Name: Escargots in Potato Cups with Black Truffles and Toasted Pistachios
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: ½ cup blanched, shocked, and squeezed dry garlic chive stems, woody ends removed, or a mixture of 2 parts chives, 2 parts parsley, and 1 part tarragon and thyme leaves; Salt and black pepper; 4 cups veal stock, or 2 cups demi-glace (see Note); 20 baby potatoes such as German butterball, about 1 inch in diameter, two ends sliced off, one end hollowed out to form a cup, blanched in boiling, heavily salted water until tender; 1 black truffle, chopped, plus any juices it comes with; ⅓ cup Madeira wine; ¼ cup black-truffle butter, softened; About ½ cup neutral-flavored vegetable oil; 20 escargots, rinsed, blanched for 1 minute in boiling salted water; 20 garlic chive stems, blanched and shocked, or raw fresh chives, cut into 1-inch lengths; A few grinds of black pepper; 1 tablespoon black-truffle butter (see Note); Scant ¼ cup toasted shelled pistachios, finely chopped; ½ teaspoon salt

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Cooking without Borders

By Anita Lo

Published 2011

About

Snails are prized as food around the world. All over Europe, from Greek kholi to Spanish caracoles to the well-known French escargots, they are an ordinary protein source. In Africa, some of the largest edible snails are grown. The ancient Romans considered them food fit for the upper classes, and snail shells have even been found on archaeological digs in Texas, proof that the consumption of snails dates to prehistoric times. So how did the diminutive gastropod become so wide