Escargot in the MDR?

[scubacruiserx2]

[sail7seas]

42 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

Not a 'fave' of mine but I am aware  many like all that butter,  not me.  🙂

I don'  t have     butter with lobster, mussels or steam ed clams  either.       In place of that butter,    I'd  rather  have an appetizer size order of bami   gorang when on an HAL ship.   I only buy butter for my house now if I plan on baking. 

Edited October 23, 2019 by sail7seas

[kazu]

HAL tries as best possible to imitate a French recipe.  Most of them include butter when preparing snails/escargots 😉 

 

I’ve been happy with the ones I’ve had so far and hope it will be equally so on my next cruise 😄 

[sail7seas]

8 minutes ago, kazu said:

HAL tries as best possible to imitate a French recipe.  Most of them include butter when preparing snails/escargots 😉 

 

I’ve been happy with the ones I’ve had so far and hope it will be equally so on my next cruise 😄 

If  you like butter  great  enjoy  !

 

I shall attempt to have a small portion of bami gorang.    No Butter  🙂

 

 

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

[rkacruiser]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

YUM!  My cardiologist as well as my primary care doctor has told me more than once:  enjoy what you decide to do when you travel.  

[AncientWanderer]

Speaking of butter, the butter served this month in the Oosterdam MDR for dinner was beaten to within an inch of its useful life.  Light as a feather and no flavor.  This was good news to me, as my big "concession" on cruises is that I forego the butter with my dinner rolls.  Hard to do, as their butter has customarily been extraordinarily delicious.

 

Now, as for the butter in the escargot...for that I take the bread and my fork and get every last drop out of each compartment.  C'est la vie.

[sail7seas]

I get lots of pleasure  reading what others enjoy on their cruises.  Chocolate is one of my major treats.  🙂

 

 

That and ice cream.

 

 

 

sail.noordam@gmail.com

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2019 by sail7seas

[rkacruiser]

34 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

 

Now, as for the butter in the escargot...for that I take the bread and my fork and get every last drop out of each compartment.  C'est la vie.

 

ABSOLUTELY!

[addicted cruiser]

Does anyone know if they still serve lobster in the main dining room on the Veendam.

[slidergirl]

Cheese with escargot???  Really???  I have never had cheese with escargot anywhere I've had them.  Even recipes online do not use cheese.   Maybe they add parmesan to make those little snails more palatable to those trying something other than meat and potatoes.   It sounded to me like they took the recipe for some baked oysters and ported it to the snails.  To me, that would be like adding parmesan to the broth of mussels - sacrilege!! 

[AncientWanderer]

3 hours ago, slidergirl said:

Cheese with escargot???  Really???  I have never had cheese with escargot anywhere I've had them.  Even recipes online do not use cheese.   Maybe they add parmesan to make those little snails more palatable to those trying something other than meat and potatoes.   It sounded to me like they took the recipe for some baked oysters and ported it to the snails.  To me, that would be like adding parmesan to the broth of mussels - sacrilege!! 

 

It's good, Slidergirl; although I hate to recommend because you might not get the "classic" recipe and be disappointed.  They do them differently in other places, most notably Rudi's Sel de Mer, where they are served in their shells and I think with a bit of wine.  I've had them on other cruise lines, too, and HAL's MDR are, to me, the most delectable.  Think along the lines of in the old days when abalone was available.  We used to dive for it and prepare it with lots of butter and a light parmesan breading.  It was melt-in-your-mouth.  That's what I'd liken the escargot to.

[ghstudio]

22 hours ago, addicted cruiser said:

Does anyone know if they still serve lobster in the main dining room on the Veendam.

Yes, they served surf and turf on the veendam on the last "dress nicely" night last week.  You could order two lobster tails if you wanted.  They were actually reasonable size tails and not too overcooked.

[scubacruiserx2]

 

You may enjoy this lunch that we had in Puerto Montt

 

 

Lunch for 2

 

 

Abalone ,  Giant Barnacles , Clams , Oysters and 3 kinds of King Crab !

 

 

[slidergirl]

1 hour ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

It's good, Slidergirl; although I hate to recommend because you might not get the "classic" recipe and be disappointed.  They do them differently in other places, most notably Rudi's Sel de Mer, where they are served in their shells and I think with a bit of wine.  I've had them on other cruise lines, too, and HAL's MDR are, to me, the most delectable.  Think along the lines of in the old days when abalone was available.  We used to dive for it and prepare it with lots of butter and a light parmesan breading.  It was melt-in-your-mouth.  That's what I'd liken the escargot to.

 

I've had my snails 2 ways - put back in the shell and in the baking dish, but always only with butter and garlic, over the past 30 years or so.  When I lived in Southern California back in the day, we'd hit up a local Mexican restaurant for fresh abalone  again so totally simple, with butter.  I loved abalone.  Too bad it was over"fished" - I know you don't fish abalone, but that's the best way I have to describe it.  

I like my seafood and shellfish as pristine as possible.  If it is from a reputable provider, I'll eat raw/rare.  If it is going to be cooked, simple steaming in beer or wine (my mussels and clams), fried (oysters & clams), baked (oysters & clams), or grilled with minimal fuss - maybe butter.   Seafood to me is best just a simple grilled.  What can I say - I'm a simple person.  

[grest]

another menu item:  is beef wellington ever on the menu?

 

[AncientWanderer]

1 hour ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 

You may enjoy this lunch that we had in Puerto Montt

 

 

Lunch for 2

 

 

Abalone ,  Giant Barnacles , Clams , Oysters and 3 kinds of King Crab !

 

 

 

Oh my...that looks wonderful.  It must have all been just delicious -- pulled from those clean waters down there.  

[scubacruiserx2]

33 minutes ago, AncientWanderer said:

 

Oh my...that looks wonderful.  It must have all been just delicious -- pulled from those clean waters down there.  

 

It was excellent . There was melted cheese on one of the crab dishes and the clams .

[ghstudio]

13 hours ago, grest said:

another menu item:  is beef wellington ever on the menu?

 

Yes, we also had  beef wellington in the MDR on the Veendam last week.

[grest]

27 minutes ago, ghstudio said:

Yes, we also had  beef wellington in the MDR on the Veendam last week.

Yay!   Thank you.

[3rdGenCunarder]

16 hours ago, slidergirl said:

 

I've had my snails 2 ways - put back in the shell and in the baking dish, but always only with butter and garlic, over the past 30 years or so.  When I lived in Southern California back in the day, we'd hit up a local Mexican restaurant for fresh abalone  again so totally simple, with butter.  I loved abalone.  Too bad it was over"fished" - I know you don't fish abalone, but that's the best way I have to describe it.  

I like my seafood and shellfish as pristine as possible.  If it is from a reputable provider, I'll eat raw/rare.  If it is going to be cooked, simple steaming in beer or wine (my mussels and clams), fried (oysters & clams), baked (oysters & clams), or grilled with minimal fuss - maybe butter.   Seafood to me is best just a simple grilled.  What can I say - I'm a simple person.  

 

Actually, I think "overfished" is an accepted term, even for species that aren't fish. 

 

I don't like snails, just give me the butter and garlic on bread! A woman I worked with told me about how she was pleased with herself by serving escargots for a fancy dinner she did for some of her husband's clients. She served the snails in the shells, and after she removed those dishes, she just dumped them into soapy water to soak. When she cleaned up at the end of the night, she found lots of the snails floating in the water! Apparently, some guests who didn't like escargots just pushed them farther down into the shell to hide the fact that they hadn't eaten them. 

 

Edited October 25, 2019 by 3rdGenCunarder

[sail7seas]

On 10/24/2019 at 6:01 PM, ghstudio said:

Yes, they served surf and turf on the veendam on the last "dress nicely" night last week.  You could order two lobster tails if you wanted.  They were actually reasonable size tails and not too overcooked.

 

 

Were they dripping butter ?

 

[AtlantaCruiser72]

I had them on the 7/28-8/12 14 Day Amsterdam sailing this summer - seem to remember them being available only on 1 or 2 of the Gala nights.

 

There have been ongoing shortages in recent years - I believe the main farming for snails is in Indonesia and something has caused this - can't remember if it was a weather event, or some sort of disease that was killing them off, or other environmental factors, but it definitely has been a real issue and is ongoing.  I've read numerous reports of some cruise lines using very small Scallops instead.

 

As to preparation (in the MDR) many lines are using a butter flavored oil base rather than real butter due to the ability to prep/store more easily and reduce waste - they can prep a huge batch in bulk and keep frozen/refrigerated until needed then pop under the broiler.  Using real butter would not allow that.  Everything is about food cost and eliminating waste these days with all the cruise lines

Edited October 25, 2019 by AtlantaCruiser72

[AncientWanderer]

59 minutes ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

I had them on the 7/28-8/12 14 Day Amsterdam sailing this summer - seem to remember them being available only on 1 or 2 of the Gala nights.

 

There have been ongoing shortages in recent years - I believe the main farming for snails is in Indonesia and something has caused this - can't remember if it was a weather event, or some sort of disease that was killing them off, or other environmental factors, but it definitely has been a real issue and is ongoing.  I've read numerous reports of some cruise lines using very small Scallops instead.

 

As to preparation (in the MDR) many lines are using a butter flavored oil base rather than real butter due to the ability to prep/store more easily and reduce waste - they can prep a huge batch in bulk and keep frozen/refrigerated until needed then pop under the broiler.  Using real butter would not allow that.  Everything is about food cost and eliminating waste these days with all the cruise lines

 

Very informative.  We did indeed have the scallops as a substitute this summer on the Amsterdam; and we did detect an oil base sauce this month on Oosterdam....hence this thread.  

 

Nothing is so sure in life as change.  We'll adjust our expectations.  Thanks, AtlantaCruiser72, for chiming in.

 

 

[sail7seas]

 Has any one  seen dover sole back on HAL menus?  I MIss  that  very delicious fish

[AncientWanderer]

2 hours ago, sail7seas said:

 Has any one  seen dover sole back on HAL menus?  I MIss  that  very delicious fish

 

Yes, it has been.  It's one of my favorites, too.  It does still appear in MDR.  I enjoyed it on the Amsterdam this summer.

You probably know that it is also on Rudi's Sel de Mer menu.  The first time I ordered it, it was just perfect.  Then I had a couple of misses on my next two tries on different ships.  It's wonderful when cooked correctly and I'll order it again.