Salted Peanuts
Shell and skin freshly roasted peanuts and proceed as in salting almonds.
Savories are small accompaniments of the meal, such as appetizers, relishes, canapés, small sandwiches, and other tasty dishes, made from anchovy, caviar, sardines, olives, cheese, etc. சும் OMAHИЮ gys vit of • •
A cross-reference rather than a standalone method: the peanuts are prepared exactly as salted almonds are, which in books of this period means tossing the nuts in butter or oil, browning them, draining and salting while hot. A few notes on translating that into a modern kitchen.
- The method being referencedSalted almonds in books of this era were commonly either shallow-fried in butter or oil until golden, or coated in a little oil and baked; the almond recipe this entry cross-refers to is not reproduced here. Peanuts, already roasted, need only enough heat to take the fat and salt.
- Peanuts are already cookedFreshly roasted peanuts need no further browning. Warm them in a tablespoon of butter or neutral oil per cup, just long enough to coat, then drain on paper and salt at once.
- SkinningThe papery skins slip off most easily while the nuts are still warm from roasting. Rub a handful at a time in a coarse towel, then winnow the loose skins away by tossing in a bowl or pouring between two bowls in front of a fan.
- Oven routeIf you prefer the oven, spread the oiled nuts in one layer and give them 8 to 10 minutes at 350F, shaking once. Nuts scorch in the last minute, so watch rather than time them.
- SaltFine salt clings to the oil; coarse salt falls to the bottom of the dish. Use a fine or flaked salt and add it while the nuts are hot and glossy.
- Yield and keepingA pound of shelled peanuts fills a good-sized serving bowl and will serve roughly eight to ten as a savory. Cool completely before storing, or trapped steam will soften them; airtight, they should keep about a week.
Salted nuts belong to the savory course, the small salty mouthful that Victorian and Edwardian tables served either before dinner with sherry or at the end of it, in the English fashion, in place of or after the sweet. Almonds were the genteel choice; peanuts, cheap and plentiful in America after the crop's rapid expansion in the late nineteenth century, were the democratic substitute.