{"id":2736,"date":"2022-12-02T11:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-12-02T11:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/?p=2736"},"modified":"2023-02-10T14:54:37","modified_gmt":"2023-02-10T14:54:37","slug":"why-do-french-people-eat-snails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/why-do-french-people-eat-snails\/","title":{"rendered":"What do french people eat? Escargot is the one!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

To the question : Why do French eat escargot? I\u2019m always feeling cheeky enough to answer \u201cbecause it tastes good\u201d. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But let\u2019s start with a little bit of history, eating snails all started sometime in the VIth century BC with the hunter-gatherers tribes living in what would become France, but snails first day of glory and fame happened when Talleyrand in 1814 wanted to impress the Tzar Alexander during his visit in Paris. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talleyrand\u2019s chef was asked to prepare a dish the Tzar had never tried before, this is when he decided to opt for a local (he came from Burgundy) preparation of the snails, with garlic, parsley and butter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Tzar was so impressed that from that day on he kept on requesting \u201cEscargots de Bourgogne\u201d on a regular basis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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So the escargots became a thought after meal often served for special occasions and more especially as a starter at Christmas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet do not think for a second that you can reach your backyard after the rain, grab a handful of snails, stuff them with garlic butter and enjoy \u201cEscargots\u201d, not quite so, you are likely to end up at the hospital for food poisoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preparation of \u201cEscargot\u201d is partly the justification of it\u2019s price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the steps to get tasty and lovely \u201cEscargot\u201d for a meal :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Snails are gauged (like oysters or shrimps) so depending on their size, they will end up in the preparation or be kept on the side till they reach the minimum size<\/em><\/strong><\/li>
  2. Snails are then removed from the shell and the shell is cleaned and pasteurized in boiling water<\/em><\/strong><\/li>
  3. The intestine part of the snails is chopped off and they are set to dry first<\/em><\/strong><\/li>
  4. The dried snails are then cooked into a broth to flavour the meat<\/em><\/strong><\/li>
  5. Once cooked they are stuffed back into the shell with \u201cbeurre d\u2019escargot\u201d *<\/em><\/strong><\/li>
  6. When purchased fresh you bake them in the oven for for 10\/20 minutes at 215\u00b0F (Gas 1\/4=)<\/em><\/strong><\/li>
  7. You enjoy them<\/em><\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n
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    (*) Beurre d\u2019escargot is the butter preparation for the stuffing, here is the recipe for you to make your own : You will need 9oz of butter, 1oz of both shallots and parsley, 1\/2oz of fresh garlic and a few pinches of pepper <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    When visiting Paris if you want to cook some by yourself and can recommend you \u201cLa Maison de l\u2019Escargot\u201d   https:\/\/www.maison-escargot.com\/<\/a> and if you just want to eat some \u201cL\u2019escargot Montorgueil\u201d is the institution although may be a tad touristy https:\/\/escargotmontorgueil.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Due to an extensive harvesting of the snails in Burgundy, usage of too many pesticides for agriculture and  because of the slow reproduction rate (1 egg laying per year) most of the snails are now coming from Poland, but restaurants and store named above get their products from Burgundy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you want to learn more about French Food and habits, how about joining us on our award winning tours<\/a>? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Image by cablemarder<\/a> from Pixabay<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    To the question : Why do French eat escargot? I\u2019m always feeling cheeky enough to answer \u201cbecause it tastes good\u201d!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,114,798],"tags":[974],"class_list":["post-2736","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-did-you-know","category-french-food","category-local-tips","tag-history"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2736"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2931,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2736\/revisions\/2931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2736"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2736"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.secretfoodtours.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2736"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}