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Rarebit of Chestnut

Chestnut rarebit served over toasted crackers.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and cream are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 8% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 41,516 recipes. Both carry delta-dodecalactone, which smells sweet, creamy. The science ↓

Rarebit of Chestnut

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare the chestnuts

  1. Cut a half-inch cross on the flat side of each chestnut.

  2. Place chestnuts in a frying pan and add 3 teaspoons of butter. Shake well on the stove and set in the oven at 400°F (200°C) for 5 minutes.

  3. Remove from oven and shell the chestnuts using a small knife.

  4. Cook shelled chestnuts in boiling salted water until soft.

  5. Drain and measure out 1 heaping cup for garnishing, then mash the remaining 2 cups.

  6. Season the mashed chestnuts with salt and pepper, and beat lightly with a fork.

Make the garnish

  1. For the whole chestnuts, heat 1 tablespoon of butter in a frying pan.

  2. Add ½ teaspoon of beef extract and shake until well coated.

  3. Sprinkle with paprika and keep warm until ready to serve.

Make the rarebit and serve

  1. In a chafing dish, combine the mashed chestnuts, 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoons of sugar, and 1 cup of thin cream.

  2. Stir in 1 even spoon of beef extract and a dash of paprika until just bubbling.

  3. Pour the mixture over toasted crackers and garnish with the deviled chestnuts.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Butter + creamtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  2. Sugar + creamtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together43,450 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,3-butanedione (butter, sweet).

  3. Pepper + beeftop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,971 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  4. Chestnut + peppertop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together826 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  5. Chestnut + beeftop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together197 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Chestnuts
Provide the main body and starchy, mealy texture of the rarebit.
Thin cream
Adds moisture and richness so the mashed chestnuts form a smooth, spreadable mixture.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and flavor and helps coat the chestnuts as they cook.
Beef extract
Contributes concentrated savory, meaty flavor to the chestnuts and the rarebit.
Sugar
Adds sweetness that balances the savory beef extract and the nutty chestnuts.

The step that matters

Stirring in the beef extract until just bubbling. Beef extract is concentrated and salty-savory; adding it to a hot cream mixture and heating past a gentle bubble can scorch the cream and make the sauce grainy or bitter. Heating gently keeps the cream smooth.

Swap the chestnut

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, pepper, beef, sugar, cream):

  1. Almondfits about as well
  2. Beansfits about as well
  3. Chestnutthe original
  4. Peanutfits about as well

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, pepper, beef, sugar, cream. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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