French cuisine = uninteresting? 0.o

[PrincessFiona60]

Escargot are often cooked in tons of butter and garlic. Pretty much anything would taste good cooked like that-maybe even cauliflower.

Nope, you can't make me eat cauliflower.

 

[buckytom]

I wonder how I came by such traditions. My parents and sister always ate their salads first, while I pushed mine off to the side until last I even ordered it last when eating out, preferring bread before my meals.

we are bread freaks!

i wonder to what extent our opinions of restaurants were formed based on the very first thing served, bread and butter (or olive oil).

 

[pacanis]

Hey now... don't hate on the cauliflower

I think eating snails is a texture thing, because like said, they are usually drowned in a garlic sauce. They remind me of clams, slightly chewy. You either like the texture or you don't. And it's good to keep in practice with that spring loaded snail grabber thing

 

[Robo410]

the best of French cuisine is the same as the best of any cuisine: simple local fresh ingredients cooked perfectly. French omelet, Italian fritatta both egg dishes, both delicious, each quite different from the other. (and I'm not talking about those flat browned things made by "chefs" at buffets) the differnce besides the method, might be in the butter and the herb...tarragon for French and basil for Italian. et voila

 

[ChefJune]

Snails are a great pizza ingredient. Put them on top of the cheese so they get a bit crispy.

How could that be bad?

 

[CWS4322]

I am in the "I love escargot" camp as well. Some of the best escargot I've ever eaten was in restaurants in Montreal. I've had them prepared many different ways, but butter, garlic, parsley is still my favorite. At one time, there was an "escargot" bar in downtown Montreal. I seem to recall there were 33 different escargot options on the menu...one of my other favorites is Escargot Provencal which is a tomato-based sauce.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

we are bread freaks!

i wonder to what extent our opinions of restaurants were formed based on the very first thing served, bread and butter (or olive oil).

When I was a kid, any restaurant that had saltines and butter on the table when we sat down was "Top Shelf." Cracker and butter sandwiches were the best appetizer.

 

[pacanis]

The first place I ate escargot was in Montreal as a kid.

 

[PrincessFiona60]

The first place I ate escargot was in Montreal as a kid.

Mine was on my 21st Birthday, in Laramie, WY. The Chefskeller. They were okay, I was waiting for my rib eye steak and was totally freaked when my date poured catsup on his.

Shrek and I were an item shortly after, he likes salt and pepper on his rib eyes.

 

[ChefJune]

Mine was in Milwaukee, WI in 1969, in a restaurant (no longer there) called "Beneath the Sea." A bunch of us went there for drinks and snacks after a community board meeting, and my boss ordered a double order of snails. They arrived all garlicy and steaming in a pile with small fish forks to spear them. Can still see that platter as I write this. Soooooo good.!

 

[Steve Kroll]

Nothing wrong with snails at all. I love them. Though if you took away all that garlic and butter, I sometimes wonder what you'd be left with.

Do you ever wonder who the first person was to look at a snail and think, "Hmmm... I wonder how THAT tastes?"

 

[pacanis]

Nothing wrong with snails at all. I love them. Though if you took away all that garlic and butter, I sometimes wonder what you'd be left with.

Do you ever wonder who the first person was to look at a snail and think, "Hmmm... I wonder how THAT tastes?"

I'm convinced it was the same person to see something roll out of a chicken's butt and eat it.

 

[CharlieD]

Exactly my point, cannot argue about taste.

 

[GLC]

we are bread freaks!

i wonder to what extent our opinions of restaurants were formed based on the very first thing served, bread and butter (or olive oil).

Not quite the bread you have in mind, but it occupies the same place in the serving sequence. I find I can predict the quality of a Tex-Mex restaurant by the quality of the tortilla chips and salsa that's the first thing to hit the table after you sit down. Best chips are made in-house and fried in-house, although tortillas bought from a good tortillaria and fried in-house can be as good. They should be hot, thin and very crisp but not brittle. Cold chips bought already fried in giant bags of some food service brand is not an auspicious sign. (No complimentary chips at all is the kiss of death.) I'll forgive some later sins if the chips and salsa are both good and local. One of the best I know of drops an array of six different house salsas on the table.

As for bread, a good, traditional corn tortilla later is a very good sign, too.

 

[TATTRAT]

Nothing wrong with snails at all. I love them. Though if you took away all that garlic and butter, I sometimes wonder what you'd be left with.

Do you ever wonder who the first person was to look at a snail and think, "Hmmm... I wonder how THAT tastes?"

or Oysters. . .good lord, one would have to be pretty darn hungry.

 

[Timothy]

or Oysters. . .good lord, one would have to be pretty darn hungry.

Or an Artichoke! man, how did the very first person eat one of those?

 

[TATTRAT]

Or an Artichoke! man, how did the very first person eat one of those?

That is one hell of a flower! BUT, I think far easier on the senses than looking at a gnarled funky shell, cracking it open and seeing that thing in there. . .then putting it in your mouth :shivers:

But, back with the French, even some of the best oysters I have had are done a la Mignonette. SOOOOOOOOgoood!

 

[no mayonnaise]

I've made escargot a million times but I've never once had it with the traditional butter/garlic/parsley. I mostly do cream-based sauces, and escargot is so excellent with mushrooms.
Ever deep-fry escargot and serve it like calamari? Nom!

One of these days I'll try it the traditional way but it seems so boring.

 

[Timothy]

Sauces and gravies...what's not to love?

 

[Silversage]

Escargot & wild mushrooms in a true bordelaise (with the marrow) served in puff pastry shells.