Bonjour les tous. Aidez-moi SVP. Think I’ll have a go at chestnut stuffing (although I don’t fancy it much - not like sage and onion)! Still. Recipe calls for chestnut puree. I could only find whole - I think - cooked - ones in a jar. Spose I can chop themup but dont want to choke to death on Crimbo Day.
From what I recall ('cos I only did it once)… I bought a packet of precooked chestnuts… chopped them a bit, stirred in melted butter and blitzed the whole thing until it was smooth.
That gives a purée rather than a stuffing… but it was delicious…
or try this for actual stuffing
1 Like
The chestnut puree available in tins might be the right stuff? Our little local supermarket has it and even the ones in the UK had the same brand so must be widely available. Just make sure you get the unsweetened rather than the sweetened variety 
1 Like
Make a stuffing using finely chopped onion, parley thyme and fresh bread crumbs…cook slowly with butter for about 7 mins,add salt an pepper and a little chopped mushrooms towards the end. Ah the chestnuts pre cooked and chopped,not puree.
Add to mix and then stuff inside your cavity or make stuffing cakes lightly fried
2 Likes
That’s what I thought too. Pretty certain we used a tin last time we made chestnut stuffing for a French Xmas dinner - very filling though !
To avoid confusion in one’s choice of chestnut “paste”:
I usually just chop up the cooked whole chestnuts and mix them with seasoned, home made, sausage meat
1 Like
Depending on quantity needed I use tins or tubes, plus sausage meat, onions, herbs etc… Seems to be in most supermarkets especially at this time of year!
We are surrounded by chestnut woods and though we don’t have any trees on our land, everyone else we know has, consequently there’s about 10 kilos of gifted chestnuts kicking around the house at the moment and I’ve been cooking with them since the end of September. Shelling is s a bit of a hassle, but surely it’s preferable to buying pre-made industrial stuff, which to me always seems over- processed - like soup made in a blender…
All the ingredients in peoples’ recipes above seem sound, but I’m surprised no one’s mentioned finely chopped poitrine fumé, preferably smoked by your local butcher and gently melted in its own fat.Smoky bacon goes well with chestnut, much better than bland sausage meat. But, if I was going to use the latter, I’d buy some decent saucisse de Toulouse (though not too musty dried herby) rather than the bland sausage meat sold for vegetable stuffing. Lastly, if you soak your breadcrumbs in milk, before combining them with the other ingredients, you’ll get a much lighter, more easily digestible stuffing.
1 Like
@Pamela_Shields , the whole chestnuts I buy (St Dalfour) are so soft it would be easy to make a puree by squidging them between your fingers. But a mezzaluna is probably just as effective.
And I suppose there’s no reason not to have sage and onion as well as chestnut stuffing.
Edit - like Stella said!
1 Like
Only if it’s fresh sage! Too many UK Christmas memories of my mother’s stale dried sage stuffing - she only used her sage once a year! By contrast, have a lot of sage all the year round in the garden, but think it’s the herb that’s most disagreeable in dried form, though I’d welcome other nominations.
Possibly because it goes without saying? Bit like salt and pepper….
www epicurious.com chestnut stuffing is my favourite,although I replace the butter with olive oil ,don’t use rosemary and add chicken or vegetable stock stock as it is too dry without.Whole chestnuts are used .
2 Likes
Epicurious is such a goood site
1 Like
This probably isn’t the time to mention my PAXO sandwich then, my signature dish for a number of years. (The other was spaghetti sauce, made with tomato Cup-a-Soup but – and this was the stroke of genius – using only half the usual amount of water.)
I think dried herbs are like instant coffee, aren’t they, sort of recognisable but essentially entirely different to the fresh version?
1 Like
I think you’re being very brave to admit to such sacriligious goings on in your kitchen
You should hear about the things I wasn’t prepared to mention …
2 Likes
Tis chaps like Porridge wot made me run to France! Wonder if he’s the fish and chips van man in the Dordogne
1 Like
Right, that’s another name on me list.
The fish and chips of Dordogne are they good
Where can you get them from