French cuisine seduces foodies from around the world with its diversity and unique recipes that you can find nowhere on this earth.
Escargot, which has a reputation as one of the weirdest things you may eat, is considered a delicate food in France and served in many gourmet restaurants.
What does escargot taste like? Escargot delivers a buttery, creamy, and herbs-like taste (escargots are herbivores).
The first time you try a gourmet French escargot dish, you can taste an excellent combination of snail, butter, and parsley with a tender texture.
This article will let you know why people love it.
What Are Escargots?
Escargots are typical land snails, which can appear in your garden when it’s raining. Apart from France, many other countries, like Germany, Italy, Portugal, Great Britain, or Spain, also use snails in their cuisines.
Such popularity is due to the rich, delicate texture of the escargots and the different flavors they bring to the table.
While many eaters enjoy a snail dish served well with other ingredients, some can’t stand eating a snail as a hearty meal or its thick texture.
What Does Escargot Taste Like?
For us, escargot is incredibly delicious because of its unique taste and texture. The snail features a herbal sense and reminds us of fried chicken with mushrooms.
The cooking may vary among countries and restaurants. Yet, a gourmet French escargot dish is typically a combination of snail, garlic, butter, and parsley. You can ask the cook to add pine nuts or thyme if you wish.
Butter
The most prominent flavor in escargot you can notice is the buttery flavor. Butter’s smooth, creamy, and rich flavor blends nicely with the natural flavor of the snail.
Live escargots have tender permeable flesh, allowing other flavors to immerse and intertwine with it easily. Thus, the snails take on the strong taste of butter as cooked in an escargot dish.
Garlic
Apart from butter, garlic is also a dominant flavor in escargot. As cooked in the pot, garlic will soften in flavor, hence dropping from a powerful, strong kick to a rich, smooth, low-intense warmth in your mouth.
The pungent aroma of garlic will hit your taste before other flavors come.
Parsley
While most restaurants simply sprinkle fresh parsley over the escargots after putting them back to the shells, some places offer a different recipe. They would make a pesto-style paste of herbs and parsley and lather the cooked snail with it.
Parsley delivers a slight herbal freshness. For us, it tastes like mint but a much more watered-down version. Since parsley isn’t too powerfully flavored, it’s a nice match with the strong butter.
Snail
Seafood geeks can relate a snail’s taste to the taste of shellfish, such as clams or mussels, while those who taste it the first time may link it to chicken or cow intestines’ taste.
Generally, it provides a neutral base for other ingredients and flavors to blend well together.
Texture
If you want us to describe escargot’s texture in three words, we would say soft, chewy, and gelatinous.
Snail fresh is porous and soft, yet it will develop hardness as cooked or boiled as in escargot. It doesn’t completely turn hard but promotes a chewy and gelatinous texture.
We love this match and how chewy those snails become.
With all the above flavor elements put together in escargot, you will experience a surprisingly fascinating taste.
The powerful aroma of garlic and dominant flavor of butter permeated with a bland gelatinous, chewy flesh, followed by the slight herbal flavor of parsley on the top – what can be more enticing than this combination?
Is Escargot Good For Your Health?
Snail is a perfect choice for those interested in flesh or meat high in protein but low in fat content.
It contains 102 calories only and a tiny amount of fat (about 2g every serving of four ounces).
Meanwhile, snails pack a lot of vitamins, including vitamin E, A, Iron, Zinc, and Calcium, and protein (18g), which are exceedingly beneficial to your immune system.
Plus, snails contain plenty of calcium – a vital nutrient for your bone condition. This substance helps minimize bone health risks, such as osteoporosis.
What Should You Eat Escargot With?
- Breakfast: Escargot and omelets with bell peppers, tomatoes, herbs, and white bread toast or rye are a perfect breakfast.
- Lunch: You can have escargot with rice to provide enough energy for the rest of the day. Grilled vegetables are also ok without extra oil.
- Dinner: Escargot will help with your digestion as a light dinner. Our fav combo includes fresh, stewed, or grilled vegetables, cheese slices, porridge with snails.
Conclusion
With nearly 700 million snails consumed annually in France alone, escargot proves to be fancy and well-liked food.
The herb’s smell, butter’s richness, and snail’s chewiness will surely serve you a pleasant enjoyment or, at least, won’t leave you indifferent.
Also Read: What Does Boba Taste Like?
