Bulots, I don't care how you call it, it is sea escargot pour moi. I have not seen a fruits de mer platter without it. By the way, fruits de mer is an interesting name by itself. It is fruit of the sea or seafood.

I don't really like this fruits de mer platter. It is served cold and I had "reactions" to whatever was in it. The most likely culprit is the bulots because it is pretty slimy to me. To make things even worse, bulots and mayonnaise are perfect match for French but not pour moi. But as an escargot lover, I must have it and the vicious cycle runs again and again. I have been wondering why French always eat this bloody thing cold with mayonnaise . There got to be a better way…I mean the Chinese way.

Well, I got my answer this time in a sort of famous restaurant near Trouville, France. Trouville and Deauville are worthy of some discussions but let's skip it for now. It was after a late afternoon driving from Paris and I was hunting for food. I parked my car and strolled around the canal on the Trouville side. I had been to this place many times but never paid attention to restaurants along the canal walk. Since I was hunting, my senses were kind of sharp and I saw the sign "Les Vapeurs". I somehow remembered from a travel book that this restaurant is the best restaurant for the money around Normandy, i.e., inexpensive and gooooood. Sooo, I rushed to the restaurant door. It was really windy (June in France) and cold that day and I chose to stay inside. OK, I was traveling alone. Otherwise I may choose the outside and hold a warm petit hand, you know what I mean.

My eyes went into the search and destroy mode. I saw this Bulots with butter(not mayonnaise) as appetizer. Well, let’s check it out. That’s the dish you see in this picture. It certainly has white wine in it. After it is cooked, bulots gives out its true seafood flavor and it was good. Well, no wonder this is a famous seafood restaurant and hot bulots is the way to go.

In the next couple of days, I bought uncooked bulots from supermarche (1 Kg for one person). Cook bulots in hot water for 15 minutes, take entrails out and wash bulots “muscle” clean. Prepare a small fry pan with
olive oil and butter and put bulots in. Add a bottle of beer (Taiwan’s beer duck?) and cook until the entire content is 80 % dry. Why 80 %? the soup is good. That’s it. It is nearly the same as the one I had in Les Vapeurs.

The conclusion? Chinese way for French seafood…perfectment!!