Monday 8 February 2010

Snails and Frogs Legs - Eat 'em...Just Don't Look! / C'est Bon Mais C'est Degueu!

 One of the questions I'm asked the most often by friends and family in the UK is "Do you really eat snails?"  And as much as I love to exaggerate when I reply ("yes, and you can still feel them wiggling when you swallow!" - a lie, they're dead...), they are actually delicious.  Anything doused in steaming hot garlic butter can't be bad!

....impossible d'y échapper: lorsqu'on vit avec quelqu'un qui vient d'un pays dont la réputation en matière de gastronomie est aussi épouvantable, on se fait un devoir de lui faire TOUT goûter!  (Tout le monde connait l'histoire qui dit que les Anglais tuent deux fois l'agneau, la seconde en le faisant cuire... )


Snails in hot garlic butter

The secret is to not look too closely - it's not pretty!  They have a unique taste - a little "earthy" and slightly chewy.

Eh bien je m'insurge! On mange très bien en Angleterre: les pubs, c'est souvent bon et pas cher du tout, les fish and chips sont une volupté qui nous est inconnue en France, le sublimissime High Tea devrait être obligatoire tous les jours, le petit déjeuner (full english breakfast, mon amour...) est une tuerie (dans tous les sens du terme, c'est vrai!), et lorsque vous achetez un club sandwich, même dans un supermarché,  il y a à manger jusque dans les coins, siii!!!!

He's in there somewhere!

And it's not just snails; the other great cliché is frog's legs.  Until moving to France, I thought it was just a joke (of the type "Waiter, do you have frogs legs?", "No Sir, I always walk this way...").  However they are easily found in the frozen aisle of supermarkets - and once again cooked in delicious garlic.  For anyone interested in knowing, the meat is rather similar to chicken in taste and texture. 


Unlike the snails, however, it's much more difficult to eat them without looking!  

Mais revenons à nos moutons, enfin à nos escargots...Monsieur mon Anglais fait semblant de rien, mais quelque années en arrière, il pensait que nous les mangions vivants...Néanmoins, escargots ou grenouilles,  nous partageons le princpe suivant: c'est bon mais c'est dégueu, évitons d'y penser, régalons nous sans réfléchir!


So have you tried either of these delicacies?  Do you have your own "tasty, but yucky" favourites?

Vous en avez aussi, des trucs bons mais dégueu ? ;-)

16 comments:

  1. I love the both, don´t care about the looks ;-) Getting hungry when I see the pictures!

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  2. Hello Susanne, very hungry too, it's dinner time here:-)

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  3. I just can't stand them. I'm half French and the family are always trying to make me taste their delicacies, but I just hate them! That goes for foie gras too! Berk berk berk! Laissez-moi tranquille, c'est pas ma faute, je suis ANGLAISE! Comme dit ma grand-mère, ils ne savent pas ce qui est bon! Lol.

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  4. Hmmm, skeptic about this one. I love butter and garlic, but not so much the snails. I love many French things but this is not one of them;) Nor the fois grais either. Sorry! Love the pastry if that counts..:o)

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  5. oui! les huitres encore vivantes! j'adore mais pour savourer je dois oublier qu'elles sont vivantes, sinon ça me reste sur l'estomac! sinon tous ces trucs vraiment "degueux" j'ai du mal à les manger, parce que j'ai du mal à oublier qu'il s'agit d'escargots ou grenouilles...gr..

    Charlotte

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  6. Yum! Love them both (and like you said anything doused in garlic butter is pretty good!) although I don't eat frogs legs (and foie gras) anymore out of principle.

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  7. I donot love snails, too much chewy for my likings. I'm not crazy about frogs but if there is not anything else...Anyway I love garlic butter ! BTW I love octopuss and squids Rosanna

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  8. I know where you're coming from! Haggis comes in for a fair bit of stick as well. I have to say, I've never had snails or frogs legs, somehow they just don't appeal.

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  9. Love frog legs, can't come at snails.

    New Guinea is over run with japanese eating snails, they are huuuuge! Grossed me out.

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  10. aaah j'adooore les cuisses de grenouille! (même si leur mort est tellement atroce que c'est interdit en Allemagne - et oui les petites cuisses sont arrachées alors que les grenouilles sont encore vivantes)

    Par contre les escargots bof, la texture est trop caoutchouteuse à mon goût.

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  11. I would probably not have a problem with the snails but love frogs too much to eat them! LOL! In the south we love our raw oysters on the half shell and in some ethnic grocery stores, chitlins (hot intestines) and chicken feet are sold but I have never eaten them!

    Jody

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  12. Thank you for sharing your tastes, ladies!!
    Octopus and squid, delicious!!!Strangly I don't put them in the "don't think while you eat" category!
    Haggis...I have no clue, but I sware I won't come back from England next time without trying it ,(and maybe some of these baby eels in gelly!)
    Never heard of chitlins...but Neil knows about it...only the name!
    I understand the "foie gras" reject out of principle...but I must have had some in my baby bottle!!!!!!!
    ...ce que je prefère dans les huîtres, c'est le pain et le beurre, et maintenant, j'ai les crocs,c'est malin... je vais faire à manger:-)

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  13. Oh I love Snails and Frog legs! Unfortunately I couldn't find frog legs when I was in Paris last year. Where can they be found?

    Being Vietnamese, I am exposed to eating alot of weird foods. Eg ox tongue, pig ears, giblets etc.. YUM! Have you tried any of these?

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  14. Hello Phuoc!
    Actually frog legs are not that common in restaurants!You really have to search! If you want to be sure to find some, go in a chinese restaurant!!(that's what we do when we want to get someone to try them!), and if you plan to cook them yourself, people here generally buy them frozen, easily found in supermarkets....
    About weird vietnamese food,the only thing really impossible for me to try would be these "hatched eggs" I sam recently on a cooking program on TV(they maybe called something else, sorry!), but you know we eat here all sorts of giblets (boudin, andouillette, kidneys, and various things I don't want to talk about;-) and tongues (beef, lamb, pork...)
    It's all a matter of culture and beeing used to eat...your blog is lovely, by the way:-)

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  15. Tous les deux sont délicieux ... thought I'd practice my French on you whilst I'm far enough away not to see your wry expression when I slip up! Ah, h'h'h'haaaagis ... that dubious 'there's nothing else to eat' food. Can be fairly tasty, or extremely horrid depending upon who made it ... and how much whisky you got down before it was served :)

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  16. Oh la la, tu m'a donné envie de gouter les cuisses de grenouilles ! Magnifique blog !

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