To: Bob Walsh who wrote (8936 ) 12/31/1998 9:26:00 PM From: JACK R. SMITH JR. Read Replies (2) | Respond to of 14226
Bob, Best to you and all in the soon to come new year! Relax, Richard, I shall discuss no wine here, not even my view of the currently contrived Champagnemania. No, not that! What I will discuss is "Jacks 1999 Bastardized American Escargot". It is "Bastardized" in that fresh snails are not easily obtainable in this country. It assumes that one has access to good quality large "canned" snails and to some suitable shells. For 12 Escargot, clean and wash the shells--open and drain the snails--peel and chop two large cloves of strong and aromatic galic--more for the agressive--soften one stick of unsalted fine butter--obtain a loaf of best availabe french bread--I mean good--take a small portion of the loaf and slice it into thin wafers and toast it in the oven--add the garlic to the softened butter along with a little white pepper--one could add numerous things here such as fresh chopped parsley, but not to excess--the essence is the snail, the butter, garlic, and the bread--do not stray too far from that--OK--take the cooled toasted wafers and make bread crumbs--roll the drained snails in the breadcrumbs, then mix some breadcrumbs with butter and stuff the shell with the snail and the mix. Arrange on a plate designed for this or simply cover an ovenproof plate with crinkled aluminum foil and make a litle depression for each escargot--place under a hot broiler until done--when you smell the garlic good--take out and eat with a small fork and little bits of the fine french bread to soak up the remaining butter--this is a fine example of how a "stupid american" can live like a "surly frenchman"--Just a first course, but who knows what we can do given enough time--Bon Appetit! No wine, Jack!!