Buzios guisados

Ingredients

The sea snails

• 1.5 kgsea snails in the shell
• búzios, live and fresh
• or 600 g cooked shelled whelks
• see the safety notes

For the first boil

• plenty of water
• 2 tablespoonssalt
• 1bay leaf
• half an onion

The stew

• 4 tablespoonsolive oil
• 2large onions, chopped
• 6 clovesgarlic, sliced
• 4ripe tomatoes, chopped
• or 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1green pepper, diced
• 2bay leaves
• 1 teaspoonsweet paprika
• a pinch of chilli, or to taste
• 150 mlwhite wine
• optional
• salt and black pepper

To finish

• a handful of coriander or parsley
• chopped
• juice of half a lemon

To serve

• bread, to mop the sauce
• or plain rice
• or boiled cassava
• piri-piri sauce
• a cold beer or grogue

Directions

1. Discard any that do not react at all. Discard any with cracked or broken shells. Discard any that smell of anything but clean sea. Do not gather them from unknown or polluted shores.
2. Put them in a bucket of clean salted sea water. Use about thirty-five grams of salt per litre. Leave them for several hours or overnight. Change the water once if it looks dirty. Keep them cool but not in fresh water. A stiff brush removes weed and barnacles. Rinse them thoroughly afterwards. Put them in a large pot of cold salted water.
3. Add the bay leaf and the half onion. Bring it slowly to a boil. Starting cold lets the snails relax. Boil them for about fifteen minutes. Small snails need less and large ones more.
4. Skim off any scum that rises. Drain them and let them cool enough to handle. Use a cocktail stick, a skewer or a small fork. Pull it off and discard it. Trim off the dark coiled part at the tail. Some people eat it and many do not. Cook them briefly or cook them long. Long means an hour or more of gentle simmering.
5. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pot. Add the chopped onions. Cook them slowly for about twelve minutes. They should be soft and lightly golden. Add the sliced garlic and the green pepper. Cook them for five minutes more. Add the paprika and the chilli.
6. Stir them in and cook briefly. Paprika burns fast, so keep the heat moderate. Cook them down for about ten minutes. They should collapse into a thick sauce. Add the wine if you are using it. Let it bubble for two minutes. Add the bay leaves. Add the cleaned snail meat.
7. Add a little water if the pot looks dry. Bring it to a bare simmer. Cover the pot and simmer it gently. Give it a full hour at least. Check it every twenty minutes. Add water if it reduces too far. It should be tender enough to chew easily. Season it with salt and pepper. Taste it carefully. Reduce the sauce if it is thin. It should be thick enough to cling.
8. Add the chopped coriander or parsley. Squeeze over the lemon juice. Serve it hot with plenty of bread. The sauce is the best part and it must be mopped. Put piri-piri sauce on the table. It keeps three days refrigerated.

Technique

• Sea snails have two cooking windows: the brief first boil, or an hour or more of gentle simmering. Anything between makes them like rubber, which is the commonest failure. This dish uses the long window, so give the stew a full hour and check by biting a piece — it should chew easily while staying somewhat firm.
• Start the first boil in cold water and bring it up slowly. That lets the snails relax so the meat comes out whole; dropped into boiling water they retract hard and become very difficult to extract.
• Twist the meat out following the shell’s spiral rather than pulling straight. Pulling breaks it and leaves the end behind.
• Buy them alive and reactive: a live snail withdraws when touched and feels heavy for its size. Discard any that do not react, any with cracked shells and any that smell of anything but clean sea.
• Buy from a fishmonger with a known source. Sea snails accumulate contaminants and biotoxins from their environment, cooking does not destroy those biotoxins, and authorities close shellfish beds after toxin monitoring for good reason. Do not gather from unknown or polluted shores.
• Some large marine snails carry tetramine in their salivary glands, which cooking does not destroy and which can cause dizziness, blurred vision and nausea. Traditional practice in several countries removes those glands. Ask your fishmonger what species you have and whether the glands should be removed — it is a real question with a real answer, and the atlas does not attempt to identify species for you.
• Purge them in clean salted water — about 35 g of salt per litre — for several hours or overnight, so they expel their sand. Never use fresh water, which kills them.
• Pull off the operculum, the hard flat trapdoor on the foot, and trim the dark coiled digestive gland at the tail. Some people eat that part; it is strong and can be gritty.
• Cook the onions slowly for a full twelve minutes before anything else goes in. That base is what the sauce is built on.
• Molluscs and crustaceans are separate allergens and some people react to one and not the other. Say plainly that this dish contains shellfish.
• The sauce is the point as much as the snails. Reduce it until it clings, and serve enough bread to mop it.

Substitutions

• Cooked shelled whelks from a fishmonger replace live snails and skip the purging and extraction entirely.
• Tinned tomatoes replace fresh out of season.
• Parsley replaces coriander; both are used.
• The wine can be left out with no real loss.
• Rice or boiled cassava replace bread as the accompaniment.
• Octopus or squid can be stewed the same way, with the same long simmer.

Variations

• Bafas, the small fried plates of fish, sausage or offal, are the other Cape Verdean snack served with grogue.
• Cachupa, the slow-cooked maize and bean stew, is Cape Verde’s national dish.
• Polvo guisado, stewed octopus, uses the same base and the same long simmer.
• Caracóis, small snails boiled with herbs, are a Portuguese summer bar snack and a different preparation.
• A version with chouriço added is made in some households.
• Búzios served simply boiled with salt and lemon is the plainest treatment.

Frequently asked questions

What is Buzios guisados?

Buzios guisados is a main from Cape Verde: sea snails stewed with onion, tomato, garlic and a bay leaf.

How long does Buzios guisados take to make?

Buzios guisados takes 30 minutes plus purging of preparation and 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes serves 4. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Buzios guisados?

Yes, within limits. Cooked shelled whelks from a fishmonger replace live snails and skip the purging and extraction entirely. Tinned tomatoes replace fresh out of season. Parsley replaces coriander; both are used. The wine can be left out with no real loss. Rice or boiled cassava replace bread as the accompaniment. Octopus or squid can be stewed the same way, with the same long simmer.

What is the most important thing to get right in Buzios guisados?

Discard any that do not react at all. Discard any with cracked or broken shells. Discard any that smell of anything but clean sea. Do not gather them from unknown or polluted shores.