I have a bag of chestnuts. I used to roast them in a cast iron pan on the stove, but I no longer have a pan I’m willing to do that to. I tried Mark Bittman’s method, which roasts them in a 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Most of that batch crumbled when I tried to shell them, and the inner peel adhered; this suggests to me, perhaps incorrectly, that the heat or the time is not correct.
How shall I cook the rest of them? The intent is to eat them, not use them in a recipe. Thanks.
What, nobody has a secret chestnut roasting strategy?
It sounds like some of the ones you had might have been rotten.
I haven’t roasted chestnuts in a long time, but what I did was:
Heat oven to 425F
Use an x-acto knife to cut an X on the side.
Place on pizza pan (the kind with the holes in it), cut sides go up (some people say cut side down is better but I preferred to be able to watch them without having to take them out of the oven).
Roast for about 15 to 20 minutes. They are done when you see the shells and skins start to peel up away from the nut part.
Difficulty peeling can happen with both undercooking and overcooking - the pellicle part isn’t easy to peel off if they are underdone, and it can become welded to the nut if it’s overdone.