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" >
wrote:
> 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