How To Purchase And Roast Chestnuts

Here's How:

1. Trust your eyes. Fresh chestnuts should be a shiny brilliant brown. If they look mottled or dull they could be old or moldy.
2. They should also feel gloriously firm and solid. If the skins shift under you fingers or look wrinkled, or if the nuts feel light, they're likely old.
3. We're not the only creatures who like chestnuts. Keep an eye out for work holes, and discard any nuts that display them.
4. You will need a chestnut roaster: For doing them over the coals a wire-basket type popcorn popper on a long handle will work well.
5. For stove-top roasting, the ideal is a chestnut pan, a thin uncoated iron skillet with lots of holes punched through it.
6. Make a slice in the bulged out side of each chestnut lest one explode while cooking.
7. Set the chestnuts in the roaster or pan, sprinkle them with a little water, and set them over the heat -- 6 inches for coals, medium heat for a gas, and I would assume electric, burner.
8. If you're doing them on a burner cover the pan.
9. Shake the pan or roaster every couple of minutes, and roast them for 10-20 minutes, or until the skins have pulled back from the slices made in the nut meats and sweet the aroma of roasted chestnut fills the air.
10. Char indicates insufficient shaking.
11. When the nuts are done, wrap them in a couple of old towels, squeeze them hard so they crackle, and let them sit for 5 minutes.
12. Unwrap them and enjoy them with a light, zesty red wine. A Novello, the Italian equivalent of Beaujolais nouveau, is ideal.

Tips:

1. If you roast chestnuts over a burner, line your cooktop with a sheet of aluminum foil to catch soot and charred bits of peel.