· James Torr · Personal · 2 min read
Garden Snails.
Garden Snails. Yup. You can eat them, you might even enjoy it. Done 4 batches now, so can share some experience.
Some of the thinking points on this project are:
Not missing the things you ignore through the sheer mundaneness of daily contact.
Caring for living beings you intend to eat, eventually ending their lives by your own hand. Something we rarely do in the modern industrial convenience food era. I take no pleasure in it.
Preparation. I collect some (25-30 is enough for a couple of small portions), feed them carrots for 4-5 days, washing daily, handling delicately. I use a large glass container, with the some space for air. Don’t overcrowd them. Keep an eye to see if any aren’t moving. Inside the shell and not moving is usually OK, if they’re outside the shell and stiff, throw them out and review your care conditions. My first batch they all went that way, which I think was from overcrowding and rough handling. Afterwards I think I may have had one or two in 3 batches. Once they’re mostly pooping orange they’re done. Some folks starve them at this point, I figure why bother. After a final wash, they go in the fridge for 4-12 hrs to put them to sleep.
Cooking. However you plan to cook them, blanche them in boiling water for a few minutes first. French method is to heat them up in cold water, I figure this is unnecessarily cruel and a quick death is better. After this, I remove them from the shells and pressure cook for 20 mins in a small amount of liquid. This can be stock, water. You can add some French stock ingredients here if you want.
The main pic is the Bourguignonne method where they make some garlic/butter/breadcrumb paste, then add a bit to the shell, then the snail, and cap with some more paste, then bake 20 mins. I pan fried another batch with some lardons and ate on toast. The pic with the beers is a Seville recipe but I think it was for smaller snails, I didnt remove them from the shells and only simmered for 15 mins after the initial blanche. The sauce was good but the snails were a bit slimey and chewy without removal and a longer cook.
