Escargots, Oysters and Pekasam

Fine dining or ..?

Escargots
Escargots in French cuisine is a dish of cooked snails and usually served as an appetizer. The snails are prepared by first putting them through some days of fasting to clean the contents of their digestive system. Do you know that farm-raised snails are typically fed a diet of ground cereals? Sounds decent enough to me. .

Typically, the snails are removed from their shells, gutted, cooked (usually with garlic butter), and then poured back into the shells together with the butter and sauce for serving. Special snail tongs (for holding the shell) and snail forks (for extracting the meat) are also normally provided.

So that is escargots (or snails if you dont care much for them) for you. Me? There's nothing to shout about when it comes to escargots. A friend almost gagged when urged to take the escargot..

Oysters
Oysters can be eaten raw, smoked, boiled, baked, fried, roasted, stewed, canned, pickled, steamed, or broiled (grilled). They should be consumed when fresh as their taste reflects their age. The texture is soft and fleshy, but crisp to the tooth when taken raw. In the States, oysters are most often cooked before consumption, but are nearly always eaten raw in France.

Oysters are sometimes cited as an aphrodisiac. I personally think this is a myth to give allure to it. And I prefer my oysters raw with a dash of lemon. Another friend retched after a serving of raw oysters..

Pekasam
Unfortunately unlike escargots and oysters the wikipedia has no entry on pekasam. What a shame.

Pekasam is actually fresh water fish fermented with beras, salt and asam gelugur. To cook it, fry the fish in oil then add sliced onions and chillies. Serve with hot rice. I prefer my pekasam with nasi ulam, though.

Pekasam is definitely a distinctive northern local cuisine. And you just either love it or hate it.

Escargots and raw oysters and pekasam are definitely tastes that need to be acquired. Yet another acquaintance made a funny face when mentioned pekasam. I doubt that would be the response when escargots or oysters are mentioned. What a great shame..

I dont know about escargots or oysters, but pekasam is definitely not fine dining. It's something that you enjoy with mak when balik kampung over a long and winding lunch sambil melayan sembang mak on her childhood, life during Japanese occupation, your brothers & sisters and other things that she wants to talk about. Sedih pulak. Must get home for lunch over pekasam with mum..

*****