Snails

Snails. They are the cutest of slimy land/sea creatures. They're also very tasty. I bought some mud snails at H-Mart this week (my local super Asian grocery store here in Fairfax) to experiment with. I had snails for the first time a few weeks ago at the Viet Bistro located in the Eden Center of Falls Church. (If you're reading this and you're from NoVa you HAVE to go there. Everything is delicious... try the lemon grass eel, too!)

So anyhow... I stumbled across a rather large bucket of snails at H-Mart on Sunday... and for $2.99 a pound how could I lose? So I picked up just a few, about 7 or 8 snails. I wanted very much to enjoy a similar dish as to what I had a Viet Bistro, but I couldn't seem to find any similar recipes online. So.... I winged (wang? wung? haha) it. Here's what I came up with today:

7 or 8 snails of good size (mine were labeled "mud snails" & were 3 to 4 inches in shell height)
fresh lemon, cut into wedges
juice of fresh lime
zest of one lime
1 to 2 tbs hoisin sauce
1 tsp sriracha (or other chili paste sauce) (add more or less, whatever you like)
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
2 scallions, sliced thinly
1 japanese cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, and sliced into 1/8 inch pieces
1/4 small onion
1 clove garlic, grated
1/2 to 1 whole tsp fresh grated ginger
pinch or two of sugar
salt/pepper to taste

Set a medium pot of water on the stove, add a couple wedges of lemon (3 to 4 which would about half a lemon, depending on how you cut it) and bring it to a rolling boil. After rinsing the snails (still in their shells) drop 'em in. Boil for about 3 to 3.5 minutes, depending on the size of your snails (larger ones take longer, duh) BUT DON'T OVER DO IT --TOUGH MOLLUSKS ARE YUCKY!

When you're done boiling, drain your snails and set them aside in a clean bowl to cool.

In a glass or other non-reactive bowl, add the zest of one lime, and about half a lime's worth of juice. Add all your other ingredients and mix it up. Taste test, if it's too spicy add a little more hoisin & lime, maybe a tad bit more of sugar. But don't be a sissy. This is South East Asian style, in other words... Some like it hot.

To clean the snails... well this can be a bit messy, I blundered my way into figuring out exactly what to do(I just knew I didn't want to eat the guts, lol) I'd link you to a tutorial with photos but I haven't found one to my liking.

When the snails are cool enough to touch, just grab one by the foot and tug gently until it comes out of the shell. Don't pull too hard, you'll get splattered with snail juice. (and by now you've realized they smell like shellfish and you're already going to be washing your hands with lemons...) Once you have the snail out, you try either pulling the foot off or using a sharp, small knife to cut it off. (I prefer the latter) Slide your knife across the flesh and sorta just feel your way around pulling off some of the mucus membrane. Carefully holding both knife and mollusk, cut off everything that looks like it has guts in it. Slice what you have left lengthwise down the middle, and scrape away anything else that looks icky. What you should have is 2 bite sized whitish pieces of snail. Place all your finished bits in a clean bowl. Before adding to all your other ingredients, rinse your snail meat a few times in cold water.

So that's it. Now, after I made this I changed my mind and decided to let it all stew together in the fridge so the snails could absorb some of the flavors. If you decide to do this as well, I would suggest waiting until serve time to throw in the cilantro & the scallions. They will look fresher, and the cilantro taste will be sharper. I didn't think of this beforehand so my dish won't be as pretty.

Now, if you want to be fancy go ahead and serve this over some cooked rice noodles, maybe in a bowl with a bit of dashi or low sodium chicken broth or seafood/fish stock if you have it on hand. At Viet Bistro, our snails were served warm over a cabbage or lettuce, I don't quite recall. Play around with it, figure out what you like and make it your own.

I'm off to meet the off-spring at the bus stop soon. And to run errands... dream up a new tako sunomono recipes.

Read more about snails and Vietnamese dishes!