. The
ag-extension people ought to be able to help you
verify whether yours are "food" or not.
If they are food, I rather like to use a fake
fingernail from a halloween store to help me pick the
annoying fuzz off.
They can be canned or frozen, whole, in chunks, or
even in a meal.
Of course, they are also reputed to be pretty dang
good pig food, so you can always look for pork recipes
instead!
All the best,
AEsa
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 05:07:13 -0500
From: "Terri Morgan" <nothingbutadame at inthe.sca.org>
Subject: RE: [Sca-cooks] Chestnuts - Revisited
To: "'Cooks within the SCA'" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
We roasted some (quite by accident, at first) at a demo that we attend
every year. Our firepit was close enough to a massive tree that a few
chestnuts made their way into the coals. They were quite tasty - but before
we learned that, we were dodging chestnut-missiles as they exploded from the
firebed. As far as I can tell, so long as they are relatively fresh, the
moisture inside of them is going to be enough to pop the shell open for you
(this might be why some recipes call for soaking them) and propel them with
some force.
Make sure you have a covered pan that can release steam (we used a
popcorn-popping cast iron pan) and I hope your family enjoys the experience.
The taste is wonderful and for all that few of us had ever eaten "chestnuts
roasted on an open fire", we all agreed that somehow it touched a mutual
memory-chord.
Hrothny
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 06:35:56 -0800
From: elisabetta at klotz.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Chestnuts - Revisited
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> Please, share your experiences and insights in roasting chestnuts.
> I would so appreciate it. Thank you.
>
> Molli Rose
We "x" them and soak them. The "x" is not just so they won't explode due to
steam, but also because it is much easier to peel them. Most of the chestnuts
get boiled for the turkey stuffing, but a few get taken out of the water and
thrown into a pan and baked in the oven with the turkey until they smell done,
about 10 minutes.
I highly recommend "x"ing them instead of just pricking, but since most of ours
are boiled, I'm not sure if the "x" will affect the roasting process.
Elisabetta
Date: Fri, 02 Dec 2005 09:44:35 -0500
From: "Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius"
<adamantius.magister at verizon.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chestnuts - Revisited
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
Okay, so what do people do with chestnuts? Apart from the usual
roasted, or in stuffing?
I believe there's a brewet in either Taillevent or le Menagier (but
called "English") that calls for them, as well as some 14th-century
English recipes. I STR there's a recipe in Apicius that uses them in
a lentil dish that I liked.
More recently there's a modern Italian cake that involves baking
sweetened puree with pine nuts (I wanna say it's called castignacci,
but I'm not sure this is an accurate memory, and my books are all
over the place -- I mean big-time -- at the moment while we rearrange
furniture yet again). This might easily be period, although I have no
direct evidence, and it's been alleged that the modern French Mont
Blanc aux marrons has period Italian forebears. This last is
basically a mound of milled or "riced" chestnut puree, sweetened and
flavored with vanilla, then coated with whipped cream. Oddly enough
it also sometimes turns up on the menus of the finer Chinese
restaurants (usually without the whipped cream), and chestnuts also
appear in the fillings of various steamed rice dumplings roughly
corresponding to tamales.
Then there are candied chestnuts (not my fave), and chestnut flour
sometimes turns up around Passover one of the primary baking starches
for flourless cakes.
Chestnut ice cream is good, too, and I assume one could make a sort
of sweet-potato pie thingy with them, too. Polenta.
What have I left out?
Adamantius
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 12:58:42 -0500
From: ranvaig at columbus.rr.com
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Chestnuts - Revisited
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> Please, share your experiences and insights in roasting chestnuts.
> I would so appreciate it.
I've roasted them in the oven with an X cut into them.. but never
knew it was supposed to be a the pointed end. I'd recommend that you
NOT roast all three pounds at once, they are much easier to shell
when they are hot. Start with a small batch and figure out the best
method and how fast you can shell them.
To my mind the best thing would be to just eat them out of the shell
while still hot.
Ranvaig
Date: Fri, 2 Dec 2005 15:14:51 -0800 (PST)
From: Honour Horne-Jaruk <jarukcomp at sbcglobal.net>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 31, Issue 3
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> Please, share your experiences and insights in
> roasting chestnuts.
>
> Molli Rose
Respected friend:
Chestnuts roasting in the microwave...
Only way to go. Score, time one minute for four
chestnuts and adjust as your power of microwave
requires. I've never found any other method even half
so easy or tasty.
-They're also fun to watch; they spin around as the
steam escapes.
Yours in service to both the Societies of which I am a member-
(Friend) Honour Horne-Jaruk, R.S.F.
Alisond de Brebeuf, C.O.L. S.C.A.- AKA Una the wisewoman, or That Pict
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:02:18 -0500
From: "marilyn traber 011221" <phlip at 99main.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Roasting chestnuts
To: Robin Carroll-Mann <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
> If I can find some at a decent price, I want to serve some roasted
> chestnuts for an upcoming dayboard. I've never roasted them before,
> but the instructions for oven-roasting seem fairly straightforward --
> slash shells, 400 oven, remove when done. I will probably buy them
> in advance and freeze them. I have two main questions:
> 1. can I do the slashing the day before, in order to save
> preparation time on the morning of the event?
Yep. Shouldn't be a problem.
> 2. how long after roasting do the chestnuts remain edible? Will
> they hold well (perhaps in insulated bags, or do they really need to
> be made just before eating?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Brighid ni Chiarain
> Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
They tend to hold pretty well- if you roasted them the day before, and served
them for the day board, they'd be fine. Trouble is, they TASTE better hot, on
the order of, bread is good, but freshly baked bread is better. They're also
easier to peel if they're hot, or at least warm.
Phlip
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 12:42:21 -0500
From: "Sharon Gordon" <gordonse at one.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Roasting chestnuts
To: "Robin Carroll-Mann" <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>, "Cooks within the
SCA" <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
In addition to other posted info, Williams-Sonoma has a chestnut cutter that
makes the slashing much faster and safer to your fingers. If the link
breaks, search on Chestnutter
http://ww1.williams-sonoma.com//cat/pip.cfm?
skus=7314909&cat=46&pgid=sku7081235&cmsrc=rel&src=pipgsku7081235|k|
pxsrd0m1\p15\p0\p\p\p\p\p\pchestnut|s7081235&lid=1&src=pipgsku7081235%
7Ck%7Cpxsrd0m1%5Cp15%5Cp0%5Cp%5Cp%5Cp%5Cp%5Cp%5Cpchestnut%7Cs7081235
Sharon
gordonse at one.net
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:49:52 -0800
From: elisabetta at klotz.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Roasting chestnuts
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> If I can find some at a decent price, I want to serve some roasted
> chestnuts for an upcoming dayboard. I've never roasted them before,
> but the instructions for oven-roasting seem fairly straightforward --
> slash shells, 400 oven, remove when done. I will probably buy them
> in advance and freeze them. I have two main questions:
> 1. can I do the slashing the day before, in order to save preparation
> time on the morning of the event?
> 2. how long after roasting do the chestnuts remain edible? Will they
> hold well (perhaps in insulated bags, or do they really need to be
> made just before eating?
>
> Brighid ni Chiarain
> Barony of Settmour Swamp, East Kingdom
You can also slash the shells and soak them in water overnight before
roasting.
I have a large (4 qt) and small (1 qt) slow cooker, as well as a chafing dish (2
qt?)and sterno, if you would like to borrow them to keep the chestnuts warm for
dayboard.
Elisabetta
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:54:28 -0800 (PST)
From: Carole Smith <renaissancespirit2 at yahoo.com>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Roasting chestnuts
To: Robin Carroll-Mann <rcmann4 at earthlink.net>, Cooks within the SCA
<sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
One concern with chestnuts is that they burn easily, so it's good to
keep them moving by shaking the pan frequently when you are roasting
them. I believe that's why many suggest you soak them in water first.
Cordelia
Date: Mon, 12 Dec 2005 22:13:18 -0500
From: Johnna Holloway <johnna at sitka.engin.umich.edu>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] Roasting chestnuts
To: Cooks within the SCA <sca-cooks at ansteorra.org>
What an odd little device!
An enclosed Chestnutter that makes a perfect "X" through the outer shell
and inner skin, which then loosen during roasting.
Here are some reasons to use one--
Better yet are the reasons given here. It reads:
" I can agree completely with this guy from Gizmodo. Chestnut scoring,
preparation, whatever you call it is indeed DANGEROUS. Watch your
fingers, your arteries, you name it - you will be hurt one time or
another. Luckily this little contraption can help you in the kitchen
over the next 2 holidays
<http://www.321gold.com/editorials/benson/benson120903.html>; AT LEAST! "
http://www.kitchencontraptions.com/archives/000713.php
Johnnae
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 06:35:45 -0800
From: elisabetta at klotz.org
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: chestnutter [was Roasting chestnuts]
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
> Am Montag, 12. Dezember 2005 18:36 schrieb Susan Fox:
>> Boo hisssssss! Unitasker!
>>
>> Ok then, what other use would this utensil have, in or out of the
>> kitchen?
Wow, I'm guessing that you never spent hours "x"ing chestnuts as a
child and teenager.
It takes a lot of time to "x" chestnuts. You have to be careful, and work
slowly.
They're yummy, but very, very time consuming in the preparation.
I have e-mailed this link to my family, and suspect we will be using
it next year....
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2005 15:25:37 -0500
From: Lee Sebastiani <valeriavictrix at mac.com>
Subject: [Sca-cooks] Re: Chestnutter
To: sca-cooks at ansteorra.org
Bought one--it fell apart the first time I used it. (Of course, a
more expensive quality cutter may work well.) Now I use a small,
stubby paring knife and wear a thick oven mitt on my left hand (in
case of knife slippage).
--Adela de Shea
Date: Fri, 15 Dec 2006 10:49:21 -0500
From: "Daniel Phelps" <phelpsd at gate.net>
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] chestnut cream
To: "Cooks within the SCA" <sca-cooks at lists.ansteorra.org>
Aislinn/AEscwynn wrote:
<<< I found a can of chestnut cream imported from France in my local discount
store for fifty cents, so I couldn't pass it up. From the description of
the can, it appears to be almost a syrup. Is there anything medieval I can
use this with/on/in? Are chestnuts new world? >>>
Latin Castanea dentata (Marsh.) Borkh.
Spanish Castana