Escargot
#2
Texture may be clam like, usually served in a garlic butter sauce. Why don't you go to a French restaurant in your home area and try them as a warm up to your trip? My young grandchildren love them as do I.
#3
Join Date: Jan 2003
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I love escargot. The Whole Foods near me has delious ones all prepared. You find them with the seafood. Just heat them up. They are $1.00 a piece. Buy 2 and decide if they are for you. Get some good bread to wipe up the great garlic butter. with the ones from whole Foods I make a little extra garlic butter, not a lot. The sauce also contains parsley and shallots. They come in a shell. And yes the texture is clam like.
#5
Join Date: Aug 2011
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I have been eating them since I had teeth.. our family loves them for special occaisons.. birthdays etc.. They basically taste like not much themselves.. it is the garlic butter that makes or breaks them.
I rarely eat them out as they can disappoint me.. ( since we make the best...lol ) but the basic recipe involves a lot of butter ( never margarine.. although I have had some in a crappy restaurant that I swear were margarine) .. lots of garlic( ok this is a matter of taste.. but we like a lot ) .. a fair amount of chopped parsley.. and a tad of salt and pepper.. that's it.. and the most important accompaniment is of course lots of good bread ( baguette) to dip in the butter and soak up the butter..
I grew up eating them from the shell and we ( at home ) made a big deal about sucking all the butter out.. but in Paris this summer I was trying to be a little more discreet so I would just hold up snail.. suck it out.. and then whatever butter was left in shell I would tip and drip onto plate to be soaked up with bread.. ( as home.. I would just slurp it out of shell though!)
They are a bit chewy , similar to clams I suppose.. but I prefer them to clams..
I rarely eat them out as they can disappoint me.. ( since we make the best...lol ) but the basic recipe involves a lot of butter ( never margarine.. although I have had some in a crappy restaurant that I swear were margarine) .. lots of garlic( ok this is a matter of taste.. but we like a lot ) .. a fair amount of chopped parsley.. and a tad of salt and pepper.. that's it.. and the most important accompaniment is of course lots of good bread ( baguette) to dip in the butter and soak up the butter..
I grew up eating them from the shell and we ( at home ) made a big deal about sucking all the butter out.. but in Paris this summer I was trying to be a little more discreet so I would just hold up snail.. suck it out.. and then whatever butter was left in shell I would tip and drip onto plate to be soaked up with bread.. ( as home.. I would just slurp it out of shell though!)
They are a bit chewy , similar to clams I suppose.. but I prefer them to clams..
#6
Chewy? Yes, and the only taste you will get is from what they cook them in---mostly butter & garlic & parsley. I have always loved them and I do still eat them, but for a while I stayed away from them after I saw a program on how they clean them
#8
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The texture is similar to clams - soft and a little rubbery, but you won't notice much. Usually, they are about the size of a medium pencil eraser. Everyone just eats them as an excuse to consume as much garlic butter as possible. Apart from that, escargots don't have any smell or any discernible flavor.
It is perfectly permissible to use a piece of bread to wipe up all the sauce, too.
It is perfectly permissible to use a piece of bread to wipe up all the sauce, too.
#9
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PS - for your first time, I would advise eating escargots "a la bourguignonne" - in garlic butter - which might be served in the shells or in a special platter. If served in the shells, you'll be give a large pincer-like tool and a seafood fork. It's a lot easier to handle than it looks.
Some places serve them in a pie with mushrooms and sauce, which won't be at all the same experience.
Some places serve them in a pie with mushrooms and sauce, which won't be at all the same experience.
#10
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IMHO I don't bother with then since like clams - what you're eating them for is the butter and garlic. I prefer shrimp which actually do have a taste in the same type of sauce. Or moules meuniere with frites (yum) - again with more of a taste.
Agree to try them at home first - will cost less and then you'll know if you want to eat them in France (when cost will be higher and you won't want not to enjoy part of a holiday meal.).
Agree to try them at home first - will cost less and then you'll know if you want to eat them in France (when cost will be higher and you won't want not to enjoy part of a holiday meal.).
#11
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I like clams, although don't really have them hardly ever, but don't like oysters at all, and snails are in that category. For example, the way that is recommended to eat oysters is just to swallow them without chewing or tasting (or at least only bit them once or so), so why even eat such a thing that you don't want to taste? I had snails once, but would never eat them again. I don't eat garden slugs, either.
I don't really see the point of eating things that you don't want to taste or say the only taste is the preparation.
I don't really see the point of eating things that you don't want to taste or say the only taste is the preparation.
#14
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If you live in an area where garden snails are common like California you can prepare them yourself to see how you might like them. Before eating You should purge the snails for about a week by feeding them corn meal.
#16
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I think they really are a bit more mushroom like, not as chewy as clams. But like mushrooms, and as other have said, all the taste is in how they are prepared. I have had some nice ones in phyllo and puff pastry too but my favorites are in garlic butter.
#17
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J62 purist claim you purge them by feeding them grape leaves( the are available in calofrnia so why not) my grand!other gathered them in her garden in France and just fed them lettuce for a week or so.
#20
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Mary,. my dad makes about 20 dozen at a time at Christmas.. and yes.. he freezes some.. but the trick is they must be fully defrosted before you pop them in a hot oven.. since you are only heating them till the butter bubbles( they are not raw) I also had some rather unpleasant escargots in Paris.. one reason I rarely eat them in restaurants.. they were served WARM.. totally disgusting.. they should arrive bubbling as far as I am concerned.. Its hard when you have had good ones to eat mediocre ones.. and I can see how some would turn people off.. but suppose that's like many foods , if your mom makes a great spaghetti sauce.. then you are going to be hyper critical of the stuff at Olive Gardens etc.. lol