PrintDoes anyone miss Escargot?
I yearn for the long lost days when restaurants served Escargot peeking out of their little shells inviting the challenge and theater of using that special little fork to remove and savor them (remember the scene in Pretty Woman?). With the return of true haute French cuisine I hope this classic will return. What long, lost traditions of fine dining do you most miss?
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15 Comments:
The restaurant I work with just updated the helix escargot appetzer. As far as I'm concerned it never went away.
What I miss was the 1970s version of the turkey roll. (Today's version has far less dark meat.) That stuff was good for sandwiches the day after.
LunaPierCook at 10:05AM on 04/12/08
I haven't thought about Escargot in years! The last time I had it, they had done away with the shells and served them in pasta shells. I was devastated. Now this will be haunting me until I see them on a menu! I am craving Escargot.
izatryt at 10:33AM on 04/12/08
OMG! I haven't thought about escargot in forever! I would love to see that more widely available on menus again around here. Right now I can only get snails (in shell) at one of the dim sum places downtown - and the ones they offer are the little guys that are practically impossible to get out without a toothpick or a safety pin or something...also the black bean sauce is tasty.
Amandarama at 10:38AM on 04/12/08
In fact, now that I think about it ... Serious Eats reader Jaden at steamykitchen.com posted "Escargot with Garlic Butter and Splash of Cognac - a 10 minute dish" on March 23rd, complete with the helix snail shells intact and where she bought the snails themselves. If you miss them a lot, follow her recipe and amazing photography to make the dish yourself.
LunaPierCook at 11:25AM on 04/12/08
Thank you for posting that LPC. It looks delicious. It would never occur to me to open a can of snails.
izatryt at 5:14PM on 04/12/08
I've never really cared for them. I think it's a mental thing. I always get the mental image of those big, fat shell-less garden slugs. I know this is incorrect, but I just can't shake it.
beth1 at 6:03PM on 04/12/08
I know you're lamenting the loss of them in restaurants, but just the other day, I saw a huge mound of escargot shells filled with their yellow-green butter, just waiting for a broiler, at the Whole Foods seafood counter.
DaveFaris at 6:18PM on 04/12/08
If only I had a Whole Foods near me. That might get me to actually turn on my oven.
izatryt at 6:25PM on 04/12/08
Oh my god, there was this Vietnamese French restaurant in DC that I used to go to whenever I had the chance. The did the most amazing escargot. They were out of the shell, but in the same basic delicious garlicky, buttery, winey sauce, and topped with puff pastry. Every single time I went to Washington, I hit that restaurant. I don't even remember what else they served. It was all I cared about. I'm sure the place is long gone. I've had it since (though now that you mention it, not for years, and never in the way that place did it), but it's never been as good at that place. I wish I could remember the name.
chisai at 6:40PM on 04/12/08
I'm so lucky, I go to Paris every week, and almost every week I have escargot. It sounds snotty, but I guess I didn't realize it's not so readily available in restaurants here. I buy helix snails and make garlic parsley butter at home; it's not difficult, really. I think I like them more for the garlic butter's sopping appeal than the flavor of the snail, honestly. I do love a version of snails done with a puff pastry, garlic and cream; that I haven't had in years, but I still remember it, longingly.
degualle at 11:30AM on 04/13/08
um when did escargot go away? i see them on menus all the time but less so when its warmer
sustarz at 12:09PM on 04/13/08
I see them less and less served in the shell
bessfour at 3:25PM on 04/13/08
I just had some at lunch, but they were not in the shell. I never see them that way anymore. You either get them in the little ceramic cups or served on the metal thing with little holes. Actually, if I was really dieing for them i could fix them at home. It's not difficult and you can buy the canned ones with shells. I have the little forks.
Even though they were not in the shell, they were delicious. What's not to like about major garlic butter?
NO_Pam at 3:39PM on 04/13/08
I love escargots whether they are served Chinese, French or Italian. Has there been a movement to remove them from menus?
chiff0nade at 8:42PM on 04/15/08
Not a movement to remove them, CHIFF0NADE, just looking for them served in their shells like the good old days.
bessfour at 5:03PM on 04/16/08