On Aug 7, 2005, at 1:19, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote (in response to suz):
i don't like oysters at all and still can't figure out how
to eat them.
I only wish I could afford to eat oysters at least once in every
r-month :) Oysters, shrimp, mussels, clams, snails... All of those were
hidden from my palate when I grew up in commie Poland, where *lemons*
were a luxury... But, once I hit US, I discovered them and loved them
since, in all forms... Quite as much as I love cabbage :)
My MIL had a priceless family recipe for pickled oysters, which she
used to fix every Christmas - loved those. Love smoked oysters from a
can. But, the best time I ever had with oysters was Christmastime
'76... I was big as a barn with child (Danek arrived Feb 7, '77), when
we (DH and I) went to the "President's Christmas Party" at the U -
around Dec 5-7 it must have been. The party was boring as all U parties
always are, but the grub was nice - lots of shrimp; the then-prex being
from Norfolk and fond of seafood - and his wife (a Brit) fun to talk
to. Even so, when DH signalled he was ready to leave, I didn't mind.
Put my coat on (it coverred my shoulders, if not the "mound" in front
<g>), we said our thank-yous and good byes, and we stepped onto the
porch...
Where we saw 3 blue in the face and shivering U employees, lined up
next to a couple of barrels, and behind a table on which there was
nothing but bowls of lemon slices and some plates with shells...
"What's that?" I asked. "Looks like oyster barrels" said DH; "would you
like one?" Enquiring minds always want to know, so he asked one of the
employees to crack open an oyster and cut its "foot", showed me how to
squeeze some lemon on it and slurp...
15 minutes later, all three employees were getting pink with the effort
of supplying my slurps fast enough <g> The oysters bought in the jars
are never that fresh, though they're still good for pickling and for
oyster soup (I have a lovely recipe for that, and we indulge at
Thanksgiving).
Anyway, back to Ricky
I did eat escargot once -- once was enough. They are kind of rubbery,
That's probably the fault of cooking. I've never cooked snails and have
only ever had them when eating out but I've had a lot of shrimp - both
when eating out and home cooked - and there's a trick to cooking those
so they are *not* rubbery, just firm and crunchy and full of texture.
Of course, the garlic butter improves the taste of just about anything
except fruit :)
On Aug 7, 2005, at 4:02, romdom (dominique) wrote:
i'd say all snails are edible but the biggest ones are easier
to eat and escargots from Bourgogne are suppposed to be a delicacy
(they're
huge and disappearing quick . i think you're not allowed to capture
them any
longer ) ...
Probably why parts of Poland are making a mint shipping them off to
France :) The edible snails (well... not edible to *Poles* <g>) are
called "winniczki", suggesting that they like to live around vineyards.
They're really big, with a clean-looking, almost white shell. So, a
snail makes a very nice morsel indeed
and the garlicky sauce is the only tasty thing about escargot
The sauce is made using the broth from boiling/steaming the snails.
Well prepared, it tastes quite different than plain garlic butter. Just
as garlicky clam sauce for spaghetti gets some of the flavour from the
"juice".
All this talk is making my mouth water :) LexVegas is a small town,
with few decent eat-out places but, recently, we've had a French
restaurant relocate from someplace in the county and all their seafood
is *superb*, including the snails. I'll need to go back there soon, I
think, for a solitary "lunch fix"
--
Tamara P Duvall http://t-n-lace.net/
Lexington, Virginia, USA (Formerly of Warsaw, Poland)
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