Monsieur Olmo’s Snails in Tomato and Garlic Sauce

M. Olmo is a master-builder who specializes in traditional roof-tiling, he is also a mustard-keen forager and cook. For this dish, he collects the snails himself, after it rains, and he gets them ready to eat in a very specific way, as described earlier. He cooks them in a rich tomato, ham and garlic sauce. The ham he uses is from the knuckle end of a jambon sec or jambon cru – literally dried ham, it is an uncooked country ham from Lacaune,