Recipe no. 543 from Jean-Baptiste Reboul's La Cuisinière provençale (1909), page 242.
Ingredients
- chestnuts
- water
- vanilla
- syrup
Preparation
- Peeling the chestnutsRemove the first covering from the chestnuts, plunge them into boiling water for a few minutes. Move the saucepan aside and strip off the second skin as the chestnuts are taken from the water.
- Cooking the chestnutsPut the chestnuts to cook slowly in water until tender.
- Candying at 20 degreesTake the cooked chestnuts out delicately with a skimmer and plunge them into a basin of syrup at 20 degrees to which a vanilla pod has been added. Set over very low heat so that they do no more than shiver. Leave thus until the next day.
- Gradual candyingPut back on the heat and let boil very gently until the syrup reads 25 degrees. Pour into earthenware dishes and let rest. Repeat the process, bringing the syrup up to 55 degrees.
- Final glazingTo glaze the chestnuts, cook the syrup to the crack stage (forming resistant threads between thumb and forefinger). Pour this syrup into an earthenware dish and dip the candied chestnuts in it several times with a skimmer or a fork. Place them afterward on racks to dry.
Reboul's text
After removing the first covering from the chestnuts, plunge them into boiling water for a few minutes. Then move the saucepan aside to strip them of their second skin as they are taken out of the water. Put them to cook slowly in water and, when they are tender, take them out delicately with a skimmer to plunge them into a basin of syrup at 20 degrees; add a vanilla pod, set over very low heat so that they do no more than shiver, that is to say the boiling should be barely noticeable. When the syrup reaches 25 degrees, move it aside and leave them thus until the next day. You will then put them back on the heat to let them boil very gently until the syrup reads 55 degrees; then take them off to keep them thus in earthenware dishes; they are then candied.
When one wishes to glaze them, the syrup is cooked to the crack stage, that is to say it must reach the point of forming fairly resistant threads when taken between the thumb and forefinger and these are drawn apart. This syrup being put into an earthenware dish, the candied chestnuts are dipped in it several times, with a skimmer or a fork; they are then placed on racks.
Small Provençal glossary for this recipe
Reboul writes in French: no Provençal word appears in this recipe, apart from the dish's name itself. The table below gives the Provençal equivalents of the words used, in mistralian spelling, translated by Lingua Nostra. Each form is attested in our Provençal-English dictionary; click to open the entry.
| Provençal | English |
|---|---|
| amaroun | chestnuts |
| aigo | boiling water |
| escumadouiro | skimmer |
| sirop | syrup |
| vaniho | vanilla |
| couire | cook |
Source: Jean-Baptiste Reboul, La Cuisinière provençale, Marseille, 1909, recipe no. 543, page 242. Public domain. Transcription, formatting and Provençal glossary by Lingua Nostra.