Snail meat has an exotic appeal that will enliven any dinner party. Snail by nature is very rubbery, but with proper cooking, you can turn it into a delicate dish that melts in your mouth. Apple snails are some of the largest snails in the world, and one of the leading snails used in cooking. Properly cooking apple snails is a long process that will take anywhere from four to seven hours from start to finish.
Preparing Snail Meat
Scrape the snail foot meat out from the bottom of the shell. The foot meat is the edible part of the snail and it will come out of the snail shell first.
Cut away any of the pulpy flesh that is above the removed foot meat.
Rinse the foot meat and place it in a medium bowl.
Court Bullion
Add 3 cups of water and 3 tbsp. of white wine to a small saucepan.
Heat the saucepan over high heat until it comes to a boil.
Chop up a small stalk of celery, one carrot, and one medium onion. Add the vegetables into a large skillet along with one bay leaf, three sprigs of coriander, one sprig of thyme and salt and pepper to taste.
Add the contents of the small saucepan to the skillet.
Heat the skillet over low heat for 15 minutes and strain all of the solids out, leaving only the liquid.
Cook Snail Meat
Fill a large saucepan with water and heat it over high heat until the water comes to a boil.
Submerge the snail meat in the boiling water for two minutes and drain the water.
Add the snails to the liquid that was left over from the court bullion and simmer until the snails are tender. This should take anywhere from three to five hours.