Wanted: Roasted Chestnut Maven

I decided to make roasted chestnuts for the first time in many years last night, but I failed miserably. I can't peel the nuts at all - all I can do is scrape out the meat with a spoon. They're delicious but I'm wondering what I did wrong. Or are the chestnuts old, perhaps? They seem good, not obviously old or anything, but I don't know how to tell.

The guy in front of me at the chestnut bin took forever to select his nuts because he would only pick up 2 or 3 at a time and he would squeeze them and occasionally throw one back. Did he know something?

Anyway, any hints on how to cook these things? Gonna buy some more today.

Don't remember how I used to pick them out, I think they were prepackaged, have not roasted them in years. But, I always used to slice them on each side with a razor blade before I roasted them, made them easier to peal.

yes, cutting the skin is standard in every recipe I've seen and I did that, but papery skin is like wallpaper on the nut meat.

And that skin is pretty tough too! Cutting those slits was no piece of cake.

Oops, I just realized which skin you are talking about, a real PIA to get rid of. I remember doing just what you do, sorry, no answer for that one, maybe You Tube has an answer.

Did you make an "X" in them before roasting?

I did make an 'X'. Martha Stewart wanted me to score halfway around the whole chestnut, which was too hard for me.

The chestnuts nicely burst open when I roasted them - and the outer shell comes off ok, but the inner one doesn't.

I was wondering if I microwaved them first....

My off-the-boat Italian family eats them weekly from Thanksgiving through Christmas... safe to say I'm a chestnut maven! Here's how to cook them:

Get a sharp knife with a pointy tip. Cut one long slit from edge to edge on the flattest side of the chestnut. Keep your hands safe!

Lay the chestnuts in a single layer on a cookie sheet on the lower or middle rack of the oven. Roast them on low broil, not bake... and be patient. They can take a good 20-30 minutes. You want at least a bit of char on the skins. You can move them to the higher rack half way through if you want a deeper char. To check if they're done, pull one out, put it on the counter, and give it a real hard smash or two with the palm of your hand. When they smash easily, and taste "al dente" they're done. 

Now, HERE IS THE TRICK to the skins coming off easily..

Take a small tablecloth or 2-3 dish towels and wet them until they're fully damp but not dripping wet. As soon as the chestnuts come out of the oven, wrap them tightly in the damp towels. Make a nice tight bundle and let the steam do its work for about 5 minutes. Then unwrap and enjoy with a glass of nice red wine!

thanks dd, that was very helpful. My parents were off the boat too, and we did pretty much the same thing with chestnuts. I don't think my mom broiled them though, although they usually did have a good char on them.

Anyway I did a test on a handful of chestnuts last night, broiling them, on high though, cause I didn't see how my low broiler would actually do anything. They came out much better than my earllier try, though I did over-char them. But they were able to be peeled. Maybe I just didn't cook the first batch enough.

Also I did wrap them in a towel, but forgot to dampen the towel first.

I'll cook some more today.

my Maman would say after you've done all that work, make sure you have a 'screw' (paper cone) in which to serve your chestnuts with salt and melted butter

Oooohhh, melted butter! I've never tried that!!! Sounds delish!

Success!

Well, limited success. 

1 out of 5 so far on the latest batch.

joanne said:

my Maman would say after you've done all that work, make sure you have a 'screw' (paper cone) in which to serve your chestnuts with salt and melted butter ">

Actually, I roasted half of today's batch after covering them with melted butter and fresh rosemary, from a recipe I found online. I did the other half plain.

Not much flavor in the butter/rosemary ones, but the flavor was just a coating on the shell pretty much.

I will now have to try my perfectly peeled chestnut with some butter and salt.

I've only had chestnuts the once that she bought them nd used them to stuff into fowl for some festive winter meal when I was a child....then later discovered the reason it taste disgusting to me is that I'm allergic. (You can't get them easily here here, or you couldn't then)

Mum, being French, remembered buying them on the streets from stall vendors who'd sell them hot and ready to eat as she came home from school. 

joanne said:

Mum, being French, remembered buying them on the streets from stall vendors who'd sell them hot and ready to eat as she came home from school. 

They're still sold all over the place in winter in France. You can buy them right off the kettle grill on many a street corner. Smells wonderful.

She said better than gloves to keep your hands warm!!

kthnry said:

joanne said:

Mum, being French, remembered buying them on the streets from stall vendors who'd sell them hot and ready to eat as she came home from school. 

They're still sold all over the place in winter in France. You can buy them right off the kettle grill on many a street corner. Smells wonderful.

I have roasted a couple of batches now, and I have yet to experience the "roasting chestnut" smell and I don't know why. 

do you need a brazier/charcoal grill? 

I just gave up on roasted chestnuts (which I also fondly remember buying on the street in Paris!) because they were so frequently stale and/or moldy when bought "fresh" here. (The shells have a slight "give" before you cook them when they're too old.) King's sells a French brand of jarred, peeled chestnuts during the holiday season which are delicious -- although lacking that "roasted" flavor. Trader Joe's occasionally has steamed, peeled, shrink-wrapped chestnuts. 

Most delicious thing in the world: marrons glaces (candied chestnuts). Second-most-delicious: creme de marrons (pureed  chestnuts, either sweetened or unsweetened) -- look for the Clement Faugier brand. 

beppolina said:

I just gave up on roasted chestnuts (which I also fondly remember buying on the street in Paris!) because they were so frequently stale and/or moldy when bought "fresh" here. (The shells have a slight "give" before you cook them when they're too old.) King's sells a French brand of jarred, peeled chestnuts during the holiday season which are delicious -- although lacking that "roasted" flavor. Trader Joe's occasionally has steamed, peeled, shrink-wrapped chestnuts. 

Most delicious thing in the world: marrons glaces (candied chestnuts). Second-most-delicious: creme de marrons (pureed  chestnuts, either sweetened or unsweetened) -- look for the Clement Faugier brand. 

that reminds me of the scene in Amadeus where Scalieri offers Mozart's wife a candy covered chestnut called the Nipples of Venus, or some such thing.

The Route 10 Farmer's markets is currently selling shelled roasted chestnuts, but they also lack the fresh-roasted flavor. So I put them in the oven. I had to play around with time and temperature but the last batch was pretty good. about 15 minutes at 350. I'll try the fresh chestnuts again next year, but will try to get them earlier in the season. I think the batch I bought from was too old, though they looked fine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYkqLr7aHAA