Ingredients
Snails
- 20giant land snails, live
- or 1 kg prepared snail meat
- coarse salt, for cleaning
- juice of 4 limes
- vinegar, for washing
- flour, for scrubbing
Marinade
- 1onion, grated
- 6garlic cloves, crushed
- 3cm ginger, grated
- 2stock cubes, crushed
- 2piri piri chillies, chopped
- 3 tablespoonsoil
- 1 teaspoonblack pepper
To serve
- 2onions, thinly sliced
- 2tomatoes, sliced
- piri piri sauce
- attieke or fried plantain
- lemon wedges
- wooden skewers
Directions
- Wash your hands thoroughly after handling live snails. Wash every surface and utensil they have touched. Do not transport live snails between countries.
- Keep them in a ventilated covered box. Removing them from the shell takes work. Pull the body out with a fork or hook. Cut away the dark digestive parts. Keep the firm pale muscular foot.
- Put the snail meat in a large bowl. Rub it hard with plenty of coarse salt. Add lime juice and rub it again. Rinse it well under running water. Flour lifts residue that salt alone leaves. Rinse and repeat the whole process. Keep going until no slime remains. The meat should feel firm and not slippery.
- Put the cleaned snails in a pot of water. Add a splash of vinegar and some salt. Bring it to a boil and skim the foam. Let it boil for at least twenty minutes. Drain them and let them cool down. Mix all the marinade ingredients together. Rub it into the boiled snail meat.
- Cover it and refrigerate it now. Give it at least two full hours. Soak wooden skewers in water first. Thread the snail meat onto them. Pack three or four pieces per skewer. Wait until the coals are covered in grey ash. Oil the grill bars before the skewers go on. Lay the skewers over the coals. Give them about four minutes a side.
- Baste them with the leftover marinade. They should char at the edges. Cut one open to check the first skewer. There must be no cool or raw centre.
- Return them to the fire if there is. Serving them is done hot from the grill. Scatter sliced raw onion over it. Add sliced tomato alongside it. Spoon piri piri sauce over generously. Serve attieke or fried plantain with them. Cold beer is the usual drink with them.
Technique
- Giant African land snails can carry the rat lungworm parasite, which causes a serious meningitis, so thorough cooking is essential and hands and surfaces must be washed after handling live snails, since the slime alone can carry it.
- The snails are native to the West African forest belt where they are a normal food animal, but are a serious invasive pest where introduced, and several countries ban importing them entirely.
- The twenty minute boil before grilling is not optional, since it both makes the meat safe and tenderises what is otherwise a very tough muscle.
Substitutions
- Prepared frozen snail meat is exported and sold in African shops abroad, already cleaned.
- There is no substitute with a comparable texture.
Variations
- Some maquis stew the snails in sauce rather than grilling them.
- A version with more chilli is made for those who want heat.
- Snails are also cooked into kedjenou and into palm nut sauce.
History
Giant African land snails are gathered in forest zones after rains and grilled at maquis; the trade is a long-standing forest-belt protein source.
Frequently asked questions
What is Escargots braisés?
Escargots braisés is a street food from Côte d’Ivoire: giant land snails grilled on skewers with chili and onion at night stalls. Giant African land snails are gathered in forest zones after rains and grilled at maquis; the trade is a long-standing forest-belt protein source.
How long does Escargots braisés take to make?
Escargots braisés takes 1 hour plus purging of preparation and 40 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated hard to make.
What can I substitute in Escargots braisés?
Yes, within limits. Prepared frozen snail meat is exported and sold in African shops abroad, already cleaned. There is no substitute with a comparable texture.
What is the most important thing to get right in Escargots braisés?
Wash your hands thoroughly after handling live snails. Wash every surface and utensil they have touched. Do not transport live snails between countries.
