With the arrival of cold weather comes the desire to eat chestnuts, a fruit that is already in season. Many of us may remember buying roasted chestnuts from street stalls, complete with their classic paper cone. Or maybe you are one of the lucky few who can enjoy them during dates in the pan or by the fireplace. But you can still enjoy some chestnuts in the comfort of your home, without them burning and in just half an hour. And chestnut is a delicate fruit, which can burn quickly if you are not careful or use inappropriate methods.
If you want to roast chestnuts at home and get them perfect without burning them, there is a trick that will make your life easier: you only need aluminum foil. This method guarantees juicy and soft chestnuts without the risk of burning, as if they had been roasted over a traditional fire.
Before we start preparing our chestnuts in the oven, we need to give them a first wash. This will remove all traces of dust and dirt. During this process, check for damaged, rotten, or insect-ridden fruit. Holes in the chestnut’s skin may indicate that there are insects lodged inside. We also recommend discarding flat chestnuts, as they are often difficult to peel and contain little fruit to eat.
Then you need to make a small cut in each chestnut, either crosswise or with a straight cut. Try to go through the inner skin, but not go too far into the flesh of the fruit, as it could dry out when cooked or split in two. Once cut, it is advisable to soak them in cold or lukewarm water with a teaspoon of salt. This will make them hydrate a little and roast better, as well as giving them a salty final touch that will contrast with the sweet flavor of the chestnuts. We can let them soak for between 15 and 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you can preheat the oven to 180ºC with heat from top to bottom.
Over time, drain your chestnuts. They don’t need to be completely dry, it doesn’t matter if they have some moisture left. If you roast a lot, divide them into groups of 20 or 30 and wrap them in foil packets, similar to a foil Don’t overlap multiple layers of foil when wrapping the chestnuts and make sure they are tightly sealed, but with room for the insides to expand. After that, all that remains is to arrange them on a halfway-height oven rack.
Once in the oven, they must be cooked at 180ºC for approximately 20-25 minutes. Please remember that it is normal for packages to swell a little. If after a while you want to check if the chestnuts are cooked, you can open one of the foil carefully and check that the chestnuts are at the desired point. Using a fork or toothpick, pass them until you obtain the desired consistency. You should be able to insert your chopstick or fork easily. Steaming them in the oven will make them juicy and tender, but you can fry them over medium or high heat if you prefer an extra toasted touch. So, thanks to the foil, the chestnuts cook in their own steam, achieving that classic touch without the need for a professional roaster.
How to make chestnuts in a pan
While it is true that the oven is ideal for cooking large quantities of chestnuts at once, at home you can also roast chestnuts on the stovetop if you have a gas stove and use a special pan for roasting chestnuts. You may not want to invest money in new kitchen utensils, but you can still cook chestnuts on the stove. To do this, all you have to do is save one of the old pots that you have at home and that you were going to throw away. The skin of this fruit can significantly damage the coating of our pans, so it is important that you only give it this new use.
If your kitchen has a ceramic or induction cooker, you should have no problem roasting chestnuts, but you need to be very careful with the temperature. Chestnuts must be cooked at a lower temperature to obtain a good result.
Just as if you were preparing them in the oven, to roast chestnuts at home in a pan, the first thing to do is to wash this fruit, dry it well and then give it a deep cut that goes through the skin. Again, cross cuts and linear cuts are very effective techniques, but care must be taken that they are not too deep to prevent the chestnut from splitting or drying out during cooking.
Next, put the chestnuts in the old frying pan or chestnut pan. If you have a gas stove, as we mentioned, put it on high heat, if it is a vitro or induction cooker, opt for a medium heat. It is advisable to move the pan carefully so that the chestnuts roast evenly and do not burn on the outside. If you don’t, they could burn on the outside while remaining raw on the inside. This process should take you about half an hour, depending on the size of the chestnut. Once cooking is complete, wrap the chestnuts in a clean cloth so that they maintain their temperature and stay warm longer.
How to make chestnuts in the microwave
If we don’t have or don’t want to use the oven, we can always prepare the chestnuts in the microwave. The result will not be as uniform as roasting them in the oven or frying them, but we will have chestnuts ready to eat in record time. This method is also highly recommended if you need the chestnuts to make another recipe, such as a meat sauce or for a dessert.
As if we were preparing them in the oven or in the pan, remember that the chestnuts must have a cut that passes through both skins so that, with the steam they give off and the heat to which we subject them in the microwave, they open. and we can peel them easily. As we mentioned, you can make a cross cut or a straight cut.
Cooking time will have more variables than if you did it, for example, in a pan. You need to consider not only the size of the chestnuts, but also the power of your microwave. With a microwave power of 1000 watts you will only need two minutes of preparation for the chestnuts to be ready. If the maximum power of the appliance drops to 800 watts then you will have to cook them for two and a half minutes. If it’s 600 watts, it will take three minutes. The lower the micro power, the longer you will have to cook your chestnuts.
