On the Snail Trail

Recipes

Escargot de Conserve à la Bourguignonne

Mock snail of cœur de porc

Mock snail of champignons farcis


This story started with a resolution. Sometimes in honor of the New Year, I concoct some stand that may sound outrageous, but in reality is no big deal. Past resolutions included not going to McDonald's (kept that one for several years till I had kids), No Starbucks (I still don't buy drinks but it's the only nearby place to find a New York Times), and once I pledged to use butter on bread only when it had been freshly baked (that one was kinda hard, but helpful). This year I announced to my family that I would not cook with any ingredient that required the use of a can opener. My proclamation was met with a shrug. With the exception of coconut milk and occaisional can of frejoles, our household has led a mostly canless existence. It has been going in this direction since culinary school a few years ago. I remember when I started I thought, "I'm not going to school to learn how to use a can opener," and of course, the first thing we did was crack open #10 cans of tomato paste to make brown stock. Going canless led me to think about several things such as: What convienence does a canned good offer over technique, or what fresh ingredient could I use instead of an exotic canned one? My quest is not about vilifying metal containers or the processed products therein, I mean if I want to make something special that requires canned artichokes, I'm gonna go buy a can of artichokes. But can you name any dishes that are rooted in some great culinary tradition, that require a can opener? So far I have brown stock and green bean casserole.



Before I made this grand and sweeping change in my life I thought about what would I miss: I learned how to make coconut milk from shredded coconut, and cooking dried beans is very easy (hint: you don't need to soak them overnight) so, I thought and I thought....

Snails.

I had never bought a can snails, but I'd thought about it a lot ever since a Bistro class at Kendall. The instructor had been a chef at French place in Evanston and he said since snails are not cultivated here, the only way to get them was in a can from France. He had us liven up the canned gastropods by sautéing them in butter with a splash of white wine before stuffing them. The taste isn't particularly exotic, but its good, and reminds me of fun times in France.





The last time I had snails was at Cafe Deguerre with my sister.



With these memories in mind, and the new knowlege of how easy it is to prepare snails, I was ready to buy a can.



Shopping for snails triggered another memory. As I held the prize in my hand, I remembered going to the grocery as a kid with my mom. Short of the lackluster toy aisle, this column of shells was the most interesting item in the store. Now back in modern time, staring at the cockles, I thought about my new resolution. For the sake of research I would make canned snails, but I had to come up with some alternatives.



Escargot de Conserve à la Bourguignonne

I'll thank Elizabeth David for the name, but I would hardly call my recipe an adaptation. Snails have been prepared in the Burgundy way for centuries. The Oxford Companion to Food reports that snails became a fixture of Brasseries in Paris due to the fact that most were run by Alsatians, who were big time snail eaters. I can't say I agree with this theory, I think the snail's popularity comes more from the preparation: Just about anything tastes good smothered in garlic and butter. Let's go to the boards:

Beurre à la Bourguignonne (Snail Butter) (for 1 dozen snails)

120g /4oz /8T /1 stick Unsalted Butter
10g /2tsp Shallot minced
5g /1 large clove garlic minced
15g /1T Parsley chopped
Salt and pepper to taste



Soften the butter by beating it with a big stick or rolling pin. You don't really need the plastic.



Stir in remaining ingredients till it looks uniform, set aside.

For the snails, sauté them in a little butter, put in a splash of white wine and reduce. Let them cool a bit before stuffing. With clean shells take about a teaspoon of prepared butter and stuff it in the shell. Use your pinky finger to push it in far, then gently shove in a snail. Seal the hatch with another knob of butter.







I don't have a snail plate so I used a focaccia trimmed for the occasion.



Pop into a hot oven and heat till the butter bubbles.

It's not too hard to reconstruct this French food memory at home, the can even had a pop top so I didn't have to use a can opener. The container had enough for two dozen snails.

For making mock snails,I didn't have to look much farther than my old copy of Larousse for an answer. Under the snail entry it gives a recipe for Mock Snails Comtesse Riguidi. It calls for lamb's sweetbreads and a chicken cream stuffing. Sweetbreads doesn't sound very snail like but fun. Now if I could only find some.



I called around to a couple of places and they said I could special order sweetbreads, but where's the sport in that? I moved on. At the same time I had been thinking about some sort of meat that would be a little chewy (snail-like?) and would have taste great smothered in butter and garlic. I picked up some pork hearts.



I removed the chewy bits and cut up the heart into snail sized strips. With salt pepper and a dusting of flour I sautéed the strips in butter. I let them cool before stuffing. One heart is plenty for 12 snails.







I used a bamboo skewer as a snail fork.



I also wanted to do something with mushrooms. I like the idea of mushrooms and snails coming from the same part of the forest, but how to make a mushroom look like a snail? I not much for sculpting with a knife so how about some sausage.



I combined all the ingredients in a food prcessor, blended to smooth then piped little snail shapes using a pastry bag with small tip. The mushroom snails baked in a 375F oven for 8-10 minutes.





Here are the quantities I used for 12 mushroom snails

120g /4oz Crimini mushrooms
20g Rolled oats ground fine in a spice mill
1 egg
2g salt
pinch of each and grind in the spice mill with the salt: Thyme, mustard seed, white pepper, 1 juniper berry.







Over the past couple of weeks my family has eaten a lot of snails, Ok I've eaten a lot of snails, everybody else has just wondered when I would move on. The boys liked the pork heart (served over spaghetti) and the mushroom stuffing is really easy to make. As for going canless, I don't think that will be too hard, I don't need to buy anymore snails. But write in tell me what you can't live without in the can!

Cheers.



Book References (links to WorldCat, a library database)

The Oxford Companion to Food by Davidson

Good Things by Grigson (nice discussion but too much salt in her snail butter)

Larousse Gastronomique by Montagné

French Provincial Cooking by David