Is there a preferred way to roast chestnuts? What do I need? How do I know they’re done? Overdone? Is there a recipe for this sort of thing?
Can a marine alcohol stove qualify as “an open fire”?
Thanks.
In Europe we saw these sold throughout the Christmas and winter season. Looked to be cooked mainly in a pan or wok type device over a gas flame. I imagine there is some sort of device similar to old fireplace popcorn poppers for cooking directly in a wood burning fireplace.
Here’s a chestnut roaster from the Williams Sonoma catalog.
And here’s an antique brass chestnut roaster from an antique auction site.
Here’s a recipe. You don’t need an open flame, a regular oven will do:
And here’s a lithograph of a chestnut street vendor
This site (quoted below) provides some book suggestions and some recipes for roasting chestnuts in your oven.
As far back as about 1954, we used to ‘roast’ 'em in a covered cast iron skillet on top of the stove. Then we thought, “Hey, why can’t we microwave 'em?”. And as long as you remember to cut the shell first, it works like a charm. Whole lot quicker and easier. You just have to experiment the first few times to get the timing right.
By the way, if you’re just interested in getting cooked chestnuts to use in a recipe, e.g. turkey stuffing, it’s easier to boil than to roast, same results when used again in cooking.
Warning, DO NOT over cook them - they become inedible. Remove them as soon as they begin to spread.
This can’t be repeated too often- be sure to pierce the shells before roasting unless you want to be scraping chestnut shrapnel out of your oven.