The Chestnut, from the Woods to the Waffle
Yellow leaves, spiky husks split open on the ground, baskets full until the end of November. By mid-October the season is in full swing, and it's time to bring chestnuts to the table.
For centuries, in the Apennines, the mountains that run down the length of Italy, the chestnut was the bread tree: where wheat was scarce, its flour was the staple food of mountain families. The flour from Garfagnana, in Tuscany, starts with chestnuts spread out on the cannicci, the wooden racks of the metato, a small drying house, above a slow fire burning nothing but chestnut wood. They stay wrapped in heat and smoke for around forty days. Then the millstone turns them into a sweet flour, with a slightly bitter aftertaste.
Taking your time with smoke is something we understand.
Our Whisky&Soy smoked salmon spends sixteen hours in it, after a marinade and a glaze that give it an intense umami flavour. On the waffle it meets the sweet, slightly bitter chestnut, and the two understand each other from the first bite: they both know the taste of being patient.
Ingredients (makes 4 mini waffles)
For the batter:
- 1 egg
- 40 g 00 flour
- 50 g chestnut flour
- 20 g melted butter
- 90 ml milk
- 1 tsp baking powder
- thyme, to taste
- salt and pepper, to taste
For the cream:
- 4 heaped tsp crème fraîche
- 1 tsp miso
- the juice of half a lemon
- grated lemon zest and ginger, to taste
- 1 tsp sesame oil
For the marinated pear:
- 1 pear
- 2 generous tsp rice vinegar
- 1 tsp honey
- sesame seeds
- 1 small spring onion
- coriander
To assemble:
Equipment:
- a waffle maker
Method
1. Start with the marinated pear, ideally the night before or a few hours ahead: slice the pear thinly, finely slice the spring onion too, and put them in a bowl with the rice vinegar, honey, sesame seeds and coriander. Massage the slices well and leave them to rest in the liquid.
2. Make the batter: in a bowl combine the egg, 00 flour, chestnut flour, melted butter, milk, baking powder, thyme, salt and pepper, and whisk together. Leave it to rest while you prepare the rest.
3. For the cream: mix the crème fraîche with the miso, the juice of half a lemon and the sesame oil, then add grated lemon zest and ginger to taste.
4. Cook the waffles in the waffle maker.
5. Assemble the chestnut waffles in this order: first the cream, then the marinated pear and finally the Whisky & Soy smoked salmon.
A journey of transformations
Chestnut flour has always changed shape: sweet polenta and castagnaccio, the Tuscan chestnut cake, and then, more recently, tagliatelle and tortelli dreamed up by a few inventive cooks. These chestnut waffles go one step further and meet East Asian flavours like miso and sesame, with our Whisky & Soy salmon to finish. Two distant cuisines, on a single plate.
Ready to give it a go? While the waffle maker heats up, have a look at the rest of our range here.