The verdict. (you might want to read my previous post, first)
It appears I'm having a dinner guest, so escargot for dinner was a no, since this person was an "Ewwwwwwwwwwww" in the reaction test. Besides, there were only 10... not enough to share!
Snails for lunch it is. Was. Is. I'm still eating, so that's an 'is'.
I'm not going to lie. There was a huge squick reaction. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Preparation was this: wash in 1/2 white vinegar 1/2 water to de-slime. Rinse in cold water a few times after that, scrubbing snails while you're at it. Into a pot of boiling water. I changed the water half way through as it was colouring a bit.
Prepared my chopped garlic and peeled mushrooms while that was happening, discovered I had a few tablespoons of chunky basil pesto left over and decided to throw that into the pasta sauce instead of basil.
Cooked pasta on the side while I took the snails out of shells and de-footed them. Fryed everything up over medium heat in oil and butter.... until the garlic was browning and popping.
Delicious. Texture - like cooked oyster I would guess, not rubbery like bad calamari... the mushrooms seem more squidgy/rubbery than the snails.
Flavour - said to have not much flavour and just take on what you cook them with, thus the traditional garlic. Mine taste like garlic and pesto, funnily enough :)
The squick factor... I'll detail once I've finished eating.
Okay. Nommed. Yum... a bit oily on the palate at the end! But an altogether tasty dish.
Squickiness came when getting them out of shells and cutting the foot off. They look as I expected after spearing them out of the shell... But then when I cut the foot off, this white sack thing squidged out and I don't know what internal organ it was but: Ew. So I cut a bit higher and there was another bit of orange internal thingiewhatsit and... I ended up disecting my first snail to see what was in it, getting completely grossed out, making a mess of it so there was really no discernible snail left when I'd finished cutting.
Then I went ewwwwww and threw the whole thing in the bin. And walked out of the kitchen.
Realised that people eat livers of this and hearts of that and it's all okay. Came back in and de-shelled / cut the remaining 9 snails... a bit higher... just after that 'bulge' where the white unnamed thing would have been. I have a feeling this was digested pasta. At least that's what my mind said. And I didn't want to eat it. So... I ended up with 'smaller' snails, by cutting more off than I probably had to. Oh well. So be it. I got squicked :P There was also still some slimeyness around some of their 'feet'... and after cooking it was green, so gross.
There was no way I was going to eat one by itself out of the shell after this. They all went onto pasta, mixed in amongst pesto and mushrooms, garlic and pinenuts... just part of the mix ;)
Snails for lunch it is. Was. Is. I'm still eating, so that's an 'is'.
I'm not going to lie. There was a huge squick reaction. But I'm getting ahead of myself.
Preparation was this: wash in 1/2 white vinegar 1/2 water to de-slime. Rinse in cold water a few times after that, scrubbing snails while you're at it. Into a pot of boiling water. I changed the water half way through as it was colouring a bit.
Prepared my chopped garlic and peeled mushrooms while that was happening, discovered I had a few tablespoons of chunky basil pesto left over and decided to throw that into the pasta sauce instead of basil.
Cooked pasta on the side while I took the snails out of shells and de-footed them. Fryed everything up over medium heat in oil and butter.... until the garlic was browning and popping.
Delicious. Texture - like cooked oyster I would guess, not rubbery like bad calamari... the mushrooms seem more squidgy/rubbery than the snails.
Flavour - said to have not much flavour and just take on what you cook them with, thus the traditional garlic. Mine taste like garlic and pesto, funnily enough :)
The squick factor... I'll detail once I've finished eating.
Okay. Nommed. Yum... a bit oily on the palate at the end! But an altogether tasty dish.
Squickiness came when getting them out of shells and cutting the foot off. They look as I expected after spearing them out of the shell... But then when I cut the foot off, this white sack thing squidged out and I don't know what internal organ it was but: Ew. So I cut a bit higher and there was another bit of orange internal thingiewhatsit and... I ended up disecting my first snail to see what was in it, getting completely grossed out, making a mess of it so there was really no discernible snail left when I'd finished cutting.
Then I went ewwwwww and threw the whole thing in the bin. And walked out of the kitchen.
Realised that people eat livers of this and hearts of that and it's all okay. Came back in and de-shelled / cut the remaining 9 snails... a bit higher... just after that 'bulge' where the white unnamed thing would have been. I have a feeling this was digested pasta. At least that's what my mind said. And I didn't want to eat it. So... I ended up with 'smaller' snails, by cutting more off than I probably had to. Oh well. So be it. I got squicked :P There was also still some slimeyness around some of their 'feet'... and after cooking it was green, so gross.
There was no way I was going to eat one by itself out of the shell after this. They all went onto pasta, mixed in amongst pesto and mushrooms, garlic and pinenuts... just part of the mix ;)