My thumbs hurt. Both of them. Underneath the fingernails. The kind of hurt one gets when a sliver slides in – or a chestnut shell.
See that chipped nail polish on my thumb? It took me days to find the courage to remove it with nail polish remover. When you hear Johnny Mathis crooning “chestnuts roasting on an open fire”, don’t be fooled. Roasting them in front of a blazing fire with your sweetie may be romantic, but, taking the hard, outer shell off and rescuing the nut meats in not for the tender-hearted.
I should begin at the beginning.
Throughout my childhood, all our Thanksgivings and most other holidays, in fact, were celebrated at our house. My grandmother, Yia Yia, lived with us and her children and grandchildren nearby. A large, extended family, there were also first and second cousins and anyone else who needed a place to be on Thanksgiving. My yia yia was known to be a gracious hostess and an extraordinary cook.
Thanksgiving brought us the traditional turkey, seasoned with Greek herbs and lemon, and chestnut/meat stuffing. Oh, the aroma of the holiday bird roasting in our Tappan oven. It was only matched by the scents emanating from the turkey as the stuffing was removed to a bowl and the turkey sliced onto a platter. It was like the spirits of the Pilgrims and the native Americans transcending hundreds of years and as many cultural divides one can imagine a country like ours having.
Ah, I tend to wander in my thoughts when it comes to food and history.
I don’t know if it was the fact that my sister and her family were joining us this Thanksgiving or the headiness (or nuttiness) of our first walnut harvest several weeks ago, but, I had a “hankerin'” for my grandmother’s stuffing this year.
I had never made it before and it had been more than twenty years since I last tasted it. A few years before my Aunt Christina had died.
So, dear readers, off I went to buy some chestnuts with all the rest of the turkey fixings, including ingredients for bread stuffing, which everyone was used to. Now, not any old chestnuts were to be had. No, along with organic oranges for our traditions cranberry relish, because the entire orange goes into it, rind and all, the chestnuts were to be organic as well. After I paid with the usual arm and a leg that one pays in such stores, home I went to start preparations.
First, the chestnuts have to be slit. X marks the spot. The shell is pierced so the nut doesn’t burst in a heat induced chestnut explosion in the very hot oven. When toasted, the shells then have to be opened, while still hot, and the nuts removed. The longer the chestnuts cool, the harder it is to get the meats out. A skin starts to form on the nut that becomes rather hard and, well, that’s where my thumbs came into use.
A pound of chestnuts, ground round steak, all manner of chopped vegetables, Romano cheese, breadcrumbs, and enough butter to weaken any heart, and into the oven that stuffing went. Fennel was the ingredient that gave off the most essence of my past and it was worth the effort, I must admit, just for the smells. The stuffing, however, did not measure up. Maybe it was because I cooked it outside of the turkey, or not enough herbs, or, whatever . . .
. . . maybe just too much time had passed between my own childhood and my granddaughter’s.
It was a lesson, perhaps, not only in the fine art of chestnut roasting, but, in holding on to those family recipes as long as one can. I’ve managed a good many of my Yia Yia’s dishes and pastries, but, this one, well, maybe once my thumbs heal, I’ll give it another try.
How about you? Do you have a family dish that you wish you could make?
Dear Penny,
I became a vegetarian in 1980. By then most of my family members in the generations before me had died and so I have no vegetarian recipes that they served at our meals. But when I was small I came to love Grandmother Ready’s minced meat pie. It really was minced meat and I devoured the one piece I was allowed. Now it’s still called minced meat at the restaurants, but basically the main ingredient is the simple raisin. I like that, too, but my memories of my grandmother’s pie are redolent with spicy smells and tangy taste.
You know, maybe the restaurants call it “minced pie.” I’m not sure. Now I know I need to get out of the house soon and visit a restaurant that serves pies for dessert!
Peace.
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My mother-in-law made minced meat pie, Dee. She grew up on a farm in Ohio, and she always said that the mincemeat was never as good as that she had when she was young. Good luck in finding a generous serving of it.
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I am not a bad cook, in fact, I am far more adventurous than my mother ever was; BUT I cannot bake. I wish i could.
There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked cakes and breads to make a house into a home.
All my stuffings are bought, it’s not part of my culture to make them. Ducks and other birds are cooked with whole fruits inside them.
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Adventuresome cooks are my favorite. Our daughter Jennifer is that way and comes up with the most delectable dishes. Good for you, Friko.
I do so love the smell of bread baking. If you don’t cake to bake, do try the freezer doughs. You will still get the yeasty aroma.
My bread stuffing comes from a package mix that I “doll” up with my own ingredients. It always tastes better cooked inside the bird, but, I don’t do that now with all the warnings. I have put apples and oranges and lemons inside. I’ll bet your fowl tastes and smells wonderful.
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Dear Penny,
Bless your heart for trying so hard to recreate that stuffing.
I wish I could bake sugar cookies like the ones my mother made. I have tried in vain to follow her carefully typed recipe. The missing ingredient must be her love as she baked them. Maybe that’s what happened with the stuffing.
The important thing is that you honored your grandmother with the effort.
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That is so sweet of you to say, Marilyn.
I find that love and a special twist of the cookie is often the missing ingredient. You are right. My stuffing’s veggies needed to be ground up more. I think you are right that the important thing is in the honoring. Thank you for saying it, Marilyn.
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Oh Penny: the successes of a recipe tried for the first time are so sweet; but there are always some which will not do as they are told. Maybe there’s a chestnut stuffing recipe out there which might sport a secret ingredient, ready for Christmas.
I am very naughty with chestnut stuffing. I but Marks and Spencer’s. It’s just wonderful.
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Sorry, buy Marks and Spencers!
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Kate, I think I would buy Marks and Spencers, too. Good lead. I’m sure there is a technique about this that I was missing. The aroma while it was baking was delectable. The consistency was way off. Oh well. I’ll be on the lookout for your tasty product.
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Oh my gosh Penny — I have always wondered what roasted chestnuts taste like — heard about them in song and read about them in books, but I don’t know anyone who has ever cooked them — I’ve never even seen them sold back in the Pacific Northwest when I used to cook big TG meals — but then I never shopped in those organic stores back then.
My mom was a good cook and I think I wasn’t bad . We have had up to 25 people for TG dinner and i wouldn’t have missed those years for anything — but I wouldn’t want to repeat them either. Time marches on.
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We actually have them in our conventional stores here in the midwest as well as the organic ones, Sallie. It is an acquired taste, I think, and always tastes the best on a crisp, snowy evening outdoors.
25 people to taste the turkey was surely a crowd, Sallie. What wonderful times, and how nice to be where you in life now. I think we can enjoy such meals in so many ways, and now is your time for travel.
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Ah, when we were quite young my brothers and sisters and I used to roast chestnuts and eat them straight from their shells, and I can remember a cold dark Christmas in London and the chestnut-roaster in the street calling out to all who passed by to buy some of his freshly roasted nuts which I did. From memory the ones I roasted as a child were just as good as the ones I had that cold winter season in London. I have never used them in a recipe.
My grandfather used to make the Christmas plum pudding, I wish I had that recipe now.
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What wonderful memories those are, Marilyn. I think that they did to add flavor, much like mushrooms, to recipes they are added in. They are so very good warm, aren’t they?
I’ve never had Christmas plum pudding – and have always wanted a try. Wouldn’t it be grand to have that recipe now?
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What a delectable post – and I so admire your efforts. I remember in France making creme de marron out of roast chestnuts, and then in Cornwall gathering them, roasting them, and making chestnut soup. It was a lot of work, and I haven’t attempted either since then. Sometimes there are things one only has to accomplish once in a life time, like climbing Everest and succeeding with a chestnut recipe.
No I just cut the cross slits and roast them in the oven and eat straight out of the shells.
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Mmmm, a chestnut soup sounds so delicious, Juliet. To gather, then roast, then make soup must have pleasurable. I think you are right about this kind of accomplishment. I can say I’ve done it, and now move on. The truth be told, my grandmother’s recipe will likely not be replicated as she was the only one who did it just her way.
I have a few left and I will put them in the oven, the eat them out of the shells next.
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I’ve been asked to contribute the stuffing (we have always called it “dressing”) for a couple of family holiday dinners in recent memory. Last year, per the request of a sibling or two, I attempted to replicate “Mom’s dressing” but I think the result was only close.
This week I approached stuffing preparation from a totally different starting place and added considerable chopped apple and raisins to the mix. The result, of course, was nothing like Mom’s, but maybe more “Karen’s” and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Even my brother-in-law who avows a dislike of raisins (and could not resist commenting, “There’s a whole herd of raisins in here”) managed to eat a goodly portion. 🙂 I think I’ll use the same recipe the next time I’m asked to make the stuffing. Maybe it will become the dish that a younger family member will some holiday, years from now, want to try to recreate . . . or maybe not.
What I truly wish I could recreate is a family dinner attended by all those we loved who are no longer with us; the menu would be inconsequential.
Hope your thumbs stop hurting in time to cook for Christmas! 🙂
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It is hard to replicate, isn’t it Karen? Still, we try for family and for ourselves as well.
I’m sure someone will try to replicate your dressing sometime in the future. It sounds good. At the suggestion of a friend, I have been adding apples to my bread stuffing, to good reviews. The surprise of the tartness and sweetness of the apples is lovely, isn’t it? Raisins would take it up a notch. Yum.
Ah, to have all of our loved ones with us again. That would be a Thanksgiving, indeed.
Thanks. I’ll survive – as long as stay away from roasting chestnuts.
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Sorry that it didn’t turn out as you planned. There has to be some secret easy way to get those chestnuts out of the shell.I am proud of you for trying.
My Grandmother made great Oyster dressing and everyone mentions it every year. As a child, I didn’t care for it, but, I probably would now. My Mom had recipes for divinity, fudge, taffy, and peanut brittle that was wonderful. She had an Uncle that had a “Confectionery Shoppe” in St. Louis during the 20s. We have no idea what happened to her recipes from there.
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We don’t know until we try. A cousin suggested wrapping the hot chestnut in a towel and squeeze it to release the nut. The hotter the chestnut, the easier to get the nuts out. If I ever do this again . . .
I’d love to taste Oyster dressing one day. I’ll bet you didn’t like the texture as a child. Your mom’s candy sounds wonderful. Wouldn’t it be fun to find those recipes? I just finished making caramels before coming online and now you are making me eager to make fudge.
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Dear Penny,
It’s Dee again. I just wanted to tell you that yesterday I read “Caddie Woodlawn.” It is a lovely story with a spunky heroine. As you know because you wrote about it on your blog, the bood was first published in 1935 and I was born a year later, I don’t know why I’ve never heard of it. But then as a child I didn’t know about “Little House on the Prairie” either. Maybe living here in Missouri, we didn’t “meet” books about Minnesota and Wisconsin.
But our eighth grade teacher did read to us “Snow Treasure” by Marie McSwigan. It was about a group of school children in Norway who helped smuggle gold from the country during World War II. It was one of the first books I bought for myself after I left the convent. I read it periodically and still delight in the story and the way its told.
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I’m so pleased you read “Caddie Woodlawn” Dee and hope you enjoyed it. Yes, Caddie was a spunky girl. Many children’s books become favorites in the region the write about, or, often, the local librarians chose certain books. I’m not sure which, but, that is likely why I did not know of “Snow Treasure” until you mentioned it here. I’ve looked it up and it is still available on Amazon. I’m hoping it will be in our library system. It sounds quite interesting, and must be a good book to have captured you so. That must have been so wonderful for you to be able to own books after your years in the convent.
Have you ever read the any of the Lois Lenski “regional” books? They are set in the ’40’s and ’50’s and tell regional stories of hardship and of adventure. I loved reading them as a youngster, and still do. “Judy’s Journey”, “Boom Town Boy”, “Cotton in my Sack”, “Flood Friday”, “Strawberry Girl” are but a few of the books. You might enjoy some of them, Dee.
Best.
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Do you think the stuffing didn’t live up to what you remembered it being, or that it was missing something? I’ve had to duplicate many of my mother’s Thanksgiving dishes by trial and error because she rarely used recipes. I’ve managed a few – and to even improve upon her turnips, they’re actually good now 🙂 and along the way I’ve added a couple of my own dishes. Since I’m a vegetarian and I rely upon the stuffing for part of my protein, I always cook it outside the turkey, use vegetable broth and add walnuts, pine nuts & dried cranberries to the usual bread stuffing ingredients. Also I’ve been making a very simple corn pudding for about 10-15 years now and people like it enough to insist I bring it on Christmas Eve as well. However, this Thanksgiving I added a fresh, chopped jalapeño pepper to the dish and loved it – a new tradition!
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I think it just didn’t live up to my expectations. My grandmother ground everything more than I did, I’m sure, which changed the texture, and she always roasted it in the turkey, which few of us do anymore. Oh well. I like the idea of adding walnuts to the dressing, Janet. I’ve been adding a chopped apple. Pine nuts. Oh, those are so good. Did you get the recipe for the corn pudding at the Graue Mill? I’m remembering you having a recipe from there and just wondered. I’ll just bet the jalapeno pepper adding some zing. It’s fun to keep the old, but add new traditions as well.
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I think that you and I may have had some very similar experiences in growing up with family, Penny. My grandmother lived next door, and my cousins, aunts, uncles…the whole clan lived nearby. It was a wonderful way to grow up, and both of my grandmothers were wonderful cooks. I have a feeling that your chestnut dressing was probably excellent, but nothing tastes the way we remember a favorite family recipe. My southern grandma made the best chicken fried steak and fried okra (fried!) and although we all know the “how” of it, it just never tastes the same. My Scotch grandmother taught me all about the shortbread–I’ll be sharing that recipe sometime in December. I make good shortbread, but it is NOT the same as hers. Maybe our memory fools us. And I have never had chestnut stuffing. I think I’d like to try! Debra
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I think you are right, Debra. It was a wonderful way to grow up and I miss it sometimes. I think the memory is sometimes stronger than the reality, but, we try. Oh, I haven’t had chicken fried steak in forever. I think part of the goodness of these dishes was that they were fried and what they were fried with. I can’t wait to see your shortbread recipe. I make it as well – a recipe from a friend – and will be anxious to see how you do it. Thanks, Debra.
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[…] Yia, that I’ve made that are good, of that I will agree, but, just not as good as hers. My Greek chestnut stuffing just a few weeks ago is a prime example. I think it was missing Yia Yia’s […]
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[…] dear woman, Mary, who sadly passed on a few years ago. I’ve written about family gatherings, my Greek grandmother’s chestnut and meat stuffing, and of the memorable car ride in which a frozen twenty pound turkey hurled toward me at 35 miles […]
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