What did you eat today.

[Mr E]

Snail Porridge

Ingredients

About 24 snails
90 g grated white breadcrumbs
Herb and chilli butter
125 g unsalted butter, diced
2 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves blanched and finely chopped
3 sprigs of parsley finely chopped
1 bunch chervil leaves, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed to a paste
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and chopped
lemon juice
salt
Method:

1. After purging, cook the snails for approx. 10 mins and strain through a colander to cool. Pull them from their shells using a pin or needle.

2. Preheat oven to 220 C/425 F/Gas 7. Put the butter in a mixing bowl and beat until it becomes soft and pale. Add the chopped herbs, garlic paste and chill to the butter. Mix all the ingredients together well, squeezing in a few drops of lemon juice and seasoning with a little salt.

3. Put a coffeespponful of butter into each snail mould or shell. Add a snail to each and another coffeespoonful of butter ontop. Sprinkle a generous teaspoonful of grated breadcrumbs over the butter.

4. Put the snails on a baking sheet and cook in the preheated over for about 10 minutes or until the breadcrumbs are golden and the butter bubbling. Serve immediately.

On a bed of hot porridge.

[Mobreau]

Mr E, that really does sound nice! that is until you get to the "serve it on a bed of hot porridge". Are you sure the porridge should not be..is the word infused? with something or things? Maybe this should be in "off the topic"!
P.S has anyone eaten any slugs? I am told I tried to eat them as a child but alas I cannot remember. I did eat a giant colombian Ant a few weeks ago but I cheated a bit as it was covered in chocolate. Fascinating stuff.

[lnb]

This is an odd topic, Gypsy Jazz Snails, anyway here goes.
This is the correct way of preparing the porridge bit.

For the porridge
10g/½oz Parma ham
1 small fennel bulb
200ml/7¼fl oz snail cooking stock
60g/2¼oz porridge oats
70g/2½oz snail butter
the cooked snails
knob of butter
1 tsp sherry
3 tsp walnut oil

Method
1. For the snail butter, blanch and refresh the garlic three to four times.
2. Heat 50g/1¾oz of the butter in a frying pan, and sweat the mushrooms and shallots for 5-10 minutes until softened. Keep to one side.
3. Put the remaining snail butter ingredients in a food processor and purée until smooth.
4. Rub the mix through a fine-meshed sieve, then mix in the Parma ham, mushrooms and shallots.
5. Mix in the Parma ham, mushrooms and shallots.
6. Place on a sheet of cling film and roll into a cylinder. Store in the fridge to harden.
7. To cook the snails, see above.
8. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for three hours, remove from the heat and leave to cool a little before straining through muslin.
9. Reserve the snails.
10. Finely shred the Parma ham, and slice the fennel as thinly as possible.
11. Heat the stock in a saucepan and when it's simmering add the oats. Stir until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from the heat and beat in the snail butter.
12. Season generously.
13. Sauté the snails in butter and drain.
14. To serve, spoon the porridge onto the plates and top with the sliced ham. Top the porridge and ham with the sautéed snails. Toss the fennel with the vinegar and walnut oil, and season. Place the fennel on top of the porridge and serve.

[lnb]

Not only are snails delicious to eat - and you'll never know if you like them until you've tried - but they have a fascinating sex life, too. All snails are male until they mate, which is when something pretty strange happens. Below one eye, each snail has a type of penis that emerges during mating. This links up with the corresponding organ of the mating partner, and remains joined for up to 10 hours while the two politely exchange semen. One or other of the snails will then be inseminated, and will set off to lay several hundred eggs. Snail caviar, as the eggs are known, were quite fashionable in gastronomic restaurants in the 1980s, but to tell the truth they do not have much flavour. They look a little like grains of tapioca, and "pop" in the mouth, a characteristic that won't appeal to everyone.

[devinci]

Snails make good plectrums.

[Doggie]

I feel ill.

[Rich]

they have a fascinating sex life, too.

I worry about you sometimes..

[Mobreau]

I feel ill.

Come now Ivor, this is the same man I remember cramming "moules" down his trap for breakfast a few months ago! and that was in Clapham!!

[Doggie]

That is a completely different kettle of shellfish.

[venetis]

Yippie,

very nice sharing.

I eat today my favorite Fried hash browns

[Brett]

I had a dozen snails in Dijon tonight, and very nice they were too.