HELICID^. SNAIL. 243 



soft water, or water from a river ,* when it boils, throw 

 in the snails, and leave them for a quarter of an hour. 

 When you find the snails can easily be picked out of the 

 shell, take them and place them in some tepid water to 

 cleanse them ; then again put them into fresh water, 

 and let them boil for a minute or so, take them out, and 

 let them drain. Put into a saucepan a piece of butter, 

 with a bunch of parsley, chives, a clove of garlic, two 

 cloves, thyme, a bay-leaf, and some mushrooms, then 

 add the snails, being careful that they are well drained. 

 Pass the whole over the fire, adding a little flour mois- 

 tened with broth, a glass of white wine, sale, and pepper, 

 and let it simmer till the snails are quite tender, and 

 till the sauce is nearly dried up in the pan. Serve 

 them up with a sauce made as follows : take the yolks 

 of three eggs, beat them up with some cream, warm 

 it, but do not let it boil, add a little white vinegar or 

 verjuice, with a little nutmeg.* 



Dijon method of cooking Snails. Boil them in water 

 with some thyme ; take them out of their shells ; place 

 in the shells some fresh butter, kneaded with chopped 

 parsley ; replace the animal in its shell, and cover it 

 with some more of the butter, etc. When required for 

 eating, place them on an iron dish, or on one of porce- 

 lain. They are placed side by side, with the mouth of 

 the shell upwards, in little holes in the iron or porcelain 

 dish, which is made for the purpose, and they must 

 be warmed till the butter melts. Thus prepared, snails 

 sell at Dijon from five to ten centimes a piece.f 



Another method of cooking Snails. In the north and 

 east of France, Helix pomatia, or Helices vigneronnes, 

 the vine snails, are boiled in water, and taken out of 



* * La Cuisiniere Bourgeoise*' f Dr. Eururd. 



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