First of all, when buying fresh chestnuts for roasting, choose those that are firm and heavy for their size, with smooth, glossy shells. Select chestnuts that are all about the same size so they will cook evenly. Keep in mind one pound of fresh, raw chestnuts is roughly 2 cups roasted, shelled chestnuts.
Chestnuts are highly perishable. To keep them fresh, store them in a ventilated plastic bag in the crisper of your refrigerator or freeze them for later use.
For Roasting in the Oven…
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Rinse the chestnuts. After rinsing, lay them on a towel and pat dry. With a small, sharp knife cut an X in each chestnut. No need to purchase the special chestnut scoring tool unless you simply must have every specialty gadget that comes along or you roast chestnuts so often it makes the purchase a value. The purpose to scoring the chestnut allows the steam to escape while they cook, preventing an explosion. This will also make peeling a lot easier.
Put the chestnuts in a baking pan with the X facing up.
It will take 20-30 minutes to roast the chestnuts. When cooked, the shells will burst open, and the chestnut will be golden brown. The tricky part is timing the cooking process. If you over-cook OR under-cook chestnuts, they will get hard and the inner skin will be very difficult to remove. It may take some practice. Buy extra.
Now comes the hard part: peeling them! You need to peel them while they are still warm. Let them cool just enough so that you can touch them, then start peeling. Be very careful not to burn your fingers! Remember they just emerged from a very hot oven.
Add a little salt, and serve covered in a festive Christmas cloth or towel to keep warm.
To roast chestnuts over an open fire....
Place a layer of chestnuts in a cast iron roasting pan with lid. Place the roaster over a low fire for about 20 to 25 minutes or more, balancing it on logs, while frequently shaking it back and forth like you would popcorn to prevent scorching. You can slit the shells first, as directed for oven-roasting, or, since the chestnuts are roasting inside a covered vessel, you can just let them burst for the "pop, pop, pop" effect as in "The Christmas Song."
Enjoy!
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