TABELIAAUTHENTIC RECIPE
Escargots à la BourguignonneBurgundy-Style Snails in Garlic-Parsley Butter
- Total
- 1 hr 48 min
- Difficulty
- ★★☆☆☆
- Serves
- 4 servings
- Prep 40 min
- Cook 8 min
- Rest 1 hr
Burgundy snails are placed in the wells of snail dishes, sealed with butter mixed with shallot, garlic and parsley, and baked in a hot oven. Serve this French appetizer while the melted butter is bubbling.
AUTHENTICITY SCORE
Authenticity Score
This is the standard recipe, exactly as it’s made where it comes from — the highest Authenticity Score possible. Substituting ingredients changes this score; the app shows exactly how, ingredient by ingredient.
Ingredients (4 servings)
100Authenticity- Canned Burgundy snails (Helix pomatia)24 snailsPrecooked in liquid; check the label for Helix pomatia. Rinse in cold water to remove the packing liquid
- Unsalted butter170 gLeave at room temperature for 60 minutes to soften
- Shallots17 gMince very finely
- Garlic5 g1 clove; crush and work into a paste with a knife
- Parsley leaves12 gFinely chop the leaves only. Use the leaves from a fresh flat-leaf parsley bunch, removing the stems before weighing.
- Salt4 g
- Ground black pepper1 g
- Fine dried plain breadcrumbs5 gSprinkle lightly over the butter before baking. Use fine dry plain breadcrumbs; grind or sieve coarser crumbs before weighing.
Method
Soften the butter
- 1 Put 170g unsalted butter in a bowl and leave at room temperature for 60 minutes.
Ready when
Continue when the butter yields readily to pressure from a flexible spatula.
Finely chop the shallot, garlic and parsley
- 1 Mince 17g shallot very finely.
- 2 Crush 5g garlic with the flat of a knife, then chop and work it into a paste with the blade.
- 3 Finely chop 12g parsley leaves.
Ready when
Continue when all the aromatics are finely chopped.
Mix and chill the snail butter
- 1 Add the chopped shallot, garlic and parsley, 4g salt and 1g black pepper to the softened butter. Work with a flexible spatula until uniformly green to make beurre d’escargot, a garlic-parsley compound butter.
- 2 Refrigerate for 15 minutes until scoopable but firm enough to hold its shape.
- 3 MeanwhileWhile the butter chills, preheat the oven to 240°C.
Ready when
The mixing is complete when parsley is distributed throughout and no streaks of white butter remain.
Continue when a spoonful of butter holds its shape.
Rinse the snails, fill the dishes and seal with butter
- 1 Drain 24 canned snails in a strainer, rinse off the packing liquid with cold water and pat dry with paper towels.
- 2 Put 1/2 teaspoon snail butter in the bottom of each well in 4 snail dishes with 6 wells each.
- 3 Put 1 snail in each well and use the back of a spoon to press the remaining butter around it, sealing the opening.
- 4 Lightly sprinkle 5g breadcrumbs over the butter.
Ready when
Bake when every well is filled level with butter and the snails are completely covered.
Caution
If the openings are not sealed with butter, the butter will run out during baking and the snails will dry out.
Bake at 240°C until bubbling and serve hot
- 1 Arrange the snail dishes on a baking sheet and bake on the upper rack at 240°C for 7–8 minutes.
- 2 Remove the dishes with oven mitts and serve immediately.
Ready when
They are ready when the butter is melted and bubbling around the edges of the wells and the breadcrumbs are lightly browned.
Caution
Canned snails are already cooked; overbaking makes them tough.
About this dish
In France, snails are eaten most often during the year-end festivities; around two-thirds of annual consumption is said to occur at Christmas. Burgundy-style snails, sealed beneath green garlic-parsley butter, appear on festive tables at this time.
The large snail named escargot de Bourgogne grows slowly and is not farmed in France. Wild populations declined through overharvesting. A 1979 ministerial order banned collecting those with shells under 3cm in diameter year-round, and larger ones from April through June.
French canners use wild Burgundy snails collected in the northern Balkans. Increasingly, they arrive already cooked in the country where they were gathered. The industry code permits the name “escargots de Bourgogne” only on cans containing this species alone.
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