Miammmmm ! I love (eating) snails.
In Spain, there are also different regional receipts for cooking snails, two of the best are the catalonian 'cargols a la llauna' and 'cargols amb conell' (sorry if I don't spell it the right way in catalá) :
I don't know the receipt (I am more an 'eater' than a 'cooker') but I will describe them as best as possible :
'Cargols amb Conell' = Snails with Rabit
You find the snails beside Rabit pieces, cooked inside a stew done with fresh tomatoes, garlic, persil, thyme, olive oil ... miammm : Superbe !
'Cargols a la LLauna' = Snails on the tinnplate
Snail (eating) lovers will nowhere find a more natural way for enjoying snails (unless there are people somwhere eating raw snails
) :
The snails are just 'sitting' on the salt layer covering the tinn-plate. The fire - where the tinn-plate is set upon makes the rest... you take the snails one by one, chunk them into one of several spicy sauces (ali-oli, romanescu, etc ...) and enjoy.
The snails used for this, should come from dry regions, that means, they should not have eaten green grass for example, as they are not purged nor taken out of their 'house' and they would taste bitter otherwise.
If you ever go to the northern mediterranean coast of spain : ask for cargols!
Bon apetit !
Peter