caramelized water chestnuts?

Jennyanniedots said:

On a recent trip to China, I had a delicious regional specialty on a
boat cruise down the Li River in Guilin. It is called caramelized
water chestnuts. They are glazed in a gooey coating that starts out
warm and soft, and gradually hardens into a crispy shell around each
water chestnut as it cools. As strange as it sounds, it is totally
delicious! And so I find myself on a tireless search for some sort of
recipe. Google has failed me. Do any of you have a recipe for this,
by
chance?

I guess finding fresh water chestnuts is the first challenge to task.
And, then experimenting on how they're cooked. They sound awesome,
though, and I am keeping my eyes peeled to this thread.

Karen

Hi Karen,
Finding fresh water chestnuts is no sweat here in Boston. There are
lots of Asian superstores. They're quite delicious! Maybe I should try
to follow some sort of caramel popcorn recipe to make the
coating....I'm just not sure whether to try and cook the water
chestnuts a little first. They are OK raw, but could probably stand a
little cooking.
-jen

Karen said:

Jennyanniedots said:

On a recent trip to China, I had a delicious regional specialty on a
boat cruise down the Li River in Guilin. It is called caramelized
water chestnuts. They are glazed in a gooey coating that starts out
warm and soft, and gradually hardens into a crispy shell around each
water chestnut as it cools. As strange as it sounds, it is totally
delicious! And so I find myself on a tireless search for some sort of
recipe. Google has failed me. Do any of you have a recipe for this,
by
chance?

I guess finding fresh water chestnuts is the first challenge to task.
And, then experimenting on how they're cooked. They sound awesome,
though, and I am keeping my eyes peeled to this thread.

Karen

Jennyanniedots said:

Finding fresh water chestnuts is no sweat here in Boston. There are
lots of Asian superstores. They're quite delicious! Maybe I should try
to follow some sort of caramel popcorn recipe to make the
coating....I'm just not sure whether to try and cook the water
chestnuts a little first. They are OK raw, but could probably stand a
little cooking.

I've ignored this thread up to now because I've never heard of
caramelized water chestnuts and had nothing to contribute, but I have
a couple of questions...

Wouldn't the heat of the hot caramel affect the water chestnuts in as
if they were being cooked? Are they baked in the oven after they are
coated - like we do with caramel popcorn? All that heat should cook
them enough, if they need cooking at all.

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sf wrote on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:29:32 -0700:

??>> Finding fresh water chestnuts is no sweat here in Boston.
??>> There are lots of Asian superstores. They're quite
??>> delicious! Maybe I should try to follow some sort of
??>> caramel popcorn recipe to make the coating....I'm just not
??>> sure whether to try and cook the water chestnuts a little
??>> first. They are OK raw, but could probably stand a little
??>> cooking.

s> I've ignored this thread up to now because I've never heard
s> of caramelized water chestnuts and had nothing to
s> contribute, but I have a couple of questions...

s> Wouldn't the heat of the hot caramel affect the water
s> chestnuts in as if they were being cooked? Are they baked
s> in the oven after they are coated - like we do with caramel
s> popcorn? All that heat should cook them enough, if they
s> need cooking at all.

Speaking for myself, once I had tasted fresh water chestnuts, I
could never bring myself to use the canned variety except in
"dire emergency" :-) I think fresh water chestnuts do need some
cooking but not a lot if they are to keep their slight
sweetness. There is a very quick stir-fry of asparagus and water
chestnuts that is particularly good even if I am not sure it is
Chinese. The asparagus is cooked (blanched) for a few minutes to
allow the short stir-fry.

Incidentally, I don't eat bacon but every recipe for caramelized
water chestnuts that I have come across involves wrapping them
in bacon.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not

The bacon does sound good, but would definitely not yield the same
kind of dish as what I had, which would be classified as a dessert.
They were like eating a hard toffee shell with a crunchy and sweet
inside.

I guess they would get cooked a little just by being passed through
the cooking flow....I suppose I should start with them raw.

I think what I'll do is use my caramel popcorn recipe to make the
coating and then bake as I would with the popcorn.

-jen

On Jun 4, 8:41 am, "James Silverton" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

sf wrote on Sun, 03 Jun 2007 22:29:32 -0700:

??>> Finding freshwaterchestnutsis no sweat here in Boston.
??>> There are lots of Asian superstores. They're quite
??>> delicious! Maybe I should try to follow some sort of
??>> caramel popcorn recipe to make the coating....I'm just not
??>> sure whether to try and cook thewaterchestnutsa little
??>> first. They are OK raw, but could probably stand a little
??>> cooking.

s> I've ignored this thread up to now because I've never heard
s> of caramelizedwaterchestnutsand had nothing to
s> contribute, but I have a couple of questions...

s> Wouldn't the heat of the hot caramel affect thewater
s>chestnutsin as if they were being cooked? Are they baked
s> in the oven after they are coated - like we do with caramel
s> popcorn? All that heat should cook them enough, if they
s> need cooking at all.

Speaking for myself, once I had tasted freshwaterchestnuts, I
could never bring myself to use the canned variety except in
"dire emergency" :-) I think freshwaterchestnutsdo need some
cooking but not a lot if they are to keep their slight
sweetness. There is a very quick stir-fry of asparagus andwaterchestnutsthat is particularly good even if I am not sure it is
Chinese. The asparagus is cooked (blanched) for a few minutes to
allow the short stir-fry.

Incidentally, I don't eat bacon but every recipe for caramelizedwaterchestnutsthat I have come across involves wrapping them
in bacon.

James Silverton
Potomac, Maryland

E-mail, with obvious alterations:
not.jim.silverton.at.verizon.not