AM I THE ONLY ONE? Anyone Else Make Quarantine Escargot?
By Karen England, the Edgehill Herb Farmer.
Snails! Theyβre whatβs for lockdown kitchen dinner!
Not sure my family expected that I would serve them snails though, least of all for this momentous, reunited meal. My people are truly great sports and they savored every bite!
Look what the quarantine made me do! It took a full weekβs worth of work to accomplish; gathering 50 snails, purging them for five days on a lettuce only diet, then giving them a two day fast, all the while rinsing often βtil they were ready to prepare for eating. Next they were boiled, de-shelled and cleaned before sautΓ©ing …
It all started with the record breaking April rains that just happened to coincide with the quarantine. After the rains came what I can only describe as a βsnailpocalypseβ in my garden. All those snails, Carl Sagan billions of them, reminded me of a very funny story that chef Jacques Pepin tells in his memoir The Apprentice about gathering snails at a resort hotel where he was staying before teaching cooking classes in Northern California and I thought, if Jacques values these slime balls that much to teach people how to make escargot then I should take advantage of the endless supply literally at my kitchen door and learn to make some myself.
Thatβs what I did in quarantine. What did you make? Iβm guessing sourdough and that you did not make snails for dinner. Iβve got the sneaking suspicion that Iβm the only one…
2 Comments
Martha Beals
Sorry Karen, I hate them so much for eating my plants and trees that I would rather kill them with salt or squish them. I had no idea that anyone would eat these garden snails as escargot. I think I would rather go to a restaurant and have them make them and serve me…oh, well. It may be awhile before that happens!
EdgehillHerbFarm
Marty! You and everyone else! It seems, I am the only one . . . ππΌββοΈπ€·ββοΈπ€¦πΌββοΈπ€ͺπ