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Italian Chestnuts

A historical recipe from The Golden Rule Cook Book, by Sharpe, M. R. L. (Maud Russell Lorraine) (1912).

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A historical recipe

The Golden Rule Cook Book: Six hundred recipes for meatless dishes, by Sharpe, M. R. L. (Maud Russell Lorraine) (1912). Project Gutenberg eBook #55555.

From an old book: a historical recipe, not current advice. Its methods, additives and storage may be unsafe by today's standards.

Italy

Known as an Italian recipe, with similar versions prepared across other nations.

Cook safely

Keep children and pets away from the hob and the oven, and keep oven gloves and a lid within reach.

  • Oven and hot trays. Use dry oven gloves for trays and dishes: a hot tray looks just like a cold one. Open the oven door away from your face and let the first rush of heat out.
  • Boiling water and steam. Turn pan handles inward, away from the edge of the hob. Lift lids away from you, and pour hot water away from your body: steam burns too.
  • Sharp knives. Cut on a board that doesn't slip (a damp cloth under it helps), and curl the fingers of the hand that holds the food.

Method

  1. Chestnuts can be cooked either by roasting or by boiling.
  2. If roasted, the thin brown that clings to the nut is removed with the outer shell;
  3. if boiled, the inner skin often has to be removed with some trouble.
  4. Roast chestnuts by putting them in a hot oven for eight or ten minutes, then use a small, sharp knife and peel them from the point down.
  5. To boil chestnuts put them, in their shells, in cold water and let them cook for five or six minutes after the water starts boiling, or put them in boiling water for ten or twelve minutes.
  6. Peel carefully, and serve after roasting or boiling with brown sauce or mushroom sauce, plain or in cases.

Plating

Cookware for this recipe

  • Saucepan
  • Chef's knife
  • Vegetable peeler
Source Public domain in the USA
Credit

From The Golden Rule Cook Book, by Sharpe, M. R. L. (Maud Russell Lorraine) (1912). Digitised by Project Gutenberg, eBook #55555 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/55555). Public domain in the USA; its status may differ elsewhere.

What was changed: As printed, from the book's text; Project Gutenberg's header and licence removed. Ingredient lines were read out of the text by a program. A historical recipe, not current advice.