Stuffed snails at home. Cleansing the ventricles of snails with a diet

For thrill-seekers, I recommend preparing a completely unusual dish. We are talking about grape snails. The cooking process is not suitable for every hostess. If you are squeamish, then think before you start cooking this dish.

Ingredients:
50 snails
200 g butter
100 g hard cheese
3 onions
5 garlic cloves
20 g dill
Pepper
Salt
Italian herbs
Cooking:
Snails must be collected. In many areas, this is not a problem, because there are a lot of them in vegetable gardens, near rivers and other areas. The collected snails must be thoroughly washed and cleaned of leaves.

We put the washed snails in a saucepan and, covering with a lid, leave a small hole. This is necessary for the supply of air to the snails so that they remain alive. Snails should be in the pan for three days during which they completely cleanse their body. Once a day, the snails should be washed under running water.

Only after three days you can start cooking snails. At the very beginning of the snail, wash it again, fill it with water and set to boil. We make the fire under the pan large. The water should heat up to a hot temperature, but not boil. The fire under the pan must be turned off as soon as foam appears. Otherwise, the snails will be overcooked and difficult to remove from their shells.

The next step is to separate the snail meat from the shells. Thus, a preparation is made for the future delicacy.

Take a sharp knife and start cutting the snail. The snail fillet must be separated from the rest of its body. Under the fillet is meant the leg of the snail, with which she crawls. Out of 50 snails, you will get approximately only one handful of fillets.

Put the snail fillet and peeled onion in a saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Salt, pepper the fillet, add Italian herbs (or others to your taste) and cook for 50 minutes over low heat. After this time, the broth must be drained. Now fill the snail fillet with water and repeat the previous cooking procedure again. It should be exactly the same with the same spices.

Meanwhile, put the snail shells in another saucepan and fill with water. The water must be salted so that the shells lose their sliminess.

It's time to prepare the filling. We clean the onion and garlic, wash the dill and grind all these ingredients with a blender.

Add butter, salt to the products in the blender and also grind.

You will get such an extraordinary green mixture that will serve as a filling.

Now the snail shells need to be laid out on a towel and dried.

When the shells are dry, start stuffing them. Put a little green filling deep into the shell, then cover the snail fillet and the shell opening again with the filling. At this stage, stuffed shells can be put in the refrigerator to bake later, or you can immediately start baking.

We heat the oven to 180 degrees. At the bottom of the baking sheet, pour salt 2-3 centimeters thick and cover with foil. Lay the snails tightly on the foil. The filling of each snail should be sprinkled with grated cheese. Do this carefully so that the cheese is only in the indicated places on the snail. Put the baking sheet with the snails in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. The indicator that the dish is ready will be the ruddy of the cheese. Grape snails are ready. They go great with white wine. Bon appetit!

Since in the capital snails can only be found in markets ("Auchan", "Scarlet Sails", "Metro") and, as a rule, already prepared, in Burgundy, with garlic sauce, I have nowhere to take pictures of the process of catching and cutting, therefore I will post a photo report of the final stage of preparation and further, found recipes, using which someone may post their full-fledged post.

Of what you need to buy in the store, based on two adult eaters, this is 1 kg of grape snails in garlic sauce, one fresh baguette, toothpicks.

We spread the snails, if there is a snail, or just on a plate so that all the shells are oiled up and put in the oven or microwave until the oil boils, about two minutes.

cut baguette

we monitor whether the butter has melted, if everything is ok, then we take out the dish

we arm ourselves with a toothpick, extract and eat a snail, have a snack with bread poured from a shell with butter.

Actually, here it is, the finished snail

Bon appetit!

Snails in Burgundy

100 snails, 1 liter of white wine, 200 g of three percent vinegar, 3 tbsp. tablespoons of flour, 2 carrots, 2 large onions, parsley, bay leaf, thyme, salt, 800 g of snail oil.

Prepared snails put in a saucepan, pour cold water, bring to a boil and boil for 5-6 minutes. Rinse them with cold water, dry them with a clean cloth or towel, remove the snail from the house with a tailor's pin (in France there is a special “tool of labor” for this, it resembles a tailor's pin) and cut off its black tip. Rinse the snails cleaned in this way again and put in a saucepan, pour dry white wine and the same amount of water so that all the snails are covered with liquid. Add 2 chopped carrots, chopped onions, thyme, parsley root, celery branch, green onion. Salt at the rate of 10 g per liter and cook for 4 hours. Then remove from heat and leave to cool in this broth. While the snails are cooking, wash and boil the shells in soda water. Then rinse them with clean water and dry.

Snail oil: cut very finely (can be grated) 100 g of onion, 3 large cloves of garlic, add 80 g of chopped parsley, 25 g of salt, 5 g of ground pepper, 700 g of butter, soft, but not melted. Mix everything well in a bowl.

Put a nut of cooked oil on the bottom of the shell, then a snail, covering the top with a good portion of the same oil. Put the stuffed shells with butter up on a dish and put them in a hot oven for 7-8 minutes before serving. Serve this sizzling aromatic dish immediately.

Snails a la Limousin

6 dozen Burgundy snails, 1 glass of vinegar, 300 g of shelled walnuts, 200 g of butter, 1 clove of garlic, a few sprigs of parsley, salt, pepper.

For the broth: 0.5 liters of dry white wine, 1 carrot, 1 onion, bay leaf, celery, parsley, salt, pepper.

Snails, prepared in advance, as indicated above, dip into water, acidified with vinegar. During this time, peel 1 carrot and onion, chop them, cook greens. Transfer the snails to a spacious saucepan, pour white wine and water so that they are completely covered. Salt, pepper, add chopped carrots and onions, herbs and cook for 3-4 hours. While the snails are cooking, prepare snail oil, for which peel the nuts and garlic, wash the parsley, chop everything finely; skip the crumb of rye bread through a meat grinder; put butter in a bowl, add chopped nuts and other greens and bread crumbs, pepper and mix everything well to get a homogeneous mass. When the snails are cooked, drain the broth, remove the snails from the shells with a pin, cut off the black dots on the tip of the body. Stuff the shells in the same way as in the previous recipe: put a piece of snail oil the size of a nut on the bottom of the shell, then a snail and, finally, again a piece of cooked butter.

Put the stuffed snails in a refractory dish, oil side up, add a few drops of white wine to each snail and place in a hot oven for 10 minutes. Serve immediately.

Snails a la sussarello

10 dozen snails, 1 cup vinegar, coarse salt.

Decoction: 1 carrot, 1 onion, 1 leek, pepper, bay leaf, thyme, salt. Sauce: 4 tomatoes, 4 tbsp. spoons of olive oil, 1 onion, 1 clove of garlic, flour, salt, pepper.

Sprinkle the snails with coarse salt, pour with vinegar. Soak for 2 hours, then rinse in several waters.

Place them in a large pan of simmering water and blanch for 5 minutes. Take it out, let the water drain.

Prepare a decoction: boil washed and chopped vegetables in 2 liters of water, add flavoring seasoning, salt and pepper. After 10 minutes, put the snails there and cook for 2 hours (so that they can be easily removed from the shells.

Prepare the sauce: Pour the olive oil into a large skillet. Peel the onion, chop and put in a pan, sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour. Stir. Add peeled and chopped tomatoes, peeled garlic. Salt, pepper. Put the snails there, add 1 cup of broth. Simmer over low heat for 20 minutes and serve. To make it easier to remove the snails, punch the bottom of the shell and, blowing from the other side, remove the snail. This is what it means - syusarello!

These mollusks got their name due to the fact that they are very fond of eating grape leaves, while causing considerable harm to it. In nature, grape snails can grow up to 9 cm, and at home, with good care, they will become even larger. They began to eat these mollusks in food in ancient times - it was a healthy, tasty and cheap dish available to everyone.

Grape snails - breeding at home

Grape snails are bred for various purposes. Some keep them as undemanding pets that are interesting to watch. Others strive to grow as many shellfish as possible in order to eat them.

1. It is best to use an aquarium for fish, a terrarium or a sufficiently large capacity made of Plexiglas.
2. To create conditions for snails that are relatively close to natural, soil should be put on the bottom of the house. You can use sand, ready-made soil for growing seedlings, purchased in a store, or just land taken from your site. In the latter case, it will have to be pre-disinfected by calcining it on a baking sheet in the oven, or spilling it with a solution of potassium permanganate. This is done in order not to bring various pests into the house along with the soil.
3. On the ground you can put leaves, twigs. Snails will be happy to crawl on them, and some will feast on them. From time to time, wilted leaves will have to be changed.
4. Enough large stones and stiff branches - no place in the house. If the snails crawl on them, they will leave their mucus on them, from which it will be difficult to clean them.
5. In addition, in the house you can make a "pool" for snails. It should be shallow - for example, it is good to pour some water in a saucer. Snails do not swim, but in the warm season they will be happy to use such a “pool”.

The nuances of caring for snails

Since grape snails are southern residents, with the onset of autumn they can fall asleep until spring. This will happen if the snail house is in a cold room. If you continue to keep them in a warm room, the mollusks will lead a normal life.

Man has been using snails for food since ancient times. They were collected and baked in special pits even before primitive dishes were invented. A little later, these mollusks began to be used as live canned food, using the property of snails to hibernate in the absence of food or insufficient moisture. In this case, the snail closes the mouth of the shell with a special calcareous cap (epipragma) and can be preserved for a very long time.

In ancient Greece, snails were a fairly traditional food product, and they were not considered a delicacy in those days, but served as affordable food for the simplest and poorest people.

In the Roman Empire, snail dishes were also popular, but even here they were considered not so much as a delicacy, but as an affordable and healthy food. Pliny the Elder in his "Natural History" recommended the use of snail meat for gastric diseases. He also describes a certain Fulvius Lippinus, who "established an extensive institution for the artificial breeding of snails and even invented a special food for them, consisting of wheat flour mixed with grape must."

In a letter to Septicius Clara, Pliny the Younger reproaches his comrade for not coming to him for dinner and not being able to taste, among other dishes, specially prepared snails, but “he preferred to have oysters, pork, sea urchin” with someone. Another Roman, physician Galen, recommended the use of boiled and stewed snail meat for dropsy, diseases of the musculoskeletal system, women during pregnancy, as well as adolescents during intensive growth, when the skeleton is being formed.

In Europe, the monks were not only consumers of terrestrial mollusks, but actively distributed them by growing them in monastic gardens. Snails were also bred in home gardens and parks. Lived in the first half of the 18th century. Danish storyteller Hans Christian Andersen talks about this in his story “The Happy Family”. At the beginning of the last century, A. E. Bram writes that “for a long time, European peoples have been eating snails, and the grape snail in Central Germany and Austria is considered a tasty meal , which is used mainly during fasting and Shrovetide. In Switzerland, these snails are even specially bred for eating them, and about 4 million of them are shipped annually from Ulm in barrels; in the same way, snails are exported from many other cities, as, for example, 10,000 snails were exported from Esslingen in 1901, which were sold at 12 marks per thousand. For consumption, they are simply boiled or eaten finely chopped, mixed with herbs and other seasonings.

And here is what Jerry Hopkins writes in his book Extreme Cuisine, which was also published in Russian: “The Gauls, who inhabited the territory of modern France, served snails as a dessert, and in the Middle Ages the Church allowed them to be eaten during fasting. Usually snails were fried in oil or with onions, cooked on skewers or boiled. One of the earliest accolades for this culinary delicacy appeared in 1394 in the French newspaper Le Managier de Paris.

By the 17th century, the popularity of snails had declined, and in the following centuries they were seen in large parts of the European continent not as a potential delicacy, but as a garden pest. What they are, in fact.

In France, snails came back into fashion after they were served at the table at a dinner given by Minister Talleyrand (Taleyrand) in honor of the Russian Tsar. Since then, France, where about a hundred dishes are prepared from snail meat, has remained the world leader in their consumption. France annually imports about six thousand tons of live and frozen snail meat. Merchants from Germany, Holland, Belgium and other countries come to the Italian town of Borgo for snails. In the center of Europe, Austria is engaged in their export. The income she receives, about three million Austrian Schillings, limits the number of snails available, not the lack of buyers. The main consumers of snail meat are Spain, Italy, France, Belgium and Sweden.

Snails are especially recommended for those who have calcium imbalance in the body, pregnant and lactating women, children and people suffering from diseases such as chondrosis and collagenosis. Snail meat improves bowel function and normalizes metabolism. It is believed that due to the content of magnesium, snail meat can have a calming effect on people and help fight stress.

They are also used to make pharmaceuticals. The latter are used in the treatment of many diseases, primarily such as silicosis, whooping cough, bronchitis. Snail preparations also help neutralize the unwanted side effects of antibiotics.
In England, they produce an extract that takes a thousand snails to prepare one dose. But this dose is enough to keep for several weeks the strength and vigor of a person who has fallen into extreme conditions.

So if you're in an emergency situation, or you're just running out of food for some other reason, then you should pay close attention to snails.

Not all types of snails are edible, but many are. And even among edible species, the palatability of meat between species can vary greatly. Let's look at those species that are used in French cooking, which means they are safe and tasty. So:

Grape snail (HELIX POMATIA)

A very common snail, lives almost throughout Europe. Therefore, it has many other names: Roman snail, edible snail, giant snail, cap snail, apple snail, moon snail. The French call it the Burgundy snail or simply the big white one.

snail grape

Garden snail (HELIX ASPERSA)

Its French name is little grey. Most often found on snail farms 🙂 and extremely rare in the wild in France.

garden snail

Turkish snail (HELIX LUCORUM)

A close relative of the grape, it has a greenish body and a somewhat earthy taste. Traditionally used in Burgundy and Alsatian cuisine for pies.

Turkish snail

Snail of Krinitsky (HELIX LUCORUM TAURICA KRYNICKY)

It differs from the Turkish in the transverse arrangement of brown stripes on the shell. Comes across in the South-Western Crimea. Quite a rare species, so it is not found in restaurants.

Snail Krinitsky

Milk snail or Spanish snail (HELIX OTALA)

This snail originally lived in the region of Morocco, it is very rich in proteins and poor in fats, so to speak, a dietary option

Milk snail or Spanish snail

Giant land Achatina (ACHATINA FULICA)

Beautiful, very large and expensive. We almost never meet.

Most land species of snails are not dangerous to health, but not all are palatable, although they have significant energy value. However, you should “remember in person” a freshwater snail Prudovik (LYMNAEIDAE), which can be found near water bodies. It is slightly toxic and can be dangerous not only for fish, but also for humans.

Prudovik

The most poisonous snails prefer warm tropical seas, but some are able to live in high latitudes. Some representatives of the family of predatory gastropods are deadly to humans. This - Cones (CONIDAE), they are definitely among the 10 most poisonous creatures on Earth. Their victims, which are usually polychaete worms and mollusks (less often crustaceans and fish), are paralyzed by cones with the help of poison. A person, due to their small size, is not attacked, but those who died by negligence do not care.

You can collect snails not only in vineyards, but also in parks, squares, forests, in glades with tall grass, in bushes. During the day, and especially in hot weather, snails prefer to hide. But after rain or dew fall, they definitely go out to “graze”.

Snails from 28 mm in size. (about 20 grams come out) are already considered “commodity”, i.e. they are accepted for implementation. But size is important to us only because large snails are easier to cook.

The easiest option for cooking snails is on the grill (grid over coals). Just remember to place them with the holes up. If there is no grate at hand, you can simply on cooling coals, which is less convenient.

Edible parts of the snail are considered to be only the leg (torso + head). The finished snail must either be picked out of the shell (if there is anything), or the shell should be broken. The dark part of the snail is best separated and discarded. This is basically the intestines with undigested food and tastes bitter.

Snails, due to their size, may seem like a "frivolous" source of meat, but they are very satisfying. The usual serving in a restaurant is 6 pcs. They contain one third more protein than a chicken egg. Moreover, these proteins contain a complete set of essential amino acids in such a ratio that is necessary for the synthesis of their own proteins in the human body. Due to the low calorie content of snails, when they are consumed, fats practically do not accumulate in the body, so this meat is very useful for low-calorie diets. It is significant that the lipids (fats) of snail meat are largely composed of unsaturated fatty acids (65% - 70% of all lipids, for comparison, in beef only 5%). In this regard, unsaturated fatty acids not only do not accumulate cholesterol, moreover, this leads to a decrease in its content in the human body. There are also vitamins, trace elements and various biologically active substances.

A more time-consuming, but tastier option is to fry the snails in a pan. Dip the snails in boiling water for 10 seconds. This allows you to easily pick out the meat from the shell with a wire. The stomach is amputated and discarded. The rest is fried in oil with the addition of onions, even better with garlic. Salt lightly.

If time permits, you can cook snails “the right way” and make sure that it is not for nothing that they are a delicacy in one of the most exquisite - French cuisine. For this, snails must be prepared in advance. This can be done in 2 ways.

The first way: Simply do not let them eat for 3 to 14 days. They are kept in this way on a starvation diet in a dark and damp room so that the snails do not die. During this time, the intestines of the snail are completely cleared and can not be removed.

The second way: Special diet for the same period of time. They are given flour dipped in wine or special fragrant herbs and bran.

Store snails in a cool and damp place. The container should only be glass, metal, plastic or wood, with lids made of the same materials. Everything else, such as a box made of thick cardboard, will be devoured and scattered. Don't forget that they need air, so make sure they're ventilated.

Before cooking, rinse with running water and inspect. Some individuals by this time may “drop the skates”. And for all mollusks, freshness can only be the first, and it is also the last. Live snails are lowered into water and immediately transferred to a container filled with coarse salt, where we leave for 3-4 hours so that the snails release mucus. You can simply spray the snails regularly with a strong saline solution.

One of the most famous French dishes with snails - escargot. Prepared snails are washed and immersed in boiling water, after which the snail is easily removed from the shell. The snail is cleaned and washed. Boil the shells in water with a pinch of soda, wash thoroughly, clean from the remains of snails, rinse with water. The sinks are reused. Separately, prepare the "green butter" - beat parsley and garlic with salted butter with a mixer. Put a little green oil on the bottom of the shell, put snail meat into the shell and cover the hole of the shell tightly with green oil. Put the snails in a special form and put in a preheated oven. Cook until oil boils and golden brown. Additional ingredients may be thyme and pine nuts. Served with a special fork and tongs that help hold the round shell.

1. wash

2. Put on the stove

3. When such a foam forms, remove from heat

4. We free the meat from the shells and get

5. We amputate the stomach and get (here is a fillet of 50 snails)

6. We send this fillet to the pan to cook for 40-50 minutes, adding onion and spices to taste (allspice and a Mediterranean mixture of herbs). After 40 minutes, drain the broth and repeat the procedure with a new onion and spices for another 40 minutes.

7. We boil the shells in salt water to rid them of mucus.

8. We take a large bunch of dill, an onion, 5-6 large cloves of garlic and crush it all with a blender into a puree.

9. Drive a pack of butter into this puree with a blender. Salt to taste.

10. As a result, we get such a green mass.

11. We wash the boiled shells and dry them on a towel.

12. We begin to stuff them: first, we stuff our green oil into the sink with our finger, then the boiled snail fillet, and seal it on top with the same oil.

13. In a baking dish, pour salt with a layer of several centimeters, cover with foil and lay the snails so that they do not roll. Sprinkle a little finely grated cheese on top, but not the whole snail, but only the place where the oil is visible, and send it to the oven for 15 minutes -20 at 180 degrees. When we see that the cheese is browned, we take it out. Escargo is ready!

Note to gourmets: the same wines are suitable for snails as for oysters, crayfish, seafood - that is, well-chilled dry whites. You can easily find other snail dishes on the Internet.

Bon appetit!

Classical French cuisine surprises with its bold culinary solutions. The French, as well as gourmets from all over the world, simply adore snails. But our hostesses are skeptical about dishes prepared from shellfish. In vain, because snail meat is enriched with protein and amino acids. Today we will discuss how to cook grape snails.

How to cook grape snails at home?

Of course, in order to prepare an authentic delicacy of French cuisine, you need to choose the right shellfish. Most often, grape snails are taken for these purposes.

In addition, they need to be properly prepared, otherwise only the name will remain from the gourmet dish. So let's get started. If you collect shellfish yourself, then it is advisable to do this in the early morning or immediately after rain.

We thoroughly wash the collected clams and put them in a deep saucepan. But we are not in a hurry to subject them to heat treatment. To begin with, we need to get rid of all the harmful substances contained in the intestines of snails.

The right decision is to put them on a diet. For 2-4 days we keep the snails in a saucepan and feed them only with flour.

On a note! The duration of such a snail diet can be up to two weeks. Every day, the snails are washed, the container in which they are kept is well treated.

The next stage lasts one day. Pour a thick layer of table salt into the pan and place the snails in it. Excess mucus will remain on the salt.

The third stage is boiling. We put the mollusks in a thick-walled dish, fill it with purified water. After boiling, cook for five minutes. Now we clean out the fleshy part, we only need a leg, curls are not eaten.

On a note! Do not rush to get rid of shellfish shells. Rinse them well, dry them and use them as decorative molds for stuffing.

Taste France

Dishes from grape snails are unusual dishes for many of us. But true connoisseurs of classic French cuisine are unlikely to miss the opportunity to taste shellfish. Undoubtedly, the most popular dish is Burgundy-style snails. Shellfish can be baked, boiled, stewed, fragrant soups, snack dishes can be prepared from them.

Compound:

• 500 g of peeled snails;
• 0.3 kg of hard cheese;
• 2 pcs. garlic cloves;
• two bulbs;
• 100 ml of mayonnaise;
• 2 tbsp. red dry wine;
• 4 things. bay leaves;
• ½ tsp ground ginger;
• to taste salt, ground black pepper;
• a bunch of fresh dill;
• refined vegetable oil - for frying.

Cooking:

1. The most complex and lengthy process is the preparation of shellfish for cooking. Above we have described how to prepare grape snails.
2. By the way, they can be safely stored in the freezer.


3. Pour red dry wine into a thick-walled saucepan.
4. Add filtered water in equal proportions.


5. After boiling, reduce the heat to a minimum and boil them for half an hour.
6. At the very end, add bay leaf to such a broth.
   
7. Finely chop the peeled onion with a knife.
8. We chop garlic cloves.
9. Heat refined vegetable oil in a frying pan.
10. We spread the onion with garlic and sauté.
11. Add salt, ground allspice, ginger powder here.
12. Mix everything well and fry until golden brown.
    
13. We take a heat-resistant form, grease it with refined vegetable oil.


14. Put boiled snails on top of the onion pillow.
    
15. In a separate bowl, combine mayonnaise with chopped dill.




16. We send it to the oven, preheated to a temperature mark of 180 °.


17. This dish is best served with a glass of aged wine.

Not a day without a classic

Having mastered the preparation of grape snails, you will be able to make a classic French dish for the festive table yourself. Even if now you are skeptical, having once tasted snails, you will never be able to forget their divine and incomparable taste.

As you can see, the most difficult thing is the preparation of shellfish. You can pre-clean them, boil them, and then store them in the freezer.

Compound:

• 50 pcs. peeled grape snails;
• 250 g butter;
• breadcrumbs for breading;
• ground allspice to taste;
• to taste shallots;
• bunch of parsley;
• 2-3 pcs. garlic cloves.

Cooking:

1. We clean the garlic cloves from the husk.
2. Rinse parsley under running water and dry thoroughly.
3. We take out the butter from the refrigerator in advance.
4. Place these ingredients in a blender or food processor.
5. Grind until a mass of a homogeneous consistency is formed.
6. Salt to taste and season with ground allspice.
7. Boil the separated legs of the snails until tender.
8. Rinse the snail shells thoroughly.
9. We boil them for several minutes in a boiling soda solution.
10. Dry well.
11. Place the snail leg in the prepared shell, put the prepared stuffing on top.
12. We tamp the filling well.
13. Spread parchment paper on a baking sheet.
14. Lay snails on top.
15. We send the clams to the oven for 5-7 minutes and bake at a temperature mark of 200 °.

On a note! If you did everything right and followed the cooking recipe, then the butter inside the sink will boil.

Grape snails are a very useful and unusually tasty product. But this is on condition that you eat only the legs. Be sure to cook live clams. Dip the snails into a bowl of water. After a while they will appear from the house. If not, then such mollusks are not viable and it is better to dispose of them.