At Sur La Table you can purchase a chestnut cutter and a roasting pan just for chestnuts. When in season I roast chestnuts just about every night - YUMMY. Heat oven to 375 place prepared chestnuts in for 13 minutes - shake - another 13 minutes. If the nuts are small cut your time to 10 - 11 minutes each time.

Hi, hope I'm not too late with tips on the chestnuts. I've made chestnut stuffing for many years and cut the x's. what a task!! A couple of years ago I had the idea to ust a nut cracker (I started with a hammer). The nutcraker takes a little effort but much easier than the x's. Trust me..I boil mine. It's also easy to get the meat out of the nuts with a fork. In fact, I just finished 3 lbs of getting them ready. I also use pork/beef/giblets w/sage, rosemary, thyme & parsley. Use bags of bread.

Unfortunately there is no quick way to shell chestnuts. In my experience anyway... the trick, I've noticed, is to make sure they are cooked. And use a paring knife, catching the edge of the X and slicing it as if you were peeling a potato. It'll still take a while, though... but I think it's worth it in the end. :)

Does anyone have any chestnut shelling tips? I do the "x", but it still takes me hours (and serious finger pain!) to shell them. Thanks!

I have made this entire menu for 5 years now. My family LOVES all the recipes. The stuffing is wonderful! I do part in the turkey and part in a pan to get the edges crispy. I also finish the portion from the turkey in the pan (stuffed in the turkey from this menu also... YUM!!!! ). I also started adding some italian sausage the last couple years and it's incredible!

I thought this recipe was the best stuffing I have ever made. I have made it for two years now and everyone wants the recipe. I admit I did alter it by adding 1 cup of craisins, using half the amount of parsley and chestnuts and adding one cube of chicken bullion to the broth to give it a kicked up chicken flavour.
I don't quite understand how the woman who wrote dry and bland made it happen that way. There is plenty of liquid to make it very moist.
Kevin Willeford

Didn't like it. Dry and bland.

Didn't like it. Dry and bland.

Turkey cooks faster and more even if not stuffed. Also I make the basic stuffing shown here but separate into 2 baking dishes and add smoked oysters to one because we have some guests that love it that way others are purists! For the record it is called stuffing if it is in the bird and dressing if it is baked in a dish--Martha said so in one of her shows a few years back__makes sense.

Lots of folks don't like their stuffing baked in the bird. In our family, we have a couple of strict vegetarians, so we make our stuffing with vegetable broth and bake it in a casserole so everyone can enjoy it. Those who want the "meaty" flavor can add gravy made from the turkey broth.

I'm curiious why the stuffing is baked and not put into the turkey. Any idea?