Chef Juliette
Suet Dumpling
Boulettes au suif, poached beside salt beef, turn equal weights of flour and finely chopped suet into tender, rich dumplings. Keep the beef liquor at a bare tremble and the old garnish works beautifully at home.
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Purée de Marrons
Created by Chef Juliette
Based on No. 2175, Purée de Marrons, from Le Guide Culinaire (1907) by Auguste Escoffier
Chestnuts simmered with celery and a little sugar, pressed smooth, dried with butter, then loosened with warm milk: a savory purée whose silk depends on controlling moisture.
Side Dishes
French
Holiday
Make Ahead
15 min
Active Time
45 min cook•1 hr total
Yield4 servings
Purée de marrons (savory chestnut purée) teaches one true thing before you touch the pan: smoothness comes from controlling moisture, not from adding more liquid. The chestnuts must first become completely tender in white consommé, with celery holding their sweetness in check, then be pressed fine and dried with butter before warm milk brings them back to suppleness.
The original formula assumed a saucier, a consommé pot never off the fire, and a tammy broad enough to process a service quantity. Your home equivalent is one batch of Stewed Chestnuts (No. 2173), good white consommé from that preparation, and a food mill followed by a sturdy fine sieve. I have scaled the chestnuts to one pound, enough for four generous servings. The brigade quantity and the great tammy were scaffolding, so they can go. The celery, measured sugar, thorough sieving, and order of butter before milk are the dish itself, so they stay.
The finished purée should be pale fawn, softly mounded, and rich without tasting sweet. Don't rush the dessécher, the pan-drying stage. That is the step that decides whether the milk folds into a silken purée or merely thins a wet one.
Purée de marrons belongs to the savory garnish repertoire of the French classical table, drawing on chestnuts grown throughout Ardèche and the Cévennes and serving them beside roast poultry, pork, and game. Grand kitchens refined the household practice by cooking the nuts in white consommé, passing them through a tammy, and balancing their sweetness with celery. It should not be confused with Ardèche's sweet crème de marrons: the little sugar here rounds the chestnut, while stock, celery, butter, and salt keep the preparation firmly at the dinner table.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
Stewed Chestnuts
Quantity
1 batch Stewed Chestnuts (No. 2173), prepared from 3¼ cups (770 ml / 454 g) peeled chestnuts
cooked until crushing-soft; cooking liquid reserved
granulated sugar
Quantity
1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon (17.5 ml / 14 g)
added to the chestnut cooking liquid
unsalted butter
Quantity
4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g)
divided
whole milk
Quantity
½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml / 124 to 185 g)
warmed
fine salt
Quantity
to taste
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Stewed Chestnutscooked until crushing-soft; cooking liquid reserved | 1 batch Stewed Chestnuts (No. 2173), prepared from 3¼ cups (770 ml / 454 g) peeled chestnuts |
| granulated sugaradded to the chestnut cooking liquid | 1 tablespoon plus ½ teaspoon (17.5 ml / 14 g) |
| unsalted butterdivided | 4 tablespoons (60 ml / 57 g) |
| whole milkwarmed | ½ to ¾ cup (120 to 180 ml / 124 to 185 g) |
| fine salt | to taste |
Equipment Needed
- •3-quart heavy saucepan
- •Food mill fitted with a fine disk
- •Sturdy fine-mesh sieve and flexible scraper
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Cook Until Collapsing
Prepare the Stewed Chestnuts (No. 2173) according to its own entry, adding the sugar to the cooking liquid at the start. For stuffing, that preparation may remain somewhat firm; for this purée, continue until a chestnut collapses under a fork and shows no pale, chalky core. Reserve ½ cup of the cooking liquid before draining.
- 2
Pass the Chestnuts
Pass the drained chestnuts through the fine disk of a food mill while they are still hot, then press the resulting meal through a sturdy fine-mesh sieve with a flexible scraper. This replaces the brigade's tammy without changing its purpose: removing every resistant fragment and giving the purée an even, close texture. Don't use a blender, which beats the chestnuts into a heavy paste instead of pressing them cleanly.
If the chestnuts resist the food mill, they are undercooked. Return them to the reserved liquid and simmer gently until they crush without effort, then drain and pass them again. Ça se rattrape. - 3
Dessécher With Butter
Put the sieved chestnuts in a heavy saucepan with 3 tablespoons of the butter. Work them over medium-low heat with a wooden spoon for 5 to 8 minutes. This is dessécher, drying the purée: the butter disappears into the chestnuts, excess moisture leaves, and the spoon begins to draw a clean path across the pan floor. If the purée catches, lift the pan from the heat immediately and beat in a spoonful of reserved cooking liquid before transferring it to a clean pan. Don't scrape burnt bits into it.
- 4
Loosen With Milk
Lower the heat and beat in ½ cup of the warm milk a little at a time, letting each addition disappear before the next. Stop when the purée is smooth, supple, and able to hold a soft ridge from the spoon without standing stiffly. If it remains dense, add the remaining milk by the spoonful. If it becomes loose, ça se rattrape: work it over gentle heat until the spoon again leaves a brief trail.
- 5
Finish and Serve
Taste before adding salt, since the white consommé in the chestnut preparation may already carry enough. Beat in the remaining tablespoon of cold butter until the surface takes on a quiet sheen, then spoon the purée into a warmed serving dish. Give the top broad, generous folds with the back of the spoon and serve beside roast poultry, pork, or game. À table!
Chef Tips
- •Vacuum-packed, peeled, unsweetened chestnuts are the honest home choice when fresh chestnuts are unavailable. They spare you the peeling, which is labor rather than technique, while leaving the flavor and method intact.
- •Keep the celery in the Stewed Chestnuts (No. 2173). You shouldn't taste celery as a separate flavor; its quiet bitterness keeps the chestnut and sugar from wandering toward dessert.
- •Warm the milk before adding it. Cold milk tightens the butter and cools the purée just when you need it supple enough to absorb liquid evenly.
- •Season only after the milk is incorporated. Consommé varies greatly in salinity, and reduction concentrates whatever salt it carried into the pan.
- •Serve this with roast turkey, goose, pork, venison, or duck. It wants savory juices nearby and needs no decorative greenery.
Advance Preparation
- •The Stewed Chestnuts (No. 2173) can be prepared up to 2 days ahead. Refrigerate them in their cooking liquid, then warm gently before draining and passing them.
- •The finished purée keeps for up to 3 days in a covered container in the refrigerator. Reheat it over low heat with a spoonful of milk, beating steadily until supple, then finish with a small piece of butter.
- •For holiday service, finish the purée several hours ahead and press buttered parchment directly against its surface. Reheat gently, loosening with warm milk only if it has tightened.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 170g)
Calories
360 calories
Total Fat
14 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
1 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
305 mg
Total Carbohydrates
55 g
Dietary Fiber
9 g
Sugars
17 g
Protein
3 g
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