Cook them slowly in garlic butter on a gentle heat for about 4 - 5 minutes. Take them off the heat and leave them to settle for about a minutes. Then carefully take them and place them in the bin and stick some toast under the grill as snails taste bloody horrible!
Exactly the same method as cooking a Canada Goose. Place in a large sturdy saucepan with 2 pints of water and a house brick. Boil untill dry, bin the snails/goose, then eat the brick. Not only will it be more tender, it will also taste better.
Tartanwizard I'm sure the frech feed them something special to clear anything unp[easant inside them. If you ever go across to France you can buy them ready to cook at most of the Hypermarch�s plus the special tongs to hold them in, the two pronged fork and the shaped dish. They used be sold tinned at my local deli buts that closed down. Try this for ideas/tips http://escargot.free.fr/eng/cooking.htm
- Bon Apetit!!
After the acquisition of your snails 3 to 4 days prior to cooking your escargot, they must be "cleaned". Place the snails in a white wood container with some corn meal, along with some fresh green parsley along with a little dill weed. Three or four days of this controlled and "clean" diet will solve the "off-taste" problems. The URL escargot.free.fr/eng/cooking.htm has some great recipes, but their suggested method of "cleaning" the snails is too much work for me.