Comments on: Scungilli

By: Gdaiva

Gdaiva — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 22:45:29 +0000

Those scungilli, whelk,conch or some other Latin names, I simply call sea snails. I pick them on the ocean beach in Alaska when the tide is going out, usually,when the tides are bigger. They are not too abundant in bigger size, but still its worth the effort, because they are so delicious. I clean them in a very similar way as you do, except I boil them for about 3 minutes for smaller or 5 min for bigger(mine are not as big as yours, smaller ones about 5 inches, bigger-7 inches, there still are some smaller ones on the beach, about 2-3 inch, but I don’t pick them, so they can grow). And after they cleaned I cook them right away or freeze them.

Really love them in white wine and cream sauce.

I think they become tough if you cook them longer, I treat them just like clams.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdaiva/5892142928/

By: hollychase

hollychase — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 01:04:28 +0000

We really hope that your father did purge the snails before they made it into the marinara! But whether or not he did– your family obviously survived to eat and cook another day! We hope other readers weigh in on this topic of cooking and serving channeled whelks in their shells.

By: Jamie

Jamie — Sun, 31 Jul 2011 00:55:02 +0000

Hi Hollychase,

Thanks for the response. I just looked up the other snails you mentioned and I am sure they were whelks. They were bigger then our hands, some even bigger then my father’s. My father wasn’t the kind of man that sat neatly at the table and ate these things. My mother would give up the kitchen when he came home with them (because he took over the whole kitchen). We would be up to our elbows in sauce and snails and whatever else he put in the pot. Maybe he purged them, the way you mentioned at the end….
Jamie

By: hollychase

hollychase — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:59:55 +0000

We think that you may have enjoyed much smaller snails like periwinkles or moon-snails in the manner you describe, but not large whelks.

Memory can be a funny thing, Jamie…

The scungilli (channeled whelks) we discuss in this post weigh about 8oz. each (in their shells). Not only would a single snail that big have been very awkward to eat at the table, but your dad certainly would not have wanted to cook the whelks without first discarding their rather large and unappetizing digestive tracts!

Though your family called your dad’s snail dish “scungilli,” as we’ve noted many times on this blog, Italians have highly localized terms for food. What were scungilli in one household might simply have been “lumache” (snails) in another.

While it would be almost impossible to trim tiny land snails (the classic escargot) and smaller sea snails the way we dissected the large whelks, mollusks do benefit by a period of purging before they are to be cooked. Search the Web for “purging snails” and you’ll find simple instructions.

Buon appetito!

By: Jamie

Jamie — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 04:10:59 +0000

I found this post because I was looking up any info I could find on Scungilli because my daughter wants me to make it for her again. I remember my father making it when I was little, but I don’t remember the cleaning process. When my father made it he just put the conch shell and all right into the sauce then cooked it for hours. After it was cooked we took our share and pulled the snails out and ate. I remember that part because I loved the way it slid out and curled up. Can I be rememebering this right? Oh yeah, the conch were fresh too because my father would come home with other fresh seafood caught fresh by friends (professional fishermen from the area) we live on Long Island,NY

By: Bonnie C.

Bonnie C. — Tue, 17 May 2011 00:06:08 +0000

I ADORE Scungili, but where can it be found these days????

I fondly remember – long before calamari became a restaurant staple – when Scungili was on every Italian restaurant menu – as a salad, or in sauce over linguini. And for many years I was able to buy it fresh-cooked, frozen, or canned in quite a few local markets – both in NY & in my new home here in VA.

Alas, no more. I haven’t seen hide nor hair of ANY form of Scungili for 15 years.

Any ideas for procurement? Particularly fresh frozen?

By: Rex Russo

Rex Russo — Mon, 25 Apr 2011 22:21:57 +0000

My father was a member of the Middletown Italian-American Society (or was it called a Club). Luckily for him, it was located just up the street (Arbutus Street). It was really just a place for the guys to get together and play cards and eat. My father wasn’t so good at cards, but he was good at eating. He’d get very excited when the cook was making scungilli. Once mom and us older kids made him bring some home. We loved it! He never told us when they were having scungilli after that time I think I’ll make some soon in his honor.

By: Brooklyn Trial Proves That Mafia Really Just Comes Down To The Spaghetti and Meat Balls at Phoodie.info: The New Food And Drink Blog For Philadelphia

Mon, 25 Apr 2011 21:32:10 +0000

[...] to sneak in things for him, he responded: “He was bringing in food for us, cold cuts, shrimp, scungilli.” – During a secretly recorded conversation, also taking place in jail, with the person Massino [...]

By: Skip

Skip — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 19:46:41 +0000

Dear Francy–

Freezing is not just a convenient way to keep scungilli on hand for sauces and salads, but also an excellent technique for tenderizing other seafood like octopus and squid. By the way, you might like to seek out an artisanal Abruzzese pasta asciutta made to resemble rings of squid. Sold as calamare or calamaretti, these dry pasta rings are hefty ( taking about 12 minutes of boiling to reach the al dente state); they mimic both the appearance and texture of real squid and absorb sauce beautifully.

– Holly

By: Francy

Francy — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:27:06 +0000

I tried the Scungilli alla marinara with some nice fusilli pasta (from Abruzzo, one of the best I have found) and they were delicious *I used the frozen ones.
Ciao
Francesca