I have ordered a can of Escargot from Amazon. I haven't prepared these in
about 20 years. The can holds 18 snails. I can't eat that many in one
sitting, and you don't want to have snails every week.

So, how do I store them? Can I freeze them after the snail butter has been
applied?

Lenny

"Lenny Abbey" > wrote in message
k.net...
> I have ordered a can of Escargot from Amazon. I haven't prepared these in
> about 20 years. The can holds 18 snails. I can't eat that many in one
> sitting, and you don't want to have snails every week.
>
> So, how do I store them? Can I freeze them after the snail butter has been
> applied?
>

Why not share?! Have a little dinner party. If not, I imagine anything that
has been in a can will freeze safely, but the consistency may suffer.



--
Posted via a free Usenet account from http://www.teranews.com

Get them ready to cook (cleaned, in the shell, butter added), and put
them into bowls, etc in the freezer. Be sure to prop them carefully so
the butter won't spill out -- crunched aluminum foil is great to hold
them while they freeze. When the snails are frozen solid, pop them
into plastic zipper bags and store in the freezer. To serve, let them
thaw overnight in the refrigerator, and then cook as usual.


Lenny Abbey wrote:
> I have ordered a can of Escargot from Amazon. I haven't prepared these in
> about 20 years. The can holds 18 snails. I can't eat that many in one
> sitting, and you don't want to have snails every week.
>
> So, how do I store them? Can I freeze them after the snail butter has been
> applied?
>
> Lenny

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:

> "Lenny Abbey" >
> k.net:
>
> > I have ordered a can of Escargot from Amazon. I haven't prepared these
> > in about 20 years. The can holds 18 snails. I can't eat that many in
> > one sitting, and you don't want to have snails every week.
> >
> > So, how do I store them? Can I freeze them after the snail butter has
> > been applied?
> >
> > Lenny
> >
> >
>
> Yes, they can be frozen. OTOH I love escargot and would probably eat at
> least 1/2 of them for a meal with a salad and some really good bread for
> dunking in the garlic butter. The other half would be consumed by my SO

>
> Here is some info on escargot you might find useful. It mentions freezing
> and preparation of snails in general.
>
>
http://www.france-property-and-infor...es-history.htm


Here is a pic of snails in a Ghana market that a poster on rec.travel.africa
just posted, the caption is "ghana giant snails for eating". They are
HYOOGE! :

http://static.flickr.com/69/216114074_0b170e881d_m.jpg


--
Best
Greg

In article . net>,
"Gregory Morrow" > wrote:

>
> Here is a pic of snails in a Ghana market that a poster on rec.travel.africa
> just posted, the caption is "ghana giant snails for eating". They are
> HYOOGE! :
>
> http://static.flickr.com/69/216114074_0b170e881d_m.jpg
>
>
> --
> Best
> Greg

Those look "interesting"..... <G>
The best snails I ever had were served to me and mom in Sedona.
They were fresh prepared.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

Gregory Morrow wrote:
>
> Here is a pic of snails in a Ghana market that a poster on rec.travel.africa
> just posted, the caption is "ghana giant snails for eating". They are
> HYOOGE! :
>
> http://static.flickr.com/69/216114074_0b170e881d_m.jpg

Yes, and they are a serious pest. They're all over
Hawaii. In 1966, a kid brought three of them to Florida.
I was wondering whatever happened with that infestation.
According to this, it took ten years to get rid of them:

http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/eme...pests/gas.html

I'm glad they managed to eradicate them. It would have
been a disaster if they became established in
North America.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> Gregory Morrow wrote:
> >
> > Here is a pic of snails in a Ghana market that a poster on
rec.travel.africa
> > just posted, the caption is "ghana giant snails for eating". They are
> > HYOOGE! :
> >
> > http://static.flickr.com/69/216114074_0b170e881d_m.jpg
>
> Yes, and they are a serious pest. They're all over
> Hawaii. In 1966, a kid brought three of them to Florida.
> I was wondering whatever happened with that infestation.
> According to this, it took ten years to get rid of them:
>
> http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/ep/eme...pests/gas.html
>
> I'm glad they managed to eradicate them. It would have
> been a disaster if they became established in
> North America.


Man, they hang out in trees!

Snails we don't see much of in northern Illannoy but every spring I order
Caladium bulbs from a place in Florida and sometimes there will be a few
small ones in the excelsior - type stuff the bulbs are packaged in.

--
Best
Greg

Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan wrote:

>
>
> Yes, they can be frozen. OTOH I love escargot and would probably eat at
> least 1/2 of them for a meal with a salad and some really good bread for
> dunking in the garlic butter. The other half would be consumed by my SO
>
> Here is some info on escargot you might find useful. It mentions freezing
> and preparation of snails in general.

I will add snails to the list of things that I don't get. I don't hate them. I
am not squeamish about them. I have had them a few times and I just don't
understand why people rave about them so much. I always think of them as being
like pencil erasers in garlic butter.


Five years ago we were in France and visiting the battlefield at Verdun. It
started to rain and we left and came across a quaint old inn. We went in and
had a nice lunch by the fireplace. Halfway through our meal the owner came in
jabbering away , in French of course, about the rain and how it brings out the
snails and how the French love snails but Germans don't eat them. My rental car
had German plates so he assumed that we were German. Not that he spoke German,
or English, but we had a pleasant conversation with my limited skills in
French.

In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan wrote:
>
> >
> >
> > Yes, they can be frozen. OTOH I love escargot and would probably eat at
> > least 1/2 of them for a meal with a salad and some really good bread for
> > dunking in the garlic butter. The other half would be consumed by my SO
> >
> > Here is some info on escargot you might find useful. It mentions freezing
> > and preparation of snails in general.
>
> I will add snails to the list of things that I don't get. I don't hate them.
> I
> am not squeamish about them. I have had them a few times and I just don't
> understand why people rave about them so much. I always think of them as
> being
> like pencil erasers in garlic butter.

<snicker>
Overcooked snails are like that. ;-)
I've had them properly cooked..... once.

They were incredible. I'd like to re-capture that experience,
but they were fresh prepared from live ones in a scoop of
garlic butter meringue and were fan-frickin-tastic!

It was at a little Swedish restaurant in Sedona Arizona.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:
>
> Gawd... I've never seen a snail that big. I wonder if they bite if you try
> to kill and eat them.
>
> Michael

With what? Their wittle snaily gums? LOL....

When I lived in San Jose, I walked my dogs at a certain park every
morning. And every morning there would be an old Grandma and her
little grandson, about 3, walking along the sidewalk, picking the
snails out of the grass and off the pavement and putting them in a
little plastic cup. Lunch!

-L.
(God help me if I ever become so desperate...)

Dave Smith wrote:
>
> I always think of them as being
> like pencil erasers in garlic butter.

Those must have been canned snails. Dreadful stuff.
I've had the good kind, either fresh or frozen,
and they are excellent. I've been thinking about
raising my own for quite some time. The common
garden snail in North America is the French
escargot snail, introduced by some Frenchman
a few centuries ago. If you want to grow your own,
the book to get is _Escargots:_From_Your_Garden_
_to_Your_Table_ by Francois Picart. It was published
in 1978, and used copies can be found at:

http://www.addall.com

Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan wrote:

>
> >
> > Five years ago we were in France and visiting the battlefield at
> > Verdun. It started to rain and we left and came across a quaint old
> > inn. We went in and had a nice lunch by the fireplace. Halfway
> > through our meal the owner came in jabbering away , in French of
> > course, about the rain and how it brings out the snails and how the
> > French love snails but Germans don't eat them. My rental car had
> > German plates so he assumed that we were German. Not that he spoke
> > German, or English, but we had a pleasant conversation with my limited
> > skills in French.
>
> Sounds like a lovely afternoon. What did you wind up eating for lunch?
>

It was an incredible day. The Verdun battlefield was an eerie place, still
pockmarked with artillery craters after more than 80 years. But it got cold
and rainy. It was a really rustic old inn with long tables and benches and
a big fire place at the end. There was no menu. Lunch was a courses and a
1/4 litre of wine for 55 Francs, take it ot leave it. The first course was a
simple carrot salad, just shredded carrots, and a lot of garlic with a
vinaigrette. The second course was pasta with a turkey and tomato sauce,
quite tasty. Dessert was just a simple flan. There was lots of nice fresh
baguette, which had been left leaning by the fire. The wine was passable,
not great, but a $10 three course meal with wine, and in such a quaint place
is hard to beat.

I had the funniest conversation with the owner, considering that my French
isn't that great. The place was called Auberge au Feu de Bois, and my wife
refused to believe that it was because they had the big fireplace at the end
of the room. I asked him about that and told him that my wife didn't believe
me, which gave him a good laugh.

The place was a real find. Most of the restaurants and stores are in the
small city of Verdun, to the south of the hill top battle field. This was
in a little town to the north, in the Lorraine, which was part of Germany at
the beginning of the war. We were there in early May and it was very lush
and colourful, very scenic.

Mark Thorson wrote:

> Dave Smith wrote:
> >
> > I always think of them as being
> > like pencil erasers in garlic butter.
>
> Those must have been canned snails. Dreadful stuff.
> I've had the good kind, either fresh or frozen,
> and they are excellent. I've been thinking about
> raising my own for quite some time. The common
> garden snail in North America is the French
> escargot snail, introduced by some Frenchman
> a few centuries ago. If you want to grow your own,
> the book to get is _Escargots:_From_Your_Garden_
> _to_Your_Table_ by Francois Picart. It was published
> in 1978, and used copies can be found at:

One time was at a friend's house and they were canned. The
other times were in French restaurants (in Toronto). They
aren't disgusting. They weren't really tough, just sort of
substance without a lot of flavour, except for the garlic
butter.

In article .com>,
"-L." > wrote:

> Michael "Dog3" Lonergan wrote:
> >
> > Gawd... I've never seen a snail that big. I wonder if they bite if you try
> > to kill and eat them.
> >
> > Michael
>
> With what? Their wittle snaily gums? LOL....
>
> When I lived in San Jose, I walked my dogs at a certain park every
> morning. And every morning there would be an old Grandma and her
> little grandson, about 3, walking along the sidewalk, picking the
> snails out of the grass and off the pavement and putting them in a
> little plastic cup. Lunch!
>
> -L.
> (God help me if I ever become so desperate...)

ROFL!!!

That reminds me of when my sister and I were little!
I think I was 7 and she was 9. We were wandering around the neighborhood
one day carrying an empty KFC bucket (like the chicken used to come in)
and picking up snails. This was in LA California...

We must have gathered about 50 or so of them. I don't remember why, I
guess we were having fun.

We took them home to mom and dad and they put them into a box with
cornmeal on the bottom to "purge", then mom did cook them up.

My sister and I refused to eat them of course. <G>

I appreciate snails now of course and realize that those native pests
are the same species that are raised for restaurants and get charged a
small fortune for.
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> Mark Thorson wrote:
>
> > Dave Smith wrote:
> > >
> > > I always think of them as being
> > > like pencil erasers in garlic butter.
> >
> > Those must have been canned snails. Dreadful stuff.
> > I've had the good kind, either fresh or frozen,
> > and they are excellent. I've been thinking about
> > raising my own for quite some time. The common
> > garden snail in North America is the French
> > escargot snail, introduced by some Frenchman
> > a few centuries ago. If you want to grow your own,
> > the book to get is _Escargots:_From_Your_Garden_
> > _to_Your_Table_ by Francois Picart. It was published
> > in 1978, and used copies can be found at:
>
> One time was at a friend's house and they were canned. The
> other times were in French restaurants (in Toronto). They
> aren't disgusting. They weren't really tough, just sort of
> substance without a lot of flavour, except for the garlic
> butter.

According to the Chef at the Sedona place we visited, tough snails are
overcooked... and after trying _his_, I have to agree. :-)
--
Peace!
Om

"My mother never saw the irony in calling me a Son of a bitch"
-- Jack Nicholson

Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan wrote:

> Sounds like you had the ultimate, "local" experience. The lunch sounds
> simple yet very satisfying and good. Now I want to take a trip
>

I have lived in a rural area too long. I don't really enjoy big cities. They
are nice to visit for a day or too, but then get out to the country and
enjoy the smaller cities. It is a lot more relaxing and more enjoyable.
Eastern France was beautiful during May. It is quite economical. Other than
the air fare to get over there, it was cheaper than vacationing here.

We had a suite in an Ibis hotel in Reims for $100 (Cdn.) and three course
meals in the restaurants in the pedestrian mall were $20-25. The regional
food was delicious.

I'm not sure what I'm doing here (existential complaint) but here goes.
For the absolutely cheapest way to visit France or Germany (and I
presume other European countries) write to L'Office de Tourism, Syndicat
d'Initiative, or the L'Hotel de Ville (in France) or Verkehr Buro,
Touristamp (Germany) in the postal cose or town that you wish to visit.
Ask for a listing of maison de vacance (France) or Ferienwohnung
(Germany) and in a couple of weeks you will have lists of accomodations,
amenities, and prices. The deal normally is you rent in at least
one-week blocks from Saturday to Saturday. If they aren't completely
booked, they may dicker on arrival or departure dates.

It's been a few years but I have gotten two bedroom accomodations, with
TV, and once with a phone.

If you don't speak the language, you may find a host that speaks English.

The center of France, the Perigord, is lousey with Brits so the local
merchants are already catering to Anglophiles.

- Bill

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum

In article >,
Dave Smith > wrote:

> Michael \"Dog3\" Lonergan wrote:
>
> > Sounds like you had the ultimate, "local" experience. The lunch sounds
> > simple yet very satisfying and good. Now I want to take a trip
> >
>
> I have lived in a rural area too long. I don't really enjoy big cities. They
> are nice to visit for a day or too, but then get out to the country and
> enjoy the smaller cities. It is a lot more relaxing and more enjoyable.
> Eastern France was beautiful during May. It is quite economical. Other than
> the air fare to get over there, it was cheaper than vacationing here.
>
> We had a suite in an Ibis hotel in Reims for $100 (Cdn.) and three course
> meals in the restaurants in the pedestrian mall were $20-25. The regional
> food was delicious.

"William L. Rose" wrote:
>
> The center of France, the Perigord, is lousey with Brits so the
> local merchants are already catering to Anglophiles.

I think you mean "Anglophones".

Mark,
farpaitment, mais l'heure est trop tard. En plus, j'en ai bu un peu de
vin, pas de trop, mais un peu. Il me faut aller au lit. But you are
absolutely posi-freaking-tuely right. They aren't anglophiles, non, non,
non pas de tout. Their kids have to move away because the price of land
keeps going up, and up, and up. There are at least 20,000 English in the
Perigord and they are trying to keep it a secret. But the food is
sublime, the wine is inexpensive, and the place reeks of culture. Le
Font de Gaume, which exhibits 20,000 year old polychrome pictures is
still open to the public. For how long? Qui sait? Some places have been
occupied for 55,000 years (Le Roc Christoph) and Cro-magnon man (us) has
only been around for 30,000 years. With its' green rolling hills and
magnificent white lime stone cliffs it is a wonder to behold. The
Gouffre de Padirac, with it's under ground boat ride and the home of
Richard the Lion-Hearted (Chateau Beynac) only reduce your ability to
comprehend to a squeak.

Truely, one of the great joys in life is to sit on the veranda of the
Hotel-Restaurant de Palisade in Domme, order a plate of cheese and a
bottle of wine, listen to the birds sing, and watch the Sun go down over
the white cliffs, green hills, and the chequered fields of the Dordogne
below. O mon Dieu.

The local cusine reflects the local agriculture which is composed of
carefully tended fruits and vegetables that find their way in to markets
in a matter of hours. Even standing in a supermarket next to the
tomatoes or strawberries, the perfume of the fruit is so intense that
you could believe that you were in your own garden.

Walnuts and hazelnuts can be found in all their incarnations: fresh,
roasted, enveloped in chocolate, preserved in alcohol, transformed into
liquer, and rendered into oil. The oil, also used in cooking, makes a
wonderful salad dressing when a small amount is mixed with apple vinagar.
Geese and ducks freshly roasted, cooked and preserved in jars, or turned
into a spread called "rillette" are very popular. The local renown, of
course, comes from fois gras, the fatted livers of the geese.

The most highly prized mushrooms (chantrelles, morels, boletus, and the
sine qua non of mushrooms, black truffles) are to be found seasonally in
the local markets, or preserved dry or in liquid in markets for
enjoyment any time of year. If you are lucky enough to find any of these
treasures but would like an expert opinion on the edibility of your
find, take it to a pharmacist, the shop with the green cross in front of
it, to verify your luck.

And what would France be without wine? The regional choices are Bergerac
incl. Pecharmant and Montbazillac, Cahors, Fronton, Gaillac, Duras, and
Buzet. These wines may not be as well known as Bordeaux, Burgundy, or
Alsace but they also lack the big ticket prices of their better known
competitors. To be sure, if you want to drink Bordelais or Burgundian
wines, they are available at their higher prices.

But if you find yourself in the Perigord, try a red wine from Pecharmant
or Cahors, a dry white wine from Pascherenc du vic-bilh, or accompany a
bowl of locally grown strawberries with a sweet white Monbazillac. Ask
the locals for suggestions. One suggestion lead us to purchase a red
wine with no vintage date, Coteaux de Quercy, Vin de Pays des Coteaux du
Quercy, mis en bouteille par George Vigouroux. A sound, flawless, wine
with lively red fruit flavors and cost one hundred francs (a little over
eighteen dollars) for six bottles from our local gas station. Wine
shops can be helpful and offer wines from two francs a liter ( bring
your own container) to sky-is-the-limit Burgundies. Expect to pay about
thirty-five to fifty-five francs (six to ten dollars) for a very good
wine from the Perigord. There are many good wine shops but the more
touristic the area the more expensive the wine. If you find yourself
near the town of Gourdon, try a small shop called Vin du Soleil, 46 (rue
de ?) Gourdon, Gourdon. The restaurants of the Perigord offer all the
bounty of it's agriculture in varied forms and prices. Fixed priced
menus start at about seventy francs and go straight up depending on the
amount of fois gras and truffles you eat. Wine in restaurants tend to be
two or three times more expensive that what you would pay in a store.
From time to time it is prudent to purchase the house wine which comes
in a caraf and is often a very good buy.

Picturesque is a word that quickly loses meaning in the Perigord.
Whether you are in Sarlat, La Roque Gegeac, Beynac, Domme, or
Rocamadour, be prepared for the best. The old town ( veille ville ) of
Sarlat (pop. 10,000), built around a ninth century Benidictine Abbey,
survived the calamities of two world wars intact. It's serpentine
streets are lined with buildings from the fourteenth and fifteenth
century. In the evening, gas light gives the old town a golden glow and
a sense of enchantment. Outdoor markets on Saturdays and Wednesdays lend
a festive aire to the ambiance of the town.

But don't get me started. Saint Clou, boul de match.

- Guillaume (There must be a petit nom for Guillaume in French.)

Coloribus gustibus non disputatum

In article >,
Mark Thorson > wrote:

> "William L. Rose" wrote:
> >
> > The center of France, the Perigord, is lousey with Brits so the
> > local merchants are already catering to Anglophiles.
>
> I think you mean "Anglophones".