How To Properly Eat Snails

You won't surprise anyone with crabs, shrimps, oysters and even lobsters. Deftly working with tongs and forks, seafood lovers accustomed to the exotic devour kilos of them without any fear. Another thing is snails , small molluscs with meat of an inexplicable gray-brown color, they look ambiguous - it is not surprising that not everyone dares to taste them. And for nothing! Let's learn how to properly cook and eat snails .

Despite the fact that snails are a traditional French dish, even in Burgundy they are not eaten every day. As, in fact, foie gras with truffles is another international stereotype. And the point is not that, according to the French, molluscs look unappetizing, it's just that snails are a special festive product, without which no Christmas or New Year's table can do, but a family dinner will do. In France, snails are rarely cooked at home, most often they go to a restaurant for this delicacy.

What to eat snails with

It is difficult to imagine snails as an independent dish, they are too small for that. Although one of the most famous recipes - Escargots de Bourgogne - does not include a side dish, it is considered a classic hot appetizer of traditional French cuisine. You can prepare salads, hot dishes or soups with snails . When choosing ingredients for such dishes, you need to follow the seasonality: grape snails love moisture, since they can be called a winter dish, and not a summer one (in the heat they quickly dry out and spoil), so it turns out that it is better not to combine shellfish with berries and fruits, however you can try to cook them with chestnuts, potatoes or asparagus. Snailsdo not have an intense taste, which means that something bright will be an ideal addition, for example, artichokes, basil, tomatoes, mushrooms or citrus fruits. Of the drinks , only well-chilled dry wine can be recommended for snails - white, if you are a fan of the classics, and red - for example, Beaujolais Nouveau - if you like experiments.

How not to do

Of course, you should not collect snails on the street. Even if you are prepared to thoroughly clean them, following all the instructions for disinfecting clams , the guarantee of success is slightly greater than none. And it is almost impossible to find snails in their original form, that is, alive, in stores. Canned snails are the safest for home use . In banks, they are closed at a special snail farm, where the entire process - collecting, cleaning, salting, boiling, sterilization - is controlled by technologists. Be sure to study the label: the best shellfish come to us from France, Bulgaria and Turkey. You can also buy a frozen semi-finished product, in which case you will receive already stuffed with garlic mixturesnails , they will only have to be heated to boiling oil and served on the table. In the preparation of snails , the same rule applies as with other seafood: if you wait a little longer on the fire - instead of a tasty dish, you will get rubber.