Sorry no photo is available to add to this post. We didn't have the open fire either. I can say Bernie Klassen did a great job of shaking my cast iron frying pan full of chestnuts. I had mentioned that I'd never had roasted chestnuts. Roasted chestnuts are often available at two events in town, one the Cadboro Village Christmas event and the other the Oak Bay light up. I've attended the Oak Bay event when I lived in the area and missed the chestnuts. So Bernie kindly decided I needed to experience roasted chestnuts and brought over a bag for me to try.
After slicing an X into the bottom of the chestnuts, all of them went into the cast iron frying pan on medium high. The chestnuts swell and expand, splitting open at the X. Cooling them a lot and then peeling the shell back is the way to eat them. Or you can try to hold the hot chestnut in your hand and peel to get to the delicious insides. The taste is a slight nutty flavour, although chestnuts are not nuts but seeds.
After a search on the internet I found some sites about chestnuts. Further cooking instructions can be found at Canadian Living
http://www.canadianliving.com/food/cooking_school/all_about_chestnuts.php
The history of the chestnut is interesting, humans have been consuming them for thousands of years. In areas where cereal grains don't grow the chestnut is used instead. Often ground into flour for bread as well. Like potatoes, chestnuts can be used in many different recipes and being mild flavoured are a good base for spices and flavouring.
I found an article at The Cambridge World History of Food on chestnuts worth reading
http://www.cambridge.org/us/books/kiple/chestnuts.htm
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