Would you escargot ?

you should

Do YOU?

My brother did, when we were in Spain.

I have!

I've eaten them once in Paris and I've even cooked them myself here, though I didn't just grab a few snails from the garden and cook them. (Someone was selling pre-garlic-buttered snails)

To be honest, the garlic seems to overpower the taste of the snail itself, which isn't that great anyway. (You can tell what it's been fed on.... :( ) I prefer very similar-looking things with shells that come from the sea and taste a whole lot better.

Trader Woody

On 2005-01-28 12:56, Trader Woody wrote:
I have!

To be honest, the garlic seems to overpower the taste of the snail itself, which isn't that great anyway. (You can tell what it's been fed on.... :( ) I prefer very similar-looking things with shells that come from the sea and taste a whole lot better.

Trader Woody

Of course, the garlic sauce makes it all, but I'm sure you won't tell the same of my grandmother's snails preparation...

I've escargoted at Tiki Taix a few times. Next stop: frog legs!

I would not, could not, in a box.
I could not, would not, with a fox.
I will not eat them with a mouse.
I will not eat them in a house.
I will not eat them here or there.
I will not eat them anywhere.
I do not eat snails you see.
I do not like them, Virani.

I have! And it was good! But then my eyes and throat swelled closed and I had to rushed to Hospital. No more snail slurping for me. I have also had frog's legs, and liked them well enough, but had a hard time getting over the fact that they just looked like little hands......

I have,and I would try them again.They smell absolutely divine,but they need to be cooked a long time to get tender.The texture thing really did me in.Frog legs-have,but not horribly impressed.Same with alligator-chewy as all get-out.

I have. It was okay. The key is the sauce.

I haven't. I would. I love sushi, so how bad could it be?

Someone likened them to big peices of chewy snot, so that concept doesn't help. The same person pointed out that jerky was like eating giant scabs, so that's a typically American delicacy that I can never quite look at in the same light again.

Trader Woody

ive eaten squid, oysters, clams, lobsters, eel, crabs, grasshoppers, seaweed... bring 'em on, i say.

On 2005-01-28 13:58, Johnny Dollar wrote:
ive eaten squid, oysters, clams, lobsters, eel, crabs, grasshoppers, seaweed... bring 'em on, i say.

Ha! They are all really genuinely nice to eat (apart from eel - even the cat turned it's nose up at that - and grasshoppers). I had a deep-fried lambs stomach/intestine a couple of months ago in Spain. Once again, the foul taste was disguised with a pleasent garlic butter. The local delicacy down the road from me is black pudding - sausage made of pig's blood, fat & spices, and I have it whenever I make a traditional British breakfast.
Bring it on!

Trader Woody

Snails are good- they sell huge ones down the market near me.
The only thing Eating wise that I've bottled out of so far after ordering it was Monkey brain in spain (hey that rhymes), as in , live monkey head through a hole in the table Indiana jones style.
Otherwise bring it on, i've even Fugu'd

On 2005-01-28 14:36, cheekytiki wrote:
Snails are good- they sell huge ones down the market near me.
The only thing Eating wise that I've bottled out of so far after ordering it was Monkey brain in spain (hey that rhymes), as in , live monkey head through a hole in the table Indiana jones style.
Otherwise bring it on, i've even Fugu'd

They do that in Spain?? Really?? :o

That's just not right...

Frog legs are best lightly battered and deep fried. Unbelievably good!

Land based: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians. Nothing lower on the scale will I eat.

Water based: almost anything.

NEVER

i can't even look at pictures of the slimy things. let alone let one within forks' length of me!

Truly one of life's finer pleasures...

(I'm just waiting for one of these questions for something I haven't eaten)

Some of the more 'interesting' gastronomical explorations so far:

• Alligator
• Giraffe
• Rattlesnake
• Boar
• Moose

So... to further the discussion...would you?

Love them,they are delicious, anytime.

Eeeeeek! Snails!
I'm afraid of them in any language, sauce, live, or cooked. They leap at you when you're not looking. It's an eye thing, eyes on retractable stalks, bleh!

However, I'm certain that if they were properly prepared by Virani's grandmother, then I'd try them, and they'd be the best thing ever cooked in all of France. How could they not be?

How about conch? Mmmm, conch fritters!

Fugu - check
Escargot - check

Spend a while outside the US and only eat native dishes... just make sure to eat it before you ask what it is.

What i can't stomach - mayonaise/miracle whip (that's my kryptonite).

Given a choice between haggis, menudo, balut and escargot, I'll take the snails any day.

Goat Brain tacos are pretty tasty too!

It's all about the Texture.

No sauce please.

I just had escargot this past Friday, at a favorite restaurant of mine in Walnut Creek (Le Virage) that was closing it's doors forever. That was the first place I had tried escargot, so we ordered them on a whim as an appetizer (although it sounds like a lot of people here would find them the opposite of appetizing).

They were great, but I've always said that escargot is living proof that you can cook ANYTHING in butter and garlic long enough and it will be tasty. I actually took some pics of the escargot, so to further turn stomachs I'll post a couple pics later today.

On 2005-01-30 20:48, RevBambooBen wrote:
Goat Brain tacos are pretty tasty too!

It's all about the Texture.

No sauce please.

Ben, where're you finding Brain Tacos? I thought they were being banned 'cause of Mad Cow disease?

I'm with Mai Tai, snails are an excuse to cook something in butter, garlic, maybe a little roquefort crumble....that conveniently comes in its own cooking container!

Evil confession: Every once in a while, I'll toss some into whatever kind of chili I'm making and not tell anybody. Sorry.

i escargot'ed last nite! i blame virani.

didn't have the camera at the restaurant, but i saved a memento and documented it Trader Woody style :)

the flavor and texture were great! i'm a certified escargoter from now on.

I've had them in San Fran. They go good with gravey.

I'm proud of you Johnny Dollar, or should I say Jean Franc :wink:

On 2005-02-02 11:43, virani wrote:
I'm proud of you Johnny Dollar, or should I say Jean Franc :wink:

mer-see bou-kew!

On 2005-02-02 07:06, Johnny Dollar wrote:

didn't have the camera at the restaurant, but i saved a memento and documented it Trader Woody style :)

Haha - hey, a picture is worth a thousand words (and less gets lost in the journey over the Atlantic)!

Trader Woody

Actually, I have escargot'd. Three times in fact. The first time they tasted like rubber bands in garlic and butter. I was told that GOOD escargot doesn't taste like that, so I had them at a better French restaurant. They tasted like rubber bands in garlic and butter. So, I was told, no, you REALLY need to try them at this very classy and authentic restaurant that makes really good escargot. So I tried them there. They tasted like rubber bands in garlic and butter. I am done with escargot, because I have come to the solid conclusion that they taste like rubber bands in garlic and butter.

I ALMOST had a kangaroo steak, but unfortunately I became really ill and had to leave the BBQ.

I keep buying snails for my pond, as they are great little cleaners, but the raccoons keep chowing down on them!

I like snails. I find them tasty. Make 'em at home every now and then too.

On 2005-02-03 17:56, Tikiwahine wrote:
I keep buying snails for my pond, as they are great little cleaners, but the raccoons keep chowing down on them!

A raccoon is another type of Snail eater, like the french ?
Or, am I a raccoon ?

I ALMOST had a kangaroo steak, but unfortunately I became really ill and had to leave the BBQ

Kangaroos nice but you have to eat it RARE or the meat gets really tough.
Another thing I tried in Oz when I was there before Xmas was Crocodile Pie - tastes like Chicken-fish.

On 2005-02-04 01:38, virani wrote:

On 2005-02-03 17:56, Tikiwahine wrote:
I keep buying snails for my pond, as they are great little cleaners, but the raccoons keep chowing down on them!

A raccoon is another type of Snail eater, like the french ?
Or, am I a raccoon ?

America is full of snail eaters since it's full of snails. Virani, while you're in SoCal go out on any grassy area in the early morning after it's been watered & you'll find dozens if not hundreds of the snails used for escargot. People catch them & keep then in small cages lined with corn meal for a few days, then turn them into homemade fresh escargot.

*On 2005-02-03 01:37, PiPhiRho wrote:*Actually, I have escargot'd. Three times in fact. The first time they tasted like rubber bands in garlic and butter. I was told that GOOD escargot doesn't taste like that, so I had them at a better French restaurant. They tasted like rubber bands in garlic and butter. So, I was told, no, you REALLY need to try them at this very classy and authentic restaurant that makes really good escargot. So I tried them there. They tasted like rubber bands in garlic and butter. I am done with escargot, because I have come to the solid conclusion that they taste like rubber bands in garlic and butter.
The chewyness thing? 'Cause they were canned, not fresh. Canned ones are chewy like rubber bands, while fresh ones bite right through. You hit 3 rip-off "nice" restaurants - sorry! I was taught the difference in New Orleans, where our good family friends would order snails for appetizers for us all often. The fresh ones? VERY yummy. The canned? Like rubber bands in garlic and butter.

And now, with a shellfish allergy for the last 5 years, I'm scared to try them again(especially after reading Badmojo's experience!). I fear they could be close enough cousins. :(

*On 2005-04-19 14:21, Formikahini wrote:*And now, with a shellfish allergy for the last 5 years, I'm scared to try them again(especially after reading Badmojo's experience!). I fear they could be close enough cousins. :(

Well, they are like seafood except without the nice taste. The remind me of the tough bits of a clam that has been fed on nothing but grass clippings. Less charitable people have compared snails to eating large peices of snot (bogies). Not really something you'd eat for enjoyment - more something you try for a bet. Ironically, they seem to be served in Spain more than France.

Trader Woody

[i]On 2005-02-04 09:57, freddiefreelance
America is full of snail eaters since it's full of snails. Virani, while you're in SoCal go out on any grassy area in the early morning after it's been watered & you'll find dozens if not hundreds of the snails used for escargot. People catch them & keep then in small cages lined with corn meal for a few days, then turn them into homemade fresh escargot.

Really? I've never seen even one in the wild up here! I guess they don't like the swim to the island. We get lots of slugs and night crawlers on our lawns. But I don't think they taste too good. All that slime and dirt.

Mmmmmm, mmmmmmmm, good!

Note the escargot "juice" just dripping from that delicious little critter!!!

Seems like a good topic for my 99th post.