I’ve read through dozens of old cookbooks from the 1800s and snails have only been mentioned in one of them. They have never been popular in the United States; and especially not during this time period.

The information below is from:

The Hand-Book of Practical Cookery
For Ladies and Professional Cooks
by Pierre Blot , New York, 1884

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SNAILS: A good many are now imported from Europe.

CLEAN AND PREPARE SNAILS
Throw them in boiling water, in which you have put some wood-ashes. Leave them in till they have thrown their cover wide open, which will take about fifteen minutes. Then take them off, pull them out of the shell by means of a fork, place them in lukewarm water, and leave two hours. Next, rub them in your hands, and then soak in cold water. Rub them again in your hands in cold water two or three times, changing the water each time, so as to take away most of their sliminess. Wash the shells in lukewarm water with a scrubbing-brush, and drain them when clean. Just salt the snails to taste, and eat them as they are, warm or cold.

SNAIL BROTH
Clean and prepare twenty-five snails as directed previously. Put them in a saucepan with a carrot, an onion, and a head of lettuce, all chopped, a small handful of chervil, a few leaves of sorrel, and a little salt. Cover the whole with three pints of cold water. Boil slowly for about three hours, strain the broth, add a little butter to it, and it is ready for use.

A tumblerful of this broth, taken warm before retiring, is certainly the best thing for a consumptive person.

It is also excellent for a cough.

BROILED SNAILS
For two dozen snails, knead together and make a paste of a sufficient quantity of butter, parsley chopped fine, salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg, about two ounces of butter, a tablespoon of parsley, a saltspoon of salt, a pinch of pepper, and the same of nutmeg.

Put a piece of the above paste, the size of a kidney bean, in each shell, then the snails, and at the top again the same quantity of paste. Lay them one by one close together in a crockery or cast-iron kettle, the mouth of the snails up, and not one upon another.

Cover the kettle well, set it on a moderate fire or in a moderately heated oven, and leave thus till cooked, which is easily seen by the parsley beginning to turn black, or as if fried. Lay them on a dish in the same order, and if there is any gravy in the kettle, put a part of it in each shell, and serve hot.

They can be broiled on a gridiron, but they are not as good as in a kettle; some of the juice is lost, and also the flavor.

In eating them, be careful after having taken off the snail and eaten it, to turn down the shell, for there is some juice in the bottom of it which is delicious. The best way is to drink it as if from the bottom of a glass.

STEWED SNAILS
Put in a stew-pan four ounces of butter for fifty snails, and set it on a good fire. When melted, sprinkle in it a teaspoon of flour, stirring a while. Then add a teaspoon of parsley chopped fine, two sprigs of thyme, a bay-leaf, a pint of white wine, and then the snails. Cover the whole with warm broth, boil gently till the sauce is reduced and the snails are cooked. Serve them mouth upward, and filled with the sauce.

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Have You Ever Eaten Snails? Leave a Comment Below.

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