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Puree of Chestnuts
Take 50 large chestnuts--those are the best which have no division, and, when the skin is removed, are entire. Take off the outer brown skin, and boil the chestnuts until the inner skin will come off easily, when it also must be removed. Having done this, put the chestnuts into a saucepan with sufficient white stock to cover them, and boil them gently until they are quite soft, when they must be pressed, while hot, through a wire sieve. The pulp must then be put into a stewpan, with a piece of butter about the size of a walnut, 1 cupful of cream or new milk, half a cupful of the stock in which they were simmered, and a little salt, pepper, and sugar. Stir this over the fire until quite hot, when it may be placed in the middle of a dish of cutlets. Time, two hours. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A classic French-style chestnut pur\finished with cream, meant as a bed for cutlets rather than a dish on its own. The whole business hinges on getting both skins off while the nuts are hot.
- Peeling is the real workScore each chestnut, boil or roast briefly, then peel while still hot -- the papery inner pellicle sets hard and refuses to budge once cool. Work in small batches and keep the rest in the hot water.
- QuantityFifty large chestnuts is roughly 2 lb in the shell; the peeled weight will be appreciably less. Vacuum-packed peeled cooked chestnuts are a legitimate shortcut for the whole quantity.
- White stockAn unbrowned stock of veal or chicken bones with no tomato or dark roast. Any light chicken stock works; avoid a dark beef stock, which muddies both colour and flavour.
- New milkSimply fresh whole milk, as distinct from milk that had stood and been skimmed. Whole milk or single cream is the modern equivalent.
- Butter the size of a walnutAround 1 tablespoon, or 15 g. Nut- and egg-sized measures of this kind are approximate and vary from book to book, though a walnut of butter is generally taken as about a tablespoon.
- SievingPress the hot nuts through a sieve or use a food mill for the traditional texture. A food processor will work but tends toward a gluey paste if run long, since chestnuts are starchy.
- The two hoursPresumably total time, including the peeling; the recipe does not say. The simmering in stock is likely to take somewhere around 25-40 minutes depending on how the nuts were pre-cooked; stop when a nut crushes with no resistance.
- Consistency and seasoningAdd the cream and stock gradually -- the pur\ferves best just thick enough to hold a spoon-shaped hollow. The pinch of sugar is not optional in period terms; it sharpens the chestnut's own sweetness against the salt and pepper.
- ServingFour to five, as the recipe states, served as a garnish in the middle of a dish of cutlets.