Escargots à la Bourguignonne

Author & Photographer: Paige Resnick

I think if any man, woman, or gender nonbinary individual made escargots for me, I would have to marry them immediately. Hitch a flight to Vegas, have the after party in the Paris Hotel (obvi). It is the most soul warming, sigh-inducing dish. Snails are straight up romantic. They belong with candle light and a bottle of Burgundy. They literally come out of the oven bubbling, wafting their garlicky scent into your face. That, mes amis, is sexy. The reason there is no ring on my finger (besides my allegiance to Simone de Beauvoir’s beliefs on marriage) is that everyone seems to think that you have to spend $20 (per order!!!) at a fancy shmancy restaurant in the Loop to eat escargots. To that I would say, n’importe quoi!

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According to Anthony Bourdain--a man who should be trusted on all of life’s matters (and particularly the French ones)--no one, not even restaurants, buys fresh snails. It just takes too damn long to get them out of their shells. So buy them in a can. I know I could be barred from entering the country of France by saying this, but it’s honestly just as good as the fresh kind. Most of the other ingredients you will already have (and if you don’t, please reevaluate your fridge situation), and a can of snails costs $5 at the Whole Foods in Hyde Park. No joke. 

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I don’t typically measure things. I tend to cook by look and taste, so the measurements below are just a benchmark. Some cloves of garlic are pretty weak, some will kick you in the mouth. What I’m trying to say is, ignore the ingredient list and taste your butter. Multiple times. I’m serious. 

Paige’s Kitchen Hack: No one is expecting you to buy a special escargot dish or order snail shells on Amazon (although you totally can if you want to). However, you do need something to contain the butter so it doesn’t run all over the place once it melts, so I found that a standard muffin tin works perfectly.

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The Only Rule You Must Follow: If you don’t buy a fresh baguette to serve with these bad boys, you might as well not even make the dish. You need the bread to sop up all that hot melted garlic herb butter at the end. Wam bam thank you ma’am.

Makes: 24 snails (4 appetizer servings)

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 5 minutes


Ingredients:

  • 1 8oz can large snails 

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

  • 8 garlic cloves, minced

  • 1 large shallot, minced

  • ½ cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

  • 1 tablespoon white wine

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

  • Fresh baguette, for serving


Instructions:

  1. Drain and rinse the snails. Set aside.

  2. In a medium bowl, blend the butter until smooth and creamy, either with a hand mixer or a fork. 

  3. Stir in the garlic, shallot, parsely, and white wine. Add kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste (don’t be shy, this is unsalted butter). Taste your butter. Add ingredients as needed. The butter should be VERY herby and VERY garlicky. The snails don’t have much taste on their own, so they need some help.

  4. In a standard 12 cup muffin tin, fill 8 of the cups with about a tablespoon of the garlic butter. Place three snails in each of the cups on top of the butter. Put a dollop more of butter on top (I know. It’s a lot of butter. You will thank me later).

  5. Transfer to the oven and cook until the butter is fully melted and bubbling raucously, 4 to 6 minutes.

  6. Serve in the muffin tin with a baguette for sopping up the leftover butter. DO NOT TAKE OUT OF THE MUFFIN TIN. The cups hold the butter and are a perfect vehicle for your bread. I served these little friends with scallops provençal and a light french salad. A dinner to cry over. 

  7. Store any leftover butter in the refrigerator and spread it on your toast in the morning. You are welcome.

Melanie WangComment