Just how does one EAT escargot?
 

We've discussed this quite a bit on our trip and also since we got home....Just how does one EAT escargot? I mean what is the PROPER way? When we were at a restaurant on our trip we got served some small snails as an appetizer and we had no idea how to eat them as they were so tiny. So they sat there and sat there until the waiter asked us why we had not eaten them so my husband confessed that we were not sure HOW to. The waiter then showed us how beside the snails was a tiny straight pin and he said you dig them out with the pin and eat them. He said "it's not easy to do" and he showed us how but he had problems doing it. My husband did it but the more he did the more frustrated he got and said over and over "I can't believe this is the way people really eat escargot normally". He thought then (and still thinks) that the restaurant did this so as to get some laughs as the waiters went by at the tourists struggling to extract minute sized snails with tiny thin pins like a bunch of idiots. I wasn't sure but I figured it was the Real way to do it. Is this the real way to do it or is there some way that isn't so annoying and frustrating?

The waiter was right Tammy. You use the pin to dig the snail out of the shell. One of the rhe reasons that it can be difficult to dig them out is that the snails are not sufficiently cooked. Maybe this was the case at your restaurant.

Every time I have had escargot in the shells, they came with a tiny cocktail fork and a set of special pliers or grabbers to hold the shell. You hold the shell within the plier clips with y our left hand and use your right hand with cocktail fork to extract the snail. It's hard sometimes-esp.if the chef stuffed the little buggers in so deep. I have never heard of snails served the way you described.

The waiter was right about the way you eat those tiny sea snails, but he should be severely disciplined for letting out that big secret, namely that WE French people also have trouble fencing the little buggers out of their shell with that pin. <BR> <BR>The bigger snails should be held in place with the pair of special pliers and extracted from their slippery garlic-butter-covered shell with the tiny fork, without letting them fly to the other side of the room. This takes several years of arduous training, and it's not supposed to be taught to foreigners, since making fun of them while they battle their food is one of the national pastimes in restaurants.

"Waiter, do you have frog's legs ?". <BR>"Oui". <BR>"Well hop over to the kithchen & get me a plate of escargot". <BR> <BR>GROOAAN.

FYI: There is an interesting story about gathering the snails on the Bootsnall website, in the stories section. Not being very familiar with escargot, this thread makes me understand that clip from Pretty Woman where Julia loses control of a snail or the pliers, or something to that effect.

Tammy, <BR> <BR>Just back from Paris where I had escargot twice (two different restaurants). Both times I received snails between shooter-marble and golf-ball size, along with the specialized pliers/grabbers mentioned above and a small cocktail fork. I held the shell with pliers against the plate with left hand and retrieved the snail with cocktail fork held in right hand. This worked very well--I had no trouble either time. <BR> <BR>I can't imagine trying to retrieve the snail with a pin AND hold the very hot shell with anything other than some type of pliers. That may be sufficient for smaller snails, I don't know. <BR> <BR>By the way, my escargot was delicious both times. I think they were cooked in the shell with a butter/garlic/pesto sauce. Wow!

I had the little fork too, in Paris. I can't say that it was easy, but I am one who doesn't normally like to have to work too hard to eat (e.g., give me fileted fish anyday). I think I would have enjoyed them more without all the trouble extracting them. What was funny was that we were sitting outdoors at a cafe, and another American couple nearby seemed entertained to see other Americans trying the famed escargot.

My favorite way to eat escargot is a la Lucy. Put the grabbers on your nose, use a cocktail fork to pull them out then ask for sauce tomat. One of my favorite episodes of I Love Lucy....

One of my goals when I went to Paris was to eat escargot. I ordered some at Le Train Bleu, a very proper restaurant. My friend and I felt very young (we are both 28) and underdressed and a little out of our element, even though we have both eaten at the best restaurants in NYC. <BR> <BR>I was extremely careful while holding the pliers in my left hand while using my fork to extract the snail... I had visions of Pretty Woman where Julia Roberts launched the shell across the room. They _were_ slippery!

Snails (escargots) so small they must be picked out with a pin? Hmmmm. I've never had those. <BR> <BR>All the snails I've had here and in Europe have been large enough to hold with the "snail holders" and pluck out the animal with the cocktail fork. Never had occasion to use a pin. <BR> <BR>I have had periwinkles. These are marine animals, not land, and usually quite tiny. The same family as the snail (gastropods), they're so tiny that a pin is required to remove them from their shell. French word is bigorneau I think. <BR> <BR>twenj

Never tried it with a pin... but a cocktail fork every time...hmmm at Fermetter Marbeuf, we ordered a delicious escargot appetizer which was little, tender snails baked inside of this light, flakey pastry dough (similar to filo ,sp? dough) and covered with a spicy honey sauce... it was about the best thing I've ever eaten. Heaven forbid I should be presented with a pin...

Have never had snails that had to be "pinned"...hmmm, I have always had the little fork. I wonder... <BR> <BR>Happy Travels <BR>Oaktown

We used to get those little snails quite frequently at chi-chi restaurants here in Toronto during the quasi-sophisticated 1960's or thereabouts. We were told they were called "periwinkles" or just "winkles" and they were in fact eaten with a pin, because of their small size. Escargots were larger and were eaten with the tongs/fork combination. I haven't seen those little things for years, but I remember I liked the escargots better.

I read late last year in one of the French newspapers that the large Burgundy snails have been dying off, cause not definitely known but residue from pesticides and herbicides may be a factor; that's partly one of the reason you may be seeing more of the smaller "escargot de bois". You can still get the big Burgundy snails, but they're going up in price. <BR>Here in Belgium, "winkels" refers to the "escargots de mer" a type of sea snail. My husband really likes them; I prefer the landlubber variety. <BR>BTilke (Brussels) <BR>

The tiny snails are not escargot, they are periwinkels. Escargot when put back in the shall after cooking is eaten with the escargo grasper, but sometimes they are served in a dish without the shell, so you just use a fork. Then there is the sea escargot and that is usually served with a small fork. You had your snails in one of the most beautiful restaurants in all of Paris. The first time I dined there was many years ago having discovered it in a book by one of my favorite food writers MFK Fisher. Anyone taking the train to Provence should take a look at this wonderful spot.

With wine

I've never had escargots too small for the cocktail fork/pincer method, but I did have periwinkles in Normandy and they came with the straight pin. Kinda like quail - whole lotta work for nothin'. <BR> <BR>Uh oh Florence - the cat is out of the bag. So I'll confess that we desert rats love to watch winter visitors when tamales are served (hint: the husk has to be on for this to be amusing). And as a born and bred Yankee, I still giggle the first time somebody gets a whole boiled lobster...

Bonjour Elvira, <BR>I was lucky to have my first tamales in PHX explained to me before disaster struck and I choked on the husk ... and I had some 2 weeks ago, home cooked and directly brought to me by a friend from Prescott AZ. Can't wait to return and have more (maybe october). <BR> <BR>One of the best laugh I got here was the day when an Englishman ordered cheese fondue, had a good look at the caquelon, the bread, then asked for a spoon, spread some bread on his plate and covered it with a large amount of melted cheese ...

Fondue, Lobster and Snails I can deal with... but what's tamale? <BR> <BR>Kavey