Snails with frogs' legs / escargots aux grenouilles

4 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
48 Burgundy snails
Court bouillon
4 Shallots
Chives
¾ cup White Macon wine
24 Frogs' legs
½ cup Milk
Flour
4 tablespoons Butter
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley, to garnish

Directions

[Looking at the ingredients, I figure that this'll feed 4 as a main course or 8 as an appetizer. -- mkm] Preparation 1½ hours. Cooking 1 ¼ hours.

Cook the snails in advance in a court bouillon, then remove them from their shells. [There's a description of court bouillon in "Joy of Cooking." Basically, a court bouillon is an aromatic liquid or stock, sometimes containing wine, vinegar or lemon juice, used mainly for cooking fish and shellfish, but also sometimes white offal (variety meats) and some white meats. -- mkm] Chop them, together with the peeled shallots and a small bunch of well-washed chives. Place these ingredients in a saucepan with the wine, cover and simmer for 1 hour.

Meanwhile, soak the frogs' legs in the milk for 1 hour. Drain them, then roll in flour and saute in the butter in a frying pan over a brisk heat for 10 minutes. Add the snails, together with their cooking juices, and season with salt and pepper. [Personally, I prefer to mill the pepper at the dinner table. The smell of the freshly ground pepper would otherwise be lost. -- mkm] Turn up the heat and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve.

White wines: Macon-Clesse, -Lugny, -Vire or -Ige, Hermitage, Crepy.

[From "Larousse Traditional French Cooking."]

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