Actually had escargot once in Wisconsin when I was up there considering the Catholic clergy. That went pretty well. I became fond of a couple girls in the parish, one being the girl all the guys fell in love with, including the guys considering the priesthood. Not so much that they necessarily gave up their clerical aspirations, though I think it did for those not called to the life of celibacy. Now that I am considering Eastern Orthodoxy, which has married clergy, that's not a problem. Except I do not want to be a priest. Maybe a deacon or something of the lower clergy, but I don't feel I have the capabilities to be a priest--it's a lot of devotion, and a great duty. In any case one of the priests up in Wisconsin and I were taken to a nice restaurant by the rich patron of the parish who pretty much helped with the beautiful restoration, shown here for all my self-proclaimed sophisticated readers who love the church art I am sure:
In any case we had escargot a la bourguignonne, which I remember to have liked. Actually, from what I remember there did not seem to be much of a taste, other than the butter, which perhaps masked the underlying flavour of the actual snails. Which is what my problem was with my recipe last night. I had no shells, so escargot a la bourguignonne was out of the question. So I cooked them with some sausage in a spicy red sauce, my own concoction. And I am afraid I did not like the escargot.
They were small snails, from Burgundy, as opposed to the large ones. They had a rather fishy taste, which is something I always found hard as a Catholic on Fridays. Technically I am still a Catholic, but I am strongly considering Orthodoxy, so it's a bit of confusing time. Of course I usually just ate vegetables. I hate the fishy taste. It makes me gag, a reflex. I think part of it is genetic, and part of it that I never grew up eating fish. I was pick. My diet was mostly McDonald's chicken nuggets with the skin pilled off, and biscuits and gravy. In any case the taste of the snails was musky and fishy. So I ask my more cultured readers: Are large escargots less musky or fishy? And does the escargot a la bourguignonne recipe allow that to be drowned out by the butter? The escargot a la bourguignonne seems really good with a glass of wine. But without the butter, at least the small ones, seem way too fishy for my uncultured tongue. Almost like anchovies. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. It would really be nice to enjoy this wine lover's delight.
In any case, I have not had much to write about of late. I might start doing to recipes to make up for the lack of material. I am making goose for Christmas. Not sure exactly how I am going to do it though--Port and plums are involved. I guess the recipe will come after Christmas--so much for the Christmas goose.
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