🍽️ Stir-Fried Hill Snails

Hill-stream snails with chili and perilla.

Stir-Fried Hill Snails are a classic late-night snack of Shaoguan in the mountains of northern Guangdong. The snails come from hill streams, so their meat is cleaner and sweeter than pond snails. The tails are snipped, then the snails are blasted over high heat with chili, garlic, perilla leaves and fermented black beans, so the aromatic freshness of perilla and the heat of chili penetrate deep into the shells. To eat, you suck the opening of the shell; the snail meat is crisp, savory and lightly spicy. On northern Guangdong summer nights, an open-air table of stir-fried snails and a few bottles of beer is the local way to unwind. The dish shows the mountain cooks' knack of using whatever the hills and streams offer, and is a must-order drinking snack for visitors at Shaoguan's night stalls.