Chestnuts can be cooked either by roasting or by boiling. If roasted, the thin brown that clings to the nut is removed with the outer shell; if boiled, the inner skin often has to be removed with some trouble. Roast chestnuts by putting them in a hot oven for eight or ten minutes, then use a small, sharp knife and peel them from the point down.
To boil chestnuts put them, in their shells, in cold water and let them cook for five or six minutes after the water starts boiling, or put them in boiling water for ten or twelve minutes. Peel carefully, and serve after roasting or boiling with brown sauce or mushroom sauce, plain or in cases.
Roast or boil 6 cups of Italian chestnuts, remove the shell and inner skin and chop them fine or put them through a vegetable mill. Put them in a double boiler with milk enough to cover them and let them cook slowly for fifteen or twenty minutes, or until the milk is all absorbed. Stir frequently, add 1 tablespoon of butter, 1 tablespoon of cream, plenty of salt and a little pepper. The purée should be the consistency of mashed potato.
Shell 3 or 4 cups of peanuts, remove the inner skin, and put through a vegetable mill. Put in a double boiler with milk to cover them, season with salt, and let cook gently half an hour, or until tender. Stir frequently, and serve when the milk is absorbed and the peanut purée is the consistency of mashed potato. A tablespoon of whipped cream is an improvement if added during the last moments of cooking.
Mix 1 cup of finely ground walnuts (or other nuts), 1 cup of finely ground roasted peanuts, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 saltspoon of pepper, 2½ cups of fine bread crumbs, 1 tablespoon of mixed sweet herbs (thyme, sage, and summer savory), and 1 large onion or 2 small ones chopped fine. When well blended bind together with 2 eggs which have been slightly beaten, mould with the hands into a loaf, place in a well buttered roasting tin, and let it cook for ten minutes in a moderately hot oven; then add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 cup of hot water, and baste frequently during half an hour’s cooking. The loaf should be well browned and carefully removed to a hot platter. Make a brown sauce in the pan in which the loaf cooked, and serve with this and cold apple sauce.
Make a brown sauce with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, ½ cup of browned flour, and use water or vegetable stock for thinning; chop 1 large onion fine, and fry it in 1 tablespoon of oil or butter, and mix the onion and the sauce with 2 cups of cold boiled pearl barley, 1 cup of finely ground roasted peanuts, 1 cup of fine bread crumbs, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 saltspoon of pepper. With the hands mould into a loaf, place in a roasting pan which has been well buttered, and let cook in the oven for ten minutes; then add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 cup of hot water, and baste every five minutes for half an hour. Make a brown sauce in the same pan, or serve with Caper sauce. Garnish, if brown sauce is used, with English savoury croquettes.
Make as in the foregoing recipe, but pack into a mould, set this in boiling water, and let it steam for an hour and a half or two hours. Let cool in the mould, and turn out to serve cold, or to slice, or to use for nut hash.
A brick-shaped mould will be made by any tinsmith to order, or the large sizes of baking-powder tins can be used to steam loaf.
Grind 2 cups of nuts,—pecans, walnuts, roasted peanuts, etc., or use peanuts only,—and mix with them 2 cups of cold boiled hominy, ½ cup of bread crumbs, 3 hard-boiled eggs chopped fine, 1 tablespoon of chopped parsley, 1 tablespoon of grated onion, and 1 raw egg. Form into 1 large roll, or several smaller ones, put in a buttered tin, and let bake in a quick oven for half an hour; baste with a little butter and water a few times. Garnish with slices of lemon, and serve with brown sauce. This loaf may be steamed as directed for barley loaf and used hot, cold, or in hash.
Chop mixed nuts enough to make 2 cups, and add to them 6 bananas chopped fine and ½ teaspoon of salt; mix well together, and press into a plain mould. Stand the mould in a steamer, and let it steam for three hours. Serve ice-cold, sliced, with pickles or catsup.
This loaf can be made and kept in readiness for use, as it will remain fresh for several days if it is left in the covered mould in which it cooked and is kept in a cool place. Put 2 cups of water in a saucepan, and when the water boils stir into it 1 cup of a finely ground cereal, preferably gluten flour or meal, or Scotch oatmeal, and stir until thick; then add 2 teaspoons of salt, ½ teaspoon of pepper, 1 tablespoon of butter, and 1 cup of shelled peanuts which have been put through a vegetable grinder twice. Pack the mixture into a loaf-shaped mould, or large round tin with a tight-fitting lid, almost immerse it in water, and let it steam for two hours. Use when cold, either for nut hash or croquettes, or with an equal amount of bread crumbs and the seasoning to make Michaelmas or Christmas loaf.
Use cold steamed nut loaf and the same amount of cold boiled potatoes. Chop the potatoes and the loaf separately, and add to them, after mixing, ¼ as much chopped onion. Turn into a frying pan which contains melted butter well covering the bottom, dredge with salt and pepper, and stir frequently with a knife during the first ten minutes’ slow cooking; then let the hash brown on the bottom, shaking the pan vigorously from time to time, season afresh, and turn out with the browned portion on top. One or 2 chopped green peppers can be added to the hash, if the flavour is liked.