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Escargot (Snails)

 
Escargot (Snails)
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Escargot [ehs-kahr-GOH] is the the French word for Snail. In culinary terms the little mollusk is traditionally served baked in the shell with a sauce of garlic, shallots, parsley and butter.Learn about escargot and try our recipe for snails in a shallot, parsley and butter sauce.
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Published by: Gourmet Sleuth

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Escargot Culinary History

Discarded roasted snail shells found in archeological digs indicate that prehistoric humans enjoyed "escargot". Pliny described Fulvius Hirpinus' snail garden as having varied species of snails and feeding them on wine and cornmeal. Ancient Romans, and later, other Europeans ate snails during festivals, Lent, Mardi Gras and Carnival. There are edible land snails ranging in size from 1/4 inch to giant African snails growing up to 12 inches. The traditional escargot is the common garden-variety snail. Escargot (French for snail) are available fresh, chilled, canned, or frozen.

Traditional Escargot Recipe

Ingredients
  • 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 tablespoon minced shallot
  • 1 7-oz can snails, rinsed
Instructions
  • Preheat oven to 400°F.
  • Purée butter, garlic, parsley, and shallot in a food processor. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Divide half the garlic butter among sterilized snail shells. Stuff with snails (1 per shell) and remaining garlic butter.

Buy Escargot

Escargot can be purchased cleaned, and canned .  You can buy Escargot Shells Meat Dishes and Tools at Amazon.com or, look for them in the gourmet section of well stocked grocery stores.  To use these you just need to rinse them.  Prepare your sauce, stuff the escargot in the shells and bake.

Sometimes you can find the escargot, prepared with the sauce, frozen. I've purchased these at at grocery store in France and they were delicious!  All you do is put them in the little escargot dish and bake.  These are very convenient.  Again, look for these in gourmet specialty stores.  You may find them online as well but requires overnight shipping.

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