French Provincial Cooking - Elizabeth David [189]
SNAILS
Here are the instructions for the preparation of snails, given by Madame Millet-Robinet in Maison Rustique des Dames, a book which was enormously popular in the mid-nineteenth century and which, judging from the manner of its arrangement and content, may well have had some influence on our own Mrs. Beeton.
‘The first essential is to leave the snails to starve for at least one month, enclosed in some kind of vessel, left in a cool but not damp place. There are cases of accidents having occurred when this precaution has not been taken: the snails, having fed on noxious plants, have caused food poisoning. At the end of this time, the snails are thrown into a cauldron filled with boiling water (to which some add wood ash) and they are cooked for 20 minutes. This done, they are taken from their shells; the little intestine is removed; they are washed in several waters; they are put again into fresh water, salted and boiled for a few minutes, and then they are drained.
‘The snails are then put into a saucepan with butter and a large spoonful of flour; stir them, moisten them with stock, water or white wine; add thyme, bay leaves, salt, pepper, mushrooms if possible, and leave to cook until the snails are tender. You then add the egg yolks, to which a little verjuice (the juice of unripe grapes), lemon juice or vinegar can be added.’
ESCARGOTS FARCIS
STUFFED SNAILS
‘The snails are prepared and cooked and drained as above; the shells are carefully cleaned; a stuffing is made as follows: mushrooms, parsley, shallots and garlic are all very finely chopped, seasoned with salt and pepper and mixed with a little breadcrumbs and a sufficient quantity of butter; a little of the stuffing is put into each shell, then the snail, and the shell is filled up with the stuffing; put the snails in a fireproof dish into which a half glass of white wine has been poured, and the dish is put in the oven for a quarter of an hour.’
MADAME MILLET-ROBINET: Maison Rustique des Dames
ESCARGOTS DE CONSERVE À LA BOURGUIGNONNE
TINNED SNAILS WITH PARSLEY AND GARLIC BUTTER
Tinned snails of the specially reared variety known as helix pomatia or hélices vigneronnes, apple or vine snails, consumed and exported by the French in millions, can be served with the stuffing described by Madame Millet-Robinet (pounded walnuts are sometimes added to this kind of stuffing), or in the well-known Burgundian manner with parsley and garlic butter. This is made as follows: chop very finely indeed a handful of the freshest parsley, rinsed and squeezed dry, and the stalks discarded, with a shallot or two. Add a finely pounded clove of garlic, or two if you like. Work this mixture into approximately 7 oz. of very fine unsalted butter, season with pepper, nutmeg and only the smallest pinch of salt, because tinned snails are usually already quite sufficiently salted.
These quantities are enough for 4 dozen snails, and the butter should be made only on the day it is needed, for the garlic and shallots will quickly turn the butter sour. For this reason, snails bought ready filled, although they may be excellent the day they arrive from France, will not be too good if they have been hanging about in the shop.
Put a little knob of the butter in each shell, then the snail, then fill up with more butter, pressing it in so that each shell is crammed as full as it can be. Put the filled shells, open end uppermost, in the dishes specially designed for the purpose (see the drawing on page 329), cover each dish with a buttered paper or piece of foil and put them in a fairly hot oven for 7 to 10 minutes. Take great care, when getting the dishes out of the oven, not to let the snails slip over on their sides, for the hot melted butter will drip out and the snails will be spoilt.
A recently invented system which does away with the necessity for special dishes and tongs is to have minuscule pots, one for each snail, made of coarse brown or grey stoneware. The French name for these little pots is godets. They are shown in the drawing on page 329, as are also