“Chestnuts” —Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volume One by Julia Child, Louisette Bertholle, and Simone Beck (1961/1970)

MARRONS

“Fresh raw chestnuts are in season in the winter months. Choose heavy nuts with tight-fitting shells—indications that they are fresh and will have their maximum flavor.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

Chestnuts have a traditional affinity for roast turkey, goose, venison, boar, wild duck, and peasant; they also go with pork and with sausages. Chestnut purée is used as a starchy vegetable to accompany any of these meats. Whole braised chestnuts are often combined with other vegetables such as red cabbage, Brussels sprouts, mushrooms, onions, or carrots. Whole partially-cooked chestnuts go into stuffings particularly sausage stuffings for goose and turkey.

AMOUNT TO BUY

One pound or 35 to 40 whole raw chestnuts will yield approximately 2½ cups of peeled chestnuts.

HOW TO PEEL CHESTNUTS

Chestnuts have an outside shell and a bitter inside shell, both of which must be removed before the chestnuts can be used. Peeling off the inside skin is a chore whatever method you adopt. To our mind, and we have tried them all, the following is the most satisfactory, especially if you want the chestnuts to remain whole.
With a small, sharp knife, peel a ½-inch strip of shell off one side of each chestnut. Set chestnuts in a saucepan of cold water, bring to the boil and boil 1 minute; remove from heat. Then three at a time, with a slotted spoon, dip the chestnuts out of the water and peel off the shells and inner skins. (Set aside until later any recalcitrant chestnuts. Drop them all later into boiling water for a moment, then peel them one by one.) The whole peeling process must be a continuous operation and done while the chestnuts are still warm.”