revulsion until he tasted a few of them from a dish known as "Cazuela de
caracoles" (Snail casserole), now he has different opinion of these little edible
friends.
Four servings: Four pig's trotters cut lengthwise; 50 g chorizo cut into slices; 50
g cured ham, cut into cubes; 50 g bacon, cut into cubes; 2 tbsp flour; 1 big-sized
onion, finely chopped; 6 tbsp of tomato purée; 1 bay leave, some peppercorns,
a few sprigs of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme (it sounds to me like a Celtic
love song to me, I wonder why).
One bag of frozen snails (In previous times, snails had to be collected and
allowed to fast for at least 10 ten days; they then were thoroughly washed
several times with water, salt and vinegar, and put in a casserole with water on
a mild gas fire from where they started to poke their bodies out, and so they
could be cooked to death without their "retreating" back to the shell. Today, we
can spare all this process and use a frozen presentation of the product that has
all the necessary hygienic guaranties).
Pig's trotters management:
In general, pig's trotters in Spain are sold blanched and singed, so what is left to
do for this recipe is to previously boil them for 60 minutes in 1500 cc of water.
They will late be cooked for another 45 minutes in the casserole with the rest of
ingredients. In the first boiling phase skim off the impurities from the water, and
reserve both the water (now a stock) and the trotters.
Snails:
Put the snails in a casserole with cold water (they do not need defrosting) and
add the herbs abovementioned and some salt; start then to cook them on a
medium-to-high fire for 15 minutes until you can notice a dark color in the water,
which is normal; turn off the fire, leave the snails in the casserole for some 5
minutes, sieve them and reserve them.
Preparation: Start to lightly fry the chorizo, the dry-cured ham, and the bacon for
less than 1 minute; add the onion finely chopped and spoon all the ingredients
to get an homogeneous mixture; let the ingredients simmer on a mild fire for a
few minutes, add the flour, stir it all to avoid it sticks to the casserole (add some
of the trotter's stock if necessary). Now you can add the tomato, stir it all again,
and let some simmering for another 15 minutes. After this time you can add the
pig's trotters and a good amount of the stock produced in their cooking to cover
them sufficiently. The time left for the conclusion of this recipe is around 60-75
minutes, although the snails will be added 30-35 minutes before the conclusion
time of the recipe.
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