Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-11-09
HOW TO USE cHEsTNuTs IN
COOKERY. r


OF all the members of the nut family
the chestnut is without doubt of the
greatest Importance as an article of
food, due to the fact that along with
much proteid and a small amount Of
fat they contain large proportion of
carbohydrates. The large amount Of
starch found in the chestnut and the
very small amount of fat or oil sug-
gests placing them among the bread
stuffs rather than in their rightful
class. In the south of Europe large
quantities of chestnuts are consumed,
both the large and small varieties be-
ing used. The nuts are boiled or roast
ed, or ground into a meal, which is
cheap and nourishing. This meal or
flour is made into fiat cakes. In cook
cry it is the custom to range chestnuts
with leguminious seeds, not that they
resemble them in any botanical sense,
but on account of the nature of their
component parts which make them
quite unlike all other nuts, SO rich, IN
fact, is the sweet Italian chestnut in
starch, it has been termed the Italian
potato; and, with good reason, for 1t is
quite as popular among the poor peas
antry Of Southern Europe as is the So
called Irish potato among the poor of
the Emerald Isle. During the autumn
and winter it often constitutes the
principal if not the only dish served at
two out of three daily meals. A favor
lite way of cooking it is to she'll blanch
and steam, then season with salt and
serve with milk. The freshly roasted
chestnut is considered quite a luxury
by these people. The Italian chestnut
flour shows by analysis the presence of
dextrin and sugar
Chestnuts as Vegetable.
Chestnuts make an excellent and
most palatable vegetable course. There
are two processes in general favor. The
one that retains more of the flavor is as
follows: Scald in boiling water for ten
minutes, then skin and cover well with
good, rich stock and simmer until ten
der. Season with salt and pepper and
rub through sieve, stir in two table
spoons of butter, heat until very hot
and serve with roast beef instead of
mashed potatoes. Some cooks color
the mashed chestnuts with little car
mine, giving them a pale pink tinge.
Others use a little brown vegetable
The easiest method is to boil them for
an hour, removing the outer and inner
skins while hot and then press them
through a sieve.
Chestnut PURGE.
This is n perfect and desirable soup
and is very appropriate if used in the
form Of a sauce to accompany white
entrees, especially of turkey.
A brown PURGE of chestnuts is delic-
ious. To produce this the nuts must
be carefully roasted in order to cara
nellie them. For white PURGE, remove
the shells from the chestnuts, cover
with hot water and boil ten minutes,
then remove the brown skins. Cover
the .:hestnuts with boiling sailed wa
ter and cook until they are ten
der. then drain, mash and rub through
a sieve. Season to taste with salt and
pepper and add sufficient hot milk, or
half milk and half cream, or a good
rich stock to make a soup of creamy
consistency. Serve very hot.
A Rich Chestnut Filling.
The most approved chestnut filling
for turkey is made of the boiled or
roasted nuts, mashed, seasoned with
butter. salt and pepper, but those who
are willing to tax digestion for sake of
variety may try the following:
Roast thirty large chestnuts, remove
the shells and inner brown skin. Take
about ten of the cheStnuts and pound
to a paste with the cooked turkey liver;
season to taste with salt and pepper,
add a few drops of onion juice and
teaspoonful of minced parseley; bind
together with the yolks of two eggs.
Fill this into the cavity at the neck and
sew up.
For the body stufIing take five or six
links of the tiny smoked sausage and
cut into smalls pieces. Mix with cup
of fine bread crumbs. pepper, salt, two
ounces of melted butter and the re-
mainder of the chestnuts, using them
whole.
Chestnut Sauce, to Serve with Turkey.
Remove the shells from four dozen