Le Petit Citron Hammersmith Escargot

Escargots De Bourgogne

“Even a snail will eventually reach its destination.”……

The Burgundy Snail was already the favourite snail of Ancient Rome and was cooked with milk or cereals like bran. In fact in the Middle Ages, the snail replaced meat during Lent.
But the nutritious Gastropod quickly disappeared from culinary writings soon after Cadet de Gassicourt cried “How can we love this disgusting reptile?” - author of the world renowned Cours Gastronomique first published in 1809.
However the popularity of this well known symbol of French gastronomy soon returned in the late 19th century and was served in over 50 restaurants at the time in Paris alone, where snails were considered a real delicacy.
Today France consumes 16,000 metric tons of Escargots per year!
Buying the snails shell on and alive is quite time consuming ( not to say hard to find! ) and foraging snails from your garden might mean you don’t know where they’ve been and what they have been eating!
We suggest you buy some tinned burgundy snails from French Click online
Even though the snails are cooked in the tin, rinse them thoroughly again.
Serves 4 generously
  • 48 Burgundy Snails
  • 1 litre of water
  • 300ml white wine vinegar
  • 400g salt
  • 2 Stalks Celery, diced
  • 1 onion, peeled & diced
  • 1 fennel bulb, diced
  • 1 leek, cleaned and finely chopped
  • 1 bouquet garni ( rosemary, thyme & bay leaf )
  • A few sprigs of parsley

To serve

  1. In a saucepan stir together the Water, vinegar and salt. Add the snails, bring them to a boil, then lower the heat.
  2. Let simmer for 15 minutes while regularly skimming off any foam that forms on the surface.
  3. Drain, transfer the snails to a saucepan of cold water and add the vegetables and thebouquet garni. Bring to the boil then lower the heat and simmer 10 minutes. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface if necessary. Drain the snails and reserve.
  4. When serving fry the snails in a generous amount of garlic butter and finish with oodles of parsley.
  5. Serve with a warm crusty baguette to mop up the snails with the garlic butter - and accompany them with a chilled white burgundy!
Bon appétit!