If You Can't Beat 'em, Eat 'em!!!

SNAILS....that is. Gordon Ramsey did a thing on TV a while back. Just wondered if anyone has tried it. This is the section for "edible gardening" after all.

And yes I have eaten snails in restaurants before. Just like fruit and veg, got to be much nicer fresh from your garden and will keep the little critters in check.

 

Its a funny thing really, while snails appear on menus in many parts of the world, in Britain many are repulsed by the very thought of eating snails. To be honest that includes me, yet there is no logic to it. I've eaten cockles, muscles, winkles and a whole host of sea bogies. All of which are just the marine counterpart to land snails, yet snails, urghh.

 

I've eaten snails Bigbaddad and to be honest I didn't think they were all that special.
I haven't eaten my own but I think the method is something like this.
Collect your snails - the big ones with the brown shells which the Romans brought here are the best.
Put them in a container and fast them for 3 days.
Give them carrots to eat and wait til you see carrot coloured stuff coming out the other end.
That means the snails are all cleaned out and ready for your favourite recipe.
Bon appetit.

 

I agree about the taste. But fry up some Bacon, onions and garlic in a pan, then bung em in. Add wine, reduce and finish with cream, season. ..........done.

My son used to eat snails, shells too, when he was a toddler. My wife hates them. It was funny watching her trying to wrestle them out of his mouth.

 

I shouldn't comment really as I've never tasted them, but it always strikes me that the first person that tried them must have been starving or not quite right in the head.

How do you ever look at a snail and think, "wow that looks good, I think I'll eat it".

 

I've eaten snails in France. I thought they were bland, tasteless and uninspiring; but having said that I love mussels, I've eaten limpets, whelks, razorclams etc. I wonder if they are full of protein, like insects, or full of fat, like pigs?

Reminds me of a camping holiday in France many years ago. Four of us went on it and at the end of the holiday, as we had a load of money left, decided to splurge it on a meal in the most up-market restaurant in La Rochelle that we could find.

The starter for four was Fruits de La Mer, set on a silver salver on a tripod in the middle of the table. We chomped away merrily for an hour, finding some of the food tough but no matter, until one of the girls said "I think they're all going for a walk on top of the platter." We looked closely to find that everything on the salver was alive and was deciding to make an exit to avoid being eaten. The other three stopped eating but I carried on, Fresh, wholesome food!

 

haha, Yes, I'll eat the carrots thanks I have had escargot in restaurants, but I doubt I could go and harvest them in the garden and do them up - though it is interesting to read the method of ensuring they are cleaned out. Funny how a good dose of garlic and cream sauce makes any tasteless creature palatable

 

Maybe some garlic could be put in with the carrots and the snails would come ready garlicked.:lollol:
As for who thought they would be good - ask the Romans - they brought them here for food.

 

Not unless I were at death's door.

 

They're free range, organic and cost nothing. What's not to like, slimy, yet satisfying.

I wonder what wine to drink with them.

Snails, smooth on the inside, crunchy on the outside.

 

Well, for the wine BigBaddad, I would recommend a very well chilled Muscadet.