A Snail Question, Le Escargot , What Type is Eaten in France. ?

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WISE OWL

I lived in France as a child, and we went on a "snail hunt" after it had rained and brought them home by the bucketful. They were common garden or hedgerow snails. Basically one only collects the very large ones and lets the little ones live to get bigger to be picked later (little ones are just not worthwhile preparing). We then left them to "disgorge" for three days in a bucket of salted water which was changed daily to purge them from their slime and stomach contents then they were very briefly ditched in boiling water to kill them. After that they were taken out of the shells and cooked in butter with garlic and herbs, or in vol-au-vent pastry with a white sauce in the oven. They have not got a great deal of taste in themselves and are quite chewy. The sea snails sold at the seaside have more taste due to their salt and iodin content, and can be eaten as they are or in lighter sauces.

Escargots de Bourgogne are considered to be the best and are bred to be really big, about twice the size of the common garden snail, and because of this have more taste and their shells are quite thick. These shells were washed and dried then used as containers, filled back with stuffing and the snail, before being put in the oven. They were a real luxury and their shells were often washed thoroughly and sold as cooking containers for small delicacies. We kept some and filled them with two smaller snails from our garden crop, just as scallop shells were the poor man's china at one time.

One of the reasons that garden snails are not an everyday dish is that you need quite a few to have a decent helping and the sauces that accompany them are so rich that they are extremely fattening and bad for your liver. Pastry is also fattening as it contains a lot of butter. The fat content is partly the cause the decreasing popularity even of escargots de Bourgogne, as people have become more conscious of bad dietary habits, plus the fact that snails are a hassle to prepare and difficult to cook so that they do not turn to leather.

You could not export them live to France due to EEC rules on exportation of food. To tin them you would have to pass stringent tests as to hygiene, processing and preserving. It would also necessitate a certain amount of investment to set up as you would not be allowed to do it in an ordinary kitchen.

The tinned ones are not much liked by chefs as it alters their texture. Frozen ones are considered to be better. If you have so many you could approach your local restaurants and ask if they would be interested in purchasing them fresh from you and put them on their menu as a special delicacy. Otherwise experiment, use them yourself, and do not wait till your next journey to France to eat them. Just google "snail recipes" and you will be spoilt for choice. You have plenty of excellent dairy products in Ireland with which to make your own sauces and enjoy.

javber26

Snails "les escargots"

Snail is another food that is appreciated in France and often considered as a "strange" food by foreigners. France is the biggest snails consumer in the world with 40,000 tons consumed per year. Most of the snails production is artisanal (gathering of wild snails). Snails bredding was only introduced in the eighties in France and remains limited (2% of total production).
Famous French snails are "escargot de Bourgogne" (Burgundy snails) and "petit gris" (small snails). There is no breeding for escargot de Bourgogne that is always wild and is now protected.

If you want to gather and prepare snails yourself, you have to think about it in advance as you first have to let them without food during 2 weeks ! Sauce is critical in snails preparation. Most famous preparation is "Ã la Bourguignone" with butter, parsley, garlic and spices. Not light at all but delicious ! FeuilletÃ© aux escargots (snails in flaky pastry) is also famous.

Finally snail is good for health as it is full of calcium, magnesium and vitamin C.

http://www.ffcook.com/pages/frenchfrogs.htm#snails

There are over 100 different types of edible snails (with 116 different types being the most quoted number). In France, only two types are commonly eaten: the 'Petit-Gris' (which is French for 'Little-Gray', and is scientifically known as Helix Aspersa) and the 'Escargot de Bourgogne' (which is French for 'Burgundy Snail ', and is scientifically known as Helix Pomatia). It is possible to collect snails from the wild and eat them, provided you know which ones are edible and where to find them. In France there is a hunting season for edible snails, and they can only be collected during this time. Although restricting snail collection to this hunting period is intended to protect the wild snail population, here and elsewhere in the world the population has been reduced through over-collecting.

http://www.france-property-and-information.com/escargot-recipes-history.htm

charles

After answering your question, i am going to pose the same ? into goggle and see what it says the name of the snails are.
I too live a step outside my door away from them slippery things, and hate that crackling sound when you accidentally step on one in the dark and rain.
I have just moved to Northampton from London 4 months ago, and i have never seen so many snails sliding around so freely, and i keep commenting to any ones ears that is in range of my voice, how much money i could make exporting them all to France.
I noticed up here that there are allot of small snails that have really nice colours on them, and that's why i will now go off and find a site that can tell me the names of them.

Delsol

Escargot de Bourgogne.

They are delicious with a sauce made of butter and garlic.

More details about the 4 main species:
http://www.leprodelacuisine.fr/magazine/choisir-les-bons-escargots

qriste

anyway why do people think that eating snails is a French thing? we didn't invent snails eating, humans have been eating snails for million years. We don't eat more snails in France than anywhere else, you should travel and you'll see. I even read that it was very appreciated in England during some period. Snail consumption is decreasing in France just as it is decreasing in other countries, because people don't like it as before.

devils advo

big nasty horrible ugly ones!

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