How To make Snails Sommeroise / Escargots a La Sommeroise

100 Snails
Vinegar 2 Thyme sprigs
1/2 Bay leaf
1 Basil sprig
1 Pared orange peel
7 oz Pork rind
1/2 c Olive oil
1/2 lb Fatty bacon
6 Shelled walnuts, ground
4 Canned anchovy fillets
3 Garlic cloves
Salt and pepper 3 tb Flour
6 1/2 lb Whole trimmed spinach leaves
Preparation time 3 hours. Cooking time 2 1/2 hours. Starve the snails for at least 8 days, then wash them in several changes of water until clean. Rinse with vinegar, then drain. Place the snails in a saucepan of boiling water with the thyme, bay leaf, basil, orange peel and pork rind. When the snails are almost cooked, drain them and remove them from their shells. [I guess boiling them makes it easier to remove them from their shells.

mkm] Brown the snails in olive oil with the fatty bacon, very finely chopped [I assume the author means chop the bacon first. :

mkm], the ground walnuts, anchovy fillets, crushed garlic and salt and pepper. Thicken the mixture with the flour, then serve on a bed of spinach. [Make sure you wash all the grit off the spinach first. --mkm] Rose, red or white wines: Tavel, Chusclan, Coteaux d'Aix-en-Provence. [From "Larousse Traditional French Cooking."]