Text 15535, 64 rader
Skriven 2007-05-16 23:01:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av DAVE DRUM
Ärende: Picnic stuff 516
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 DD> Well, they're not as big as the Dungeness guys we had in Seattle -
 DD> but,  wot the 'ell - they got to be better than Snow Crab legs down the
 DD> Dead  Lobster. I'll go for it.

Size ain't everything. Maryland blues are reputed to have the
most delicate, silky, delicious meat of all crabs. If you
merely require better than the Dead Lobster, there are any
number of places you can go without springing for Chesapeakes.

 DD> I don't suppose anyone runs to an AYCE crab bar or anything? No. I 
 DD> didn't think so.

For 30 bucks or so you can get two hours' worth of cracking
smalls - much more a social than a culinary activity! Some
places used to have separate AYCE and non-AYCE areas, too,
to complicate things, but I'm not sure that they do that
any more.

 -=> Dave Drum said to Manny Rothstein <=-

 MR>Really. Thats news to me. I thought that French snails were
 MR>introduced to California in the 1800s as a food source by a
 MR>Frenchman. You may be happy to know that they have thrived and are
 MR>considered pests throughout the state. I guess that in addition to
 MR>nutria, another thing that Americans wont eat are snails. Even when
 MR>they are free for the taking.

The French adhere to a pretty strict preparation, which
involves purging the snails with either grain or lettuce,
so their digestive tracts are rid of any unpleasant flora
that could be untasty or maleficent to human diners. Then
the snails are parcooked, removed from their shells, and
the heads and anal areas removed. Then they are recooked
in whatever the diners require - garlic butter in vast
quantity is a popular sauce. I would bet that Americans
in general would not have the patience for this procedure.

 DD> The problem is finding snails that are big enough. Takes too many of
 DD> them little dudes. Slugs of a decent size are a lot more common - if 
 DD> not anywhere near as tasty.

I don't know what unprepared edible snails taste like.
I was wondering whether slugs, if appropriately purged,
might be edible. I once went to the Eugene Slugfest, where
I was saddened to see that there were no slug dishes
available for sampling, though people kept talking about
them. A quote from a 19th-century text:

 We do not find many instances of slugs being generally eaten,
 unless as a remedy for lung diseases; but I fail to see why, 
 seeing how nearly they are allied to snails, they should be 
 so generally neglected. I have known two gardeners who were 
 in the constant habit of picking up and swallowing any small
 grey slugs they happened to see. One gave as his reason for 
 so doing, that he thought his chest was weak; the other, that 
 he liked them: both honest enough reasons. The poor might 
 make most nutritious soup and palatable dishes from the 
 common varieties of slug, which, left to themselves, do so 
 much damage to farm and garden crops.

Vincent M. Holst, Why not eat insects (1885) quoted in
http://www.foodreference.com/html/artinsects9.html
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