Patrick B.
Love them.
Bravo for this rare offering of "Petits Gris" (meaning 'small grey - and yes, to answer a comment on e-fish, yes, they are small, but so tasty!), see the reason why below!
There are, at least, two ways to cook snails in France:
1/ À la Bourguignone, the most known (and touristic?) way, which requires Burgundy snails, aka "Gros Blanc" ('' big white'), served stuffed and baked with a "beurre d'escargot" (butter, parsley, garlic, shallot), and
2/ À la Charentaise (pictured), as cooked in a wide area around Cognac, in the North of Bordeaux. This dish called 'cagouillade' ('cagouille' referring to snail, and in particular "Petit Gris", in Charente's dialect) is a stew featuring Petits Gris in their shells (previously poached ~15 minutes in a court bouillon), tomatoes, aromatizing veggies (carrots, onions, celeriac, garlic...) and herbs (thyme, bay leaf...), local white wine, Cognac and/or Pineau des Charentes, and often, although optionally, some meat, such as sausage filling, ground beef, big cured ham dices... here, I used Pineau and homemade shredded duck confit leftover, and it was just fantastic!!!
Also shown two "Fall" salads, with Lima beans, bacon "lardons" or nasturtium leaves featuring those excellent "petits gris"
Ted T.
They were very tender and had flavors of mushroom's and hints of truffle. A delicacy indeed that’s was cooked solely cooked in butter, garlic, shallots, thyme, lemon and white wine.
