Frog Legs

Legs soaked in milk and then cooked for four minutes only, in butter that is already foaming.

Not vegetarian — contains frog.

Ingredients

• 800 g frog legs, in pairs
• 300 ml milk
• 4 tablespoons plain flour
• 80 g butter
• 2 tablespoons oil
• persillade from 4 cloves garlic and a large bunch of parsley, as on its own page
• juice of half a lemon
• salt and pepper

Method

1. THEY ARE SOAKED IN MILK AND COOKED FOR FOUR MINUTES ONLY. Two hours in milk firms the flesh and takes away any muddiness, and then the cooking is almost nothing -- these are small thin pieces of very lean meat and at five minutes they are dry and stringy. Four minutes in total, turned once. The window is narrow and there is no way back through it.
2. THE BUTTER MUST ALREADY BE FOAMING WHEN THEY GO IN. Into a pan that is merely warm, they release water and poach greyly in it. Foaming butter with a little oil to stop it burning, and they colour in the time they need to cook, which is the only way these two can be made to coincide.
3. FLOURED AT THE LAST SECOND AND SHAKEN OFF. Floured early, the coating goes damp and claggy and slides off in the pan. Dust them as the butter foams.
4. THE PERSILLADE GOES IN FOR THE LAST THIRTY SECONDS, as that page sets out -- long enough to lose its rawness, not long enough to brown the garlic.
5. AND THEY ARE EATEN WITH THE FINGERS. Say so on the page: there is no polite way to get the meat off these with cutlery, and a plate of them with a finger bowl is the right answer.
6. Frog legs rinsed and put in a bowl with the milk, covered, in the fridge 2 HOURS.
7. Drained and PATTED COMPLETELY DRY on a cloth. Wet legs will not colour.
8. The persillade made as on its own page, at the last moment, and set beside the stove.
9. The flour seasoned with salt and pepper in a wide dish.
10. Butter and oil in a large pan over a medium-high heat until the butter FOAMS.
11. The legs tossed in the flour and shaken hard to lose the excess, then straight into the pan in a single layer. In two batches if the pan is not big enough -- crowded, they steam.
12. Cooked 2 minutes without moving, until golden.
13. Turned and given 1 minute 30 seconds more.
14. The persillade thrown in and tossed 30 SECONDS.
15. Off the heat, the lemon juice squeezed over and swirled through the butter. Tipped onto a warm dish with the pan butter poured over, and eaten at once with bread and a finger bowl.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under France · All recipes