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Chestnut Balls Nice to Serve with Roast Turkey
Boil, hull and blanch enough Spanish chestnuts to measure a cupful when mashed smooth or run through the ricer. Put into double boiler one cupful of sweet milk, one tablespoon of butter and cup of finely ground bread crumbs. Season with pepper and salt, using a little grated onion if desired. Stir until thick, remove from fire and add chestnuts. When cool, form into balls. Dip in egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry in deep fat like croquets. Keep warm and place on platter with fowls.
A panada-bound chestnut croquette meant to ring a roast bird. The whole dish depends on getting the milk-and-crumb base thick enough to hold a shape when cold.
- Spanish chestnutsThese are the large European sweet chestnut (Castanea sativa), sold today simply as chestnuts. Vacuum-packed or jarred cooked chestnuts work and skip the peeling; you need enough to give one packed cup once mashed, roughly 8 oz shelled.
- Boil, hull and blanchWith raw nuts, score the flat side, boil 15-20 minutes, and peel while hot — both the shell and the bitter inner skin must come off, and neither will budge once the nut cools. Work in small batches, returning the rest to the hot water.
- Sweet milkPlain whole milk. The term only distinguished it from buttermilk or soured milk, which were common in the pantry when this was written.
- Bread crumbs, twiceThe crumbs in the base should be fine and dry, about one cup; the coating crumbs can be coarser for texture. Fresh soft crumbs in the base will absorb far less and leave the mixture slack.
- Getting the base rightStir over simmering water until the mixture pulls away from the sides in a single mass — stiffer than a white sauce, closer to choux paste. If it is still loose, it will not hold in the fryer no matter how cold it gets.
- Chill, do not merely cool"When cool" is optimistic. Spread the mixture on a plate and refrigerate at least two hours, then form and chill the shaped balls again after crumbing. Cold balls hold their shape; room-temperature ones split.
- Deep fat375F. Fry in small batches for 2-3 minutes, until deep gold — everything inside is already cooked, so this is colour and crust only. Below 350F they take on grease; above 400F the crumbs darken before the centre warms.
- Yield and servingThe recipe gives no yield; the quantities make a generous number of walnut-sized balls, enough to ring a platter. Hold them uncovered in a low oven so the crust stays crisp; a covered dish steams them soft within minutes.