The turkey is in the oven. Oh, I don't mean it's cooking yet. I just took it out of the refrigerator to get the giblets out and make stock, and now I've stored it in the oven with the door closed to keep the cat from getting at it while I write this blog post.
I can imagine Santa Claus driving a car like this red and white 2CV that I photographed in Chinon in 2003.
Yesterday a good friend from England who used to live here came by at noontime and we made our Christmas Eve cheese fondue. We always enjoy eating that in wintertime. It takes three cheeses: Gruyère, Comté, and Emmental, along with white wine, kirsch, and a pinch of nutmeg.
This man touting the Chinon wines looks like he could be a stand-in for Old Saint Nick in this 2003 photo.
While we were eating and talking, our friend asked what we would be making for our Christmas dinner. We told her turkey with chestnut stuffing (farce aux châtaignes). She said that was also a classic Christmas dinner in England. I said something about Americans not eating chestnuts much and wondered out loud if the trees just don't grow in North America (the way pecan trees don't grow here because the summertime weather is just not hot enough).
I wonder if this is supposed to be the Renaissance writer François Rabelais, of Chinon.
Well, it turns out that a chestnut blight imported from Asia killed off more than four billion North American chestnut trees in the early part of the 20th century. They've never recovered. Asian chestnuts were immune to the blight, and European chestnuts were much less susceptible to it than the North American trees were. So Americans have to do without chestnuts unless they are imported. It's a pity... Okay, now it's time to start cooking the turkey.
Happy cooking ( Christmas) enjoy your day.
ReplyDeleteHope you enjoy yours too. Our turkey is looking beautiful.
DeleteWhile I've never tried them, roasted chestnuts are sold straight from roasting stands in the city. They are popular with with Asian born people.
ReplyDeleteThey sell roasted chestnuts like that in Paris, and probably in New York. Our local woods are full of chestnut trees, and once in a while we gather and cook some, but not often. Sometimes they are full of worms (caterpillars?) and not usable.
DeleteJoyeux Noël et régalez vous !
ReplyDeleteC'est notre intention ! A vous de même. Tous nos vœux...
DeleteMerry Christmas
ReplyDeleteTo you too!
DeleteMerry Christmas !
ReplyDeleteMerry Christmas! There are several chestnut trees near my church that welcome gatherers every fall. I hope they don't have worms.
ReplyDeletelove the chestnut mousse u can get in french grocery stores....wish we could get here....merry xmas from western NC......
ReplyDeleteHi Melinda,
DeleteAmazon sells Clément Faugier's Crème de Marrons. See here and here. Be sure to read the one star comments before making a decision!
Merry Christmas to you Walt and Ken, and to all your lovely readers that make this blog a nice place to stop by.
ReplyDeleteAs Andrew says above, roasted chestnuts are sold from stands on the street in many major US east coast cities. I've never tried them either.
BTW, I always thought marron was the word for chestnut. Is there a difference between marron and châtaigne?
ReplyDeleteIt's pretty complicated. When you talk about trees, the châtaigner produces châtaignes (chestnuts), which are edible. The marronnier produces marrons (horse chestnuts), which are not food for humans. But in culinary terms, the plumpest, most desired châtaignes are called marrons. The French make so many things complicated to keep foreigners confused. JMO.
DeleteLOL, Ken!
DeleteIt seems the word marron comes from the Italian marrone, a big edible chestnut. I don't know how big a chestnut has to be to be called a marron. As far as edible fruits are concerned, I'd say the two terms marron and châtaigne are probably interchangeable.
The Larousse Gastronomique says that les marrons sont en fait de grosses châtaignes — marrons are large chestnuts. Those are the edible marrons. The ordinary châtaigne fruit contains two or three small nuts inside each spiky husk, whereas the edible marron usually has just one fat, round chestnut inside the husk. It's therefor larger and easier to peel (peeling is not optional).
DeleteThe word marron also means "horse chestnut" and is technically known as the marron d'Inde or "Indian chestnut" and is not edible. As Judy knows, the driveway up to the château in Saint-Aignan is lined with tall maronniers (d'Inde), which are ornamental trees. The huge marrons that fall out of them are inedible horse chestnuts, known as "buckeyes" in Ohio and "conkers" in England (I think if you stand under the tree when it is bearing fruit you might get conked on the head).
Diogenes, I believe the two words are both used, to refer to the same thing (and Wordreference.com backs me up!). I've seen crème de marrons for chestnut paste, and I've also seen it called crème de châtaigne. I assume it's the same thing!
ReplyDeleteJudith
Thank you for the explanation Ken and chm. ;-) Hope you both had a wonderful holiday!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was googling recipes for chestnut stuffing, I found two recipes that were what I had in mind. One was Dinde farcie aux châtaignes, and the other was Dinde aux marrons.
DeleteInteresting about the chestnuts. I remember as a kid that my grandparents had a chestnut tree in their backyard. I never knew what happened to it. Chestnuts were always so beautiful, I thought. Liked carved wood. Merry Christmas to you!
ReplyDelete