They Come in Cans
Hello Foodie Friends, Last week I came across an on-line chef/cook who was doing a take off on the classic French ‘Escargots Bourguignonne’ but instead of using snails he was using Maine lobster meat. While as creative and exotic as this seemed to me at first I thought that the delicate sweet flavor of lobster would be overwhelmed by being drowned in garlic butter. The second thing I thought was about the first time I’d ever experienced snails. It was the summer of 1968..I was on summer break from college and lied my way into working at what was, at the time, one of the hottest restaurants on the East Side of Manhattan…Maxwell’s Plum. Owned by movie producer Werner LeRoy, it was a theatrical tour de force. The restaurant was divided into two areas. A more casual perimeter of tables known as the Café and then in the rear, an elevated dining room covered in a real Tiffany glass ceiling that had a separate French oriented menu. As I said, I had lied my way into getting hired as a Captain and my main responsibilities were making steak tartare and Caesar salad tableside. (I have a great story about my steak tartare competition with my French GM and the derivation of the name for my French 75 in Laguna to be shared on another post). I was one of only two Americans working at the restaurant… the other guy Jimmy was a slightly older, wily, and experienced kid from Jersey who had a certain American charm that worked on all the ladies. Anyway, one day on our lunch break he said to me, half-laughing, “ I don’t understand what the fascination is with escargots….everybody knows they come in cans.” I remember him grinning sarcastically as he said this to me still like it was yesterday and have had several musings about it over the years, right up to the time I grudgingly decided to add them to the menu at my French 75 in Laguna. I used to remember how everyone DID talk about escargots like they were this ancient French delicacy…meanwhile, the vast majority DID come out of a can like a fancy Chef Boyardee product with a passport and a superiority complex. I thought about French chef’s foraging snails at dawn in misty vineyards only to hear a POP…Oh yeah…that’s the can opening. Anyway, back to French 75. When I originally opened I did not have escargots on the menu for the aforementioned reasons. However, persistent guests continue to cause me sleepless nights with their relentless onslaught of comments about how can you call yourself a French bistro and not have Escargots on the menu? Undeterred, I did some digging and to my wonderful surprise discovered that, as an alternative to these canned, lazy-ass moving slugs, there were actually basil fed snails that had an exclusive diet of fresh basil infusing them with a distinct, aromatic and herbaceous flavor…’Quelle surprise!’ Not only that, but they were not canned, rather they were cryovaced and refrigerated to preserve their freshness and flavor…I then knew I had made my peace with the strange world of mollusks and that they would be finding a home on my menu. Back to the lobster….I liked the idea of tweaking the classic Escargots dish so was off to buy some but when I arrived at the seafood counter I found a rare item instead….East Coast Bay Scallops. These tiny nuggets were very popular when I lived in Boston for 3 years after college but it is a rarity to see them in California so I decided to give them a try instead of lobster. I dug out the one baking dish I had, napped each insert with a little white wine, then a few of the tiny scallops, topped it with a savory paprika tinged garlic butter and lastly, small little circles of puff pastry. Brushed them with a little egg wash and popped them into a hot oven. 15 minutes later out they came and after letting them cool just a bit I dug in….they were delicious. The nutty flavor of the scallops still came through the garlic butter and the little puff pastry berets were not only f’ing cute but a added a nice textural contrast. You’re welcome… David with Tino’s edits
