Seeking advice on Salting and dry roasting nuts

[Kerouac1964]

Hello!

I'm on a quest to recreate a treat I encountered years ago at a Peanut Shack at my local mall. I purchased a 1/2 lb of extra salty Jumbo Pistachios and snuck them into the maxi-plex theatre to see an action flick.

The nuts were very tasty, coming right off a heat lamp and they were very crisp and fresh as well. I prefer pistachios with a lot of salt. I could not believe how salty these were. They were literally WHITE with salt. You could see little crystals shining on these in-the-shell beauties. And they were a very nice Jumbo grade as well. I don't recall ever eating a bigger pistachio since that 1/2 pound batch.

I've been wanting to recreate that magic treat, and cannot find a specific recipe to help me accomplish this task. Unfortunately the Peanut Shack no longer exists, and I am unable to find that chain on the Internet. Perhaps they went under?

I have even gone so far as to email several Pistachio ranchers in the hopes that they would have heard of the process for getting the extra salt onto the the nuts. The most helpful reply I recieved was to use a brine solution, then dry them in the oven. I think this is perhaps the best bet to date.

I was hoping a culinary expert online at Egullet might be able to offer a salt to water ratio content? and the Oven temp, and roasting time? How long to leave the nuts in the brine? What would be the best type of salt to use - Kosher, sea salt?

Thanks in advance for any help!!

Mike T.

aka Kerouac1964

Sioux City, Iowa :cool

[Miss J]

The only thing I've ever seen on this subject was in Sichuan Cookery by Fuschia Dunlop. She describes how to dry-roast peanuts in a wok by filling the wok with salt and raw peanuts in their pink skins, and stirring the whole mix over heat until the skins have flaked off and the nuts are roasted.

How that will help you super-salt your pistachios in brine, I don't know. But that's all I can offer.

Miss J

[Suvir Saran]

Miss J,

I do what you describe and add a little sugar. It adds some moisture and then makes the nuts crisper and also helps the salt adhere.

I love salty nuts.... In India we serve these most often when people come un-announced. Which is all the time. It is that easy snack without any preparation. And while the chefs prepare samosas or pakoras, the guests have a little tasty treat to nibble on.

We do the same with cashews and almonds.

[Kerouac1964]

Thanks for the replies! I like the wok idea. I've just purchased a wok. And hadn't thought of roasting nuts in it.

The sugar addition sounds nice, as well. I like a sweet/salty combination. I was snacking on trail mix this weekend and adding a bit of table salt to it to enhance the m&ms and raisins .

My original idea was to soak in a brine when the pistachios were in the shell, but - I could always shell them and then just spritze them with a salt solution, dry then repeat as needed to try and build the salt amount desired.

Those nuts were really one-of-a-kind items. I've never seen nuts that salty since! A rare indulgence to be sure, as the salt will soon make the lips, fingers a bit sore!!!

Mike T.

Sioux City, IA

[polly]

What I do is this:

Put your nuts into a large bowl.

Sprinkle them with water and toss around until all the nuts are damp.

(if you use to much water the salt can slide off the nuts)

Sprinkle the damp nuts with salt (if you are after a heavy coating, use fine salt) and whatever spices you like and spread them out on a baking tray.

Roast in the oven. The water will evaporate, leaving the salt in place.

You can do this to pre roasted nuts as well. In that case, put them in a very low oven to evaporate the water without burning the nuts.

[Kerouac1964]

Update - attempted my first batch of extra salty pistachios.

It wasn't a total failure, but I did make mistakes.

Here was my procedure:

1 - Unshelled 1 lb bag of Planter's Pistachios [i actually prefer Sunkist for a commercial brand]

2 - put the meats in a plastic bowl, and misted them with water. Unfortunately my mist bottle wasn't cooperating....I slightly waterlogged the nuts.

3 - tossed fine-crushed Kosher salt on them.

4 - Spread them out on a baking sheet, and dried them in the oven on lowest setting [took about 15 min -- checked them every 5]

Taste:

I bagged them up in a ziplock [that I had used to crush the salt with]. The rubbing action in the baggie took some of the salt crust off....but, they still had the start of a saltier flavor...not quite what I was shooting for.

---------------

My suggestions for my second batch:

Pre-heat the nuts, before misting with water....might help not waterlog them...?

Will be trying another seasoning with the salt / perhaps some garlic powder?? Yummy!

will also be trying the sweet/salty combo soon.

---------------

[Varmint]

I prepare all different kinds of flavors of roasted nuts during the Christmas season to give away as gifts. Some are sweet (Bourbon Maple), some are savory (bitter garlic). I'd be surprised if Suvir didn't have a number of different spice combinations that would go well with nuts.

[Suvir Saran]

Chaat Masala is great with nuts. You can check out more about the spice blends and Chaat Masala at the Indian forum.

In India we often also saute nuts with chile powder and some garam masala and salt.

Another version is a fine powder made from fenugreek leaves (Kasoori methi) and salt and garam masala. This is great with cashews. You can get more information on fenugreek leaves at the Indian forum as well.

Thanks for posting the recipe Kerouac.