How to cook snails correctly?

Before delving more into the question of how to cook snails, it would be nice to imagine what to do with. After all, these are rather unusual inhabitants of green shrubs and reservoirs. Snails differ in the structure of the body, the shape of the shell, as well as its gastronomic features.

This is unusual for the people of Russia food, although many people have long eaten snails, enjoying their taste and useful properties of dietary meat. Not everyone can risk the snail try, but those who tried it, have never regretted it.

Who are snails and what is their lifestyle

A snail is a mollusk that has a solid outer shell, it belongs to the class of gastropods. The body of the mollusc consists of the head, the leg and the inner sac. Snails are moved with the help of a leg that has the property of contracting. Leg for better gliding on different surfaces emits a lot of mucus. The shell of the cochlea is twisted in a spiral, there is an inner sac in it.

Separately, we should note the useful properties of mucus secreted by snails. It is a kind of antiseptic, has healing and restorative properties. It is used to quickly tighten wounds and cuts. Miraculous properties have not been fully explored, but are an undeniable potential for the treatment of diseases in the future. Incredibly, the snail can completely restore the destroyed shell with the help of mucus.

Molluscs usually live in small groups, preferring to crawl on feeding in the dead of night, when no one sees them and they are relatively safe. They eat mostly plants, leaves, young shoots, but they do not disdain and small worms, they can be supported by larvae and other representatives of small insects.

They also tie the snail's conjugal relations also at night. And they do not have a division into the male and female sex, all snails are capable of reproduction. With the help of mucus, the partners attach to each other and mate. Snail breeds quickly, laying off a lot of eggs.

Often snails become a big and obtrusive problem for gardeners and truck farmers. Gathering in groups, they destroy young shoots of plants of domestic cultures. For example, grape snails can eat a huge amount of grape leaves and just a few days to destroy the vineyard.

Fighting them is difficult because of their lightning reproduction. Nothing else but to prepare grape snails, does not remain.

As the main ingredient of snails are used by the French, Spaniards and Italians, considering them a delicacy. But in our country, you can eat these small pests, it's enough just to catch the gastropods and to figure out how to prepare grape snails correctly.

Useful properties of cooked snail meat

Snail meat is saturated with protein and B vitamins, so it is an easily digestible product and is suitable for dietary nutrition. It does not matter how to cook snails, their meat will still contain useful amino acids.

In addition, it contains trace elements: calcium, magnesium and iron.

According to the taste, the product is quite specific, but still tasty. Snail meat is soft, but at the same time resilient. It is perfectly combined with white dry wine, champagne, but it will also suit beer.

In some countries (for example, in the Czech Republic), there are many farms that specialize in snail breeding. On a special territory, conditions are created to provide food for mollusks, as well as protection from predators.

Species of mollusks

So, what kind of snails exist and are they all suitable for cooking? The most delicious are grape snails. They have been consumed since time immemorial by rich people and poor people. They were not a delicacy, but a natural food for all segments of the population. In order to eat snails, you did not have to have a lot of money. People simply caught them in bushes, salt and cooked at the stake, after which they enjoyed the excellent taste of dietary, protein-rich meat.

Experienced "cochicants" usually do not give advice on how to cook snails, because even in Africa, the country of origin of these mollusks, they are very rarely eaten. They are large in size, they are overland and can reach the size of a human palm. Their meat is tough and tasteless, so akhatin is more suitable for breeding as an exotic pet than for eating.

A garden snail is also suitable for food, different from grape color and shell shape, size and habitat. A garden snail can be found in Russia mainly in forest areas in the thickets of shrubs. In cities they are rare.

There are snails that live in rivers, they have a darker coloring of the shell. Catching them a little heavier is a river snail. How to cook them or land snails, there is no fundamental difference.

How to eat snails

Eat this delicacy with the help of special instruments: escuto tweezers - special tongs for strong hold of the shell, a thin fork with flat teeth for the extraction of meat. The snail is eaten whole, without cutting it into pieces. It is permissible to gently drink the juice from the sink. After all, before preparing snails, cooks often lay in the sink a mixture of butter, garlic and greens, which gives a unique taste to the dish.

Purification of the ventricles of snails with diet

Before preparing the garden snails, or any other, you need to clean their stomachs by putting on a special diet.

To do this, they should be placed in a small container (bowl, pan), from which they could not crawl, pre-pouring a little flour on the bottom. For 1 kg of snails, no more than 2 tablespoons are needed. This treat will well clean the snails from the inside, after which their meat will get rid of a specific smell and unpleasant aftertaste, will acquire excellent taste qualities.

In the first day snails are given the specified flour, on the second day its quantity is reduced by half. On the third day snails are not fed. It is necessary to periodically sprinkle shellfish with water so that they do not die, because they need to be alive for cooking.

After this, the snails must be thoroughly washed, and the shells should be cleaned with a brush (you can use an unnecessary toothbrush).

Removing excess mucus salt

The next step, before preparing snails at home, is to remove mucus from them. For this washed shellfish is placed in a basin, the bottom of which is sprinkled with a thin layer of salt, for two hours. The snails will begin to liberate the mucus abundantly. After this, it is necessary to rinse them again with cold water. Now they are ready for cooking.

Snails cooked a lot of delicacies: soup, caviar seasoned with spicy sauce, stuffed snails stewed in garlic sauce, baked in the oven with basil and much more. But how to cook grape snails at home without using sophisticated professional techniques that any experienced chef is accustomed to, without inventing complex recipes? It's enough just to fry or cook clams, cook the sauce and enjoy the delicacy.

Preparation of fried snails

Nothing complicated in how to properly prepare snails, no. They can be fried in an ordinary frying pan. Preliminarily, sprinkle the shellfish with salt and pepper. Add a little vegetable and butter, a few milliliters of dry white wine, put snails there. After that, fry under the lid for 5-7 minutes.

That's all, fried snails are ready for use. The meat turns out surprisingly soft and gentle. Do not over-snub snails on fire, they do not require long heat treatment.

Fried snails: the second way

Before preparing live grape snails, it is necessary to pour into the shells special oil garlic sauce, which will give a piquant taste and aroma. For its preparation it is necessary to mix soft butter, favorite greens (parsley, mint, basil), finely chopped garlic in arbitrary proportions.

Stuff this mixture of shells and send them to a skillet, necessarily laying the shell down.

Cooked and lightly toasted snails

Another way to prepare grape snails at home is to pre-cook them before frying in a frying pan. After boiling water in a saucepan, lower the snails there and cook for no more than 5 minutes, and preferably 3 minutes. Fry in butter 3-4 minutes under the closed lid.

Meat, cooked in this way, will also be soft, but more elastic. This is a wonderful snack, as well as an independent dish, perfectly combined with dry wine.

How to cook snails on a grill or in a shish kebab

The most delicious are snails cooked on the grill. Smoke gives the taste of meat some podkopchennost, why it becomes more fragrant. For the preparation of snails on the grill, no special preparations are needed.

Pre-salted and peppered snails are placed on the grill with holes up, after which they are roasted on fire for 7 minutes. In the process of frying, you can water the snails with lard pinned on the skewer and melted over the coals.

Do not be afraid, when the snails begin to unpleasantly "hiss" under the influence of temperature - this is normal, just goes excess moisture.

Snail meat is especially delicious when it is dipped in sauce. It goes well with it any greens, garlic, mayonnaise, sour cream, soy sauce, butter, dry wine.

Whichever method was chosen for the preparation of snails, it is necessary to remember the important rule: do not overexpose them on fire, the meat because of this can become tough and not so tasty. And although in our country not all are ready for such gustatory experiments, but for those who have managed to evaluate dishes from snails - this is the best delicacy and delicacy.