Snails in White Wine

Preparation:

Preparation: Heat the oil in a saucepan and brown the chopped shallot and garlic over moderate heat for 3-4 minutes. Add the bouquet garni, the snails and the necessary salt and cook all together for a few seconds, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. Pour in the white wine and the chicken broth and cook over very gentle heat for about three hours. Five minutes before the end, add the slice of bread, softened in the Marc de Bourgogne, squeezed and reduced to crumbs. Finally, remove the preparation from the heat and let it cool. Remember that if you use preserved snails, you must reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes and halve the quantity of white wine and broth. Insert half a teaspoon of the snail cooking juices and a mollusc into each shell. Mix the butter, the chopped shallot and garlic, the mixed herbs, the necessary salt and a grind of pepper in a bowl, until you obtain a homogeneous mixture. Put a little flavored butter in each shell, distribute them on eight special plates and put them in the hot oven (200-220 degrees) for 10 minutes, then serve. --- ADVICE. If you have snails available that have not been cleaned and purged, you must carry out these treatments yourself before preparing them. First, leave the snails still alive for three days in a closed but ventilated basket. After the indicated time, wash them several times under running water, brushing them carefully, then cook them in a pot of boiling water for 15 minutes. At the end, drain the snails, extract them from the shell using the special tool and remove the head and dark back. Rub the pulp with coarse salt, then wash it with water and vinegar: repeat the two operations several times, in order to completely eliminate all traces of mucus.