flipStreet-Roasted Chestnuts
Street-Roasted Chestnuts
Why this dish? Penniless and hungry during his Parisian wanderings in the Latin Quarter, the young Rimbaud, with wind-torn soles, found hot chestnuts sold on street corners a warm snack for a few pennies.
Chestnuts scored and roasted on embers, sold piping hot in a paper cone. You peel them with your fingers and eat them while walking: warmth, sweetness, and comfort for the poor in cold weather.
In winter, in Paris, my only palace was a street corner, and my only feast a cone of burning chestnuts paid for with my last pennies. They toss them on the embers, the skin cracks, and you burn your fingers peeling them — but no matter, it warms the hollow stomach of the walker. Blow on them, friend, and swallow them hot: it's the only luxury you can beg without shame.
- •Chestnuts — a cone (snack)
- •Embers — a brazier (street cooking)
Street-Roasted Chestnuts
Chestnuts scored and roasted on embers, sold piping hot in a paper cone. You peel them with your fingers and eat them while walking: warmth, sweetness, and comfort for the poor in cold weather.
Why this dish? Penniless and hungry during his Parisian wanderings in the Latin Quarter, the young Rimbaud, with wind-torn soles, found hot chestnuts sold on street corners a warm snack for a few pennies.
In winter, in Paris, my only palace was a street corner, and my only feast a cone of burning chestnuts paid for with my last pennies. They toss them on the embers, the skin cracks, and you burn your fingers peeling them — but no matter, it warms the hollow stomach of the walker. Blow on them, friend, and swallow them hot: it's the only luxury you can beg without shame.
Ingredients (period version)
- Chestnuts — a cone (snack)
- Embers — a brazier (street cooking)
Ingredients
- Fresh chestnuts — 500 g (snack)
- Salt — 1 pinch (enhances sweetness)
Method
- Score each chestnut with a cross on the rounded side (otherwise they burst).
- Soak them for 15 minutes in water to prevent drying out.
- Roast them in a perforated pan, in an oven at 220°C, or on embers for 20–25 minutes, stirring, until the skin opens.
- Wrap them in a cloth for a few minutes to soften.
- Peel and eat piping hot, with a pinch of salt.
How it was made : Hot chestnut vendors were an institution of 19th-century Parisian winters, set up with their braziers on busy street corners. It was the street food of the humble, students, and wanderers — warm, nourishing, and cheap.
The contemporary twist : Served in a kraft paper cone with a touch of fleur de sel, an unabashed winter 'street food' style.
Arthur Rimbaud · Charactorium
