Snails and other strange things

So! Escargot. What does it taste like?
>inb4 'earthy'

What is it's texture? Right now i'm guessing it's like an oyster or a slightly wiggly scallop

Before anyone freaks out they purge the damn things before sale and cooking by feeding them grains for several weeks, I know that much

Other urls found in this thread:

youtu.be/k_f4CfKKdnA
youtube.com/watch?v=eoPku_7_NGw
foodsofengland.co.uk/snailbroth.htm
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

Less slimy than either scallops or oysters.

Basically it's just like a huge roasted garlic, with a little more umami.

the lost lives of our innocent garden warriors
youtu.be/k_f4CfKKdnA

>garden warriors

pretty sure snails are pests that eat your plants, user

It tastes like garlic butter, salt and parsley. The texture is a little squishy and chewy. Somewhere between a clam and a booger.

delicious.

only if you're a brit. a lot of snails are banned in freedom land

>snails are banned

I... what?

Anyway the kind people eat, Helix Aspersa and Helix Pomatia, are common in both America and Europe and have been since the 1800s.

we're not allowed to buy or import snails and there's been a few snail killing initiatives in the past

the sale of snails is also illegal I'm pretty sure it is at least

no, they're not. Order them all the time at a place in Brooklyn

food grade snails are not illegal but it's very unlikely you'll be able to find more than 3 varieties of snails being sold
on a us website.

Helix Pomatia, Helix Lucorum, and Cornu Aspersa (formerly Helix Aspersa)

Coincidentally, these are the three most popular types for eating in France as well. They're pretty much the only three varieties that are big enough to be worth while and also aren't poisonous/bad for eating.

You can buy snails in restaurants easily and I've seen them for sale at my supermarket, although canned.

They are absolutely delicious but garlicy if prepared as they usually are.

yeah the us is very scared of live snails coming into the country. I should have been more specific I guess

Yeah, they're easy to find either canned or frozen. And I suspect that many if not most restaurants that serve snails are also using the frozen or canned variety, since that completely avoids any legal issues. It's only LIVE snails that are subject to bans or complicated import paperwork.

It depends on the region. the importation of live snails is illegal depending on the state. They're incredibly frustrating pests for citrus farmers especially.

Aspersa is the most common one you'll find. Pomatia is prized in France but is is endangered/restricted in many countries, and is difficult to find.

This. Canned is fine. Having live snails is really only of interest if your picking the bastards out of your own gardens and keeping them for eating.

in my state we have these helicopters with guns and they shoot the wild hog population down. hogs have a tendency to wander the streets and uproot our pipes even in the major cities. you can't go anywhere past dark without seeing a pack of them, so I can see why we also have certain snail bands in affect too

Texas, by any chance?

I have thousands of these garden snails all over my yard, every spring in California.

Can I eat CA backyard snails or do they have to be a certain type of snail?

your best off discerning what kind of snail they are first, and making sure they aren't eating anything toxic.

Snailing is like Mushrooming - you want to know what you're doing before you put anything into your mouth, otherwise it's a quick way to meet Joe Black

yep. last time I went to the movies around 6 of them were tearing up people's cars in the parking lot and uprooting shit as usual

Texas is basically Africa now

We.... we ARE still talking about Hogs and not black people, right?

Because i've been on Veeky Forums so long I can't even tell anymore

Anyway yeah, Hogs are a huge problem in Texas. IIRC there's a standing bounty on them.

don't snails have brain parasites and shit that will make your brain esplode inside your skull if you consume them?

snails don't even have brains

Some snails have parasites, sure. But given that you'd be cooking the snails before eating them I don't see why that matters.

It's kinda mushroom-y in texture, they soak up whatever you cook them with.

They're not bad, but not mind blowing.

It's extremely evident which snails have those parasites

hogs not nogs

Exactly just taste of herbs & garlic really good my son started eating them at like 5 years old ate them like candy

I tried snails two ways, one in the typical french recipe with garlic butter and herbs and the other in a sort of tomato-y stew. The second was disgusting the first was delicious.

According to my friend this is because anything cooked in garlic butter tastes delicious, I think he has a point.

They have no taste on their own and testure is like a softer gummy bear.

Where i live is was quite typical for grandmothers to cook them with toamato, onion and pine nuts.

>my wife´s son

Texture is a bit like calmari, firm, 'rubber bandy,' flavor is neutral -so butter, garlic and parsley. Go to the store and buy some and eat em FFS. And WTF is with this deluge of "hurr durr what does X taste like?" Threads. GO OUT AND EAT IT.

I love snails.

if flavor is neutral why does it make amazing stock?

youtube.com/watch?v=eoPku_7_NGw

With my cream of the crop !!

Dunno. Never made snail stock. Want even aware that is a thing. I'd suppose (if you're not trolling), you'd get more flavor from the shells than the meat. Their flesh is pretty flavorless, at least the ones I've eaten, it's more about he 'sauce' (love escargots btw).

you realize that the butter you cook the snails with doesn't taste that good on its own, right? it's the snail flavoring it.

Mmm K. Took the bait. On another note: behold snail broth. Yet another 'fine food' from granddad: foodsofengland.co.uk/snailbroth.htm

I was not referring to an actual soup, I was referring to the liquid that appears in Escargots à la Bourguignonne

Butter has flavor. Garlic has flavor. Herbs have flavor. Wine has flavor. Snails, on their own, do not. If they did, they'd be served absent those things. You are being intentionally obtuse and and argumentative.

they're delicious, they taste like mushrooms with a texture very similar to mushrooms as well

My French instructor at culinary school (who also happened to be Pepin's son in law) basically described escargot by saying, "you can cook my shoe in a shit ton of butter, garlic, and parsley and it will taste good".

bullshit, are you claiming chicken also has no flavor?
try making snail escargot replacing the snail with a piece of tofu, it will have nowhere near as much taste

your french instructor was a terrible cook :)

He was actually a pretty good cook; I just don't think he thought very highly of escargot.

>not being able to cook a shoe well

It tastes somewhat like a salty mushroom, and the texture is very similar. I enjoy them for that reason; eat them at least twice a week at work because we have truckloads usually.

escargot avec frites, c'est tres incroyable

ils ont soulevé leur propre aussi

the trick to raising a proper snail is to purge its system first, then raise it on a strict diet of organic nuts and herbs. they take on the diet they're fed!

it's just chewy and tastes like nothing but the sauce/seasoning you put on it

source: friend of mine captured some garden snails and fed them cornmeal for a couple months then we boiled and ate them

>try making snail escargot replacing the snail with a piece of tofu

Possibly the most uncivilized comment ever on Veeky Forums.