Recipe : French Style ESCARGOT Wannabe (Giant African Land Snail)

Resep Bekicot ala Perancis

When i done my weekend jog rituals, i found a very big land snail is sneaking in my garden cerry tomato plan. The giant land snail shell is about 15 centimeters long and make a white trace with it’s slime all over my plants pots. Suddenly i think who the hell messed up with my plant is gon\na end up in my plate, hahaha.  I’m not that mean actually, i just curious about the taste since i had some SATE BEKICOT of land snail in skewer dish before when i going to Jakarta. Sate bekicot is a very popular dish in Kediri, Middle Java Province. I’m thinking about make the giant land snail into french style escargot. Then  i threated the snail in a pets cage without any for for 2 days to clean up the guts.

Escargot is a dish of cooked land snails, usually served as an appetizer in France and in French restaurants. The word is also sometimes applied to the living snails of those species which are commonly eaten in this way. In France, the species Helix pomatia is most often eaten. In French culture, the snails are typically purged, killed, removed from their shells, and cooked (usually with garlic butter, chicken stock or wine), and then placed back into the shells with the butter and sauce for serving. Additional ingredients may be added, such as garlic, thyme, parsley and pine nuts. Special snail tongs (for holding the shell) and snail forks (for extracting the meat) are also normally provided, and they are served on indented metal trays with places for six or 12 snails.

The East African land snail, or giant African land snail, scientific name Achatina fulica, is a species of large, air-breathing land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk in the family Achatinidae.

As they develop rapidly and produce large numbers of offspring, this mollusc is now listed as one of the top 100 invasive species in the world. It is a voracious feeder, and recognized as a serious pest organism affecting agriculture, natural ecosystems, commerce, and also human health. Because of these threats, this snail species has been given top national quarantine significance in the United States.In the past, quarantine officials have been able to successfully intercept and eradicate incipient invasions on the mainland USA.

isn’t that huge ?

ready to oven !

In the wild, this species often harbors the parasitic nematode Angiostrongylus cantonensis, which can cause a very serious meningitis in humans. Human cases of this meningitis usually result from a person having eaten the raw or undercooked snail, but even handling live wild snails of this species can infect a person with the nematode and cause a life-threatening infection. So make sure you cooked the giant african snail throughly to eliminate the threat of the parasites.

If you ask me about the taste, i think the taste is delicious, similiar to a shellfish. The giant african snail meat texture si similiar to a chicken gizzard, crunchy and tender in the same time.

Recipe French Style ESCARGOT with Butter, Garlic and Herbs:

Ingredient:

• 1  Bekicot / Giant African land snail
• 1 tbsp butter
• a pinch of thyme
• 1 tsp finely copped garlic
• 1/2 tsp chopped cellery
• a pinch of rosemary for boiling
• salt and pepper to taste
• slice of lime to serve

Instruction:

1. Boil enough water to submerged the land snail, put the snail into the boiling water let it boil about 5-7 minutes or until there’s no more bubble apears in the water surface.
2. Remove the snail from the pan, put it into cold water and prick the meat with a fork and remove  any messy entrail from it, you only want to eat the foot. The internal organs are not tasty. Washed it throughly once again under running water.
3. Boil enough water to submerge unshelled land snail, season with rosemarry and salt. Simmer it until the flesh is fork tender, drain.
4. Put the meat into the shell, meanwhile, mixed thyme, cellery, garlic, salt and pepper, put the mixture into the shell and add the buttter above it.
5. Put the shell into the oven, set roast menu and 200 degree Celcius for about 15 minutes
6. Enjoy your ESCARGOTwannabe with a drizzle of lime juice and toasted bread. I like  to dip the bread on the melted butter in the shell.

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