Nothing beats fresh seafood taken from the water in the morning and served at the table later that day.
Unfortunately some home cooks are intimidated by the prospect of cleaning and preparing fresh seafood. The home cook’s reluctance to enter into such an endeavor generally has to do with the fear of the unknown.
What follows is a simple way to clean and prepare fresh mussels that is sure to alleviate the fears of novice home cooks.
Sorting the Fresh Mussels
Mussels that are open or have a broken shell should be discarded. Any mussel that has not opened up and has an intact shell is considered still alive at this point.
Cleaning Fresh Mussels
Once you have sorted through the day’s catch and discarded all the dead mussels the remaining live ones should be immediately put into a large container filled with salted water and either oatmeal or corn meal. The ratio of meal to water is 1/3 cup of meal for every two quarts of cold water.
Allow the mussels to soak in the water, salt and meal mixture for at least one hour. The reason for adding the meal to the mix is that the live mussels will feed on it and subsequently excrete any dirt from its inside cavity. This will make for a more clean and tasty mussel.
After the mussels have finished soaking remove any mussels that have floated to the surface of the pail and discard them. Those mussels have died and are no longer suitable for eating.
The remaining viable mussels must now be de-bearded and scrubbed. The mussels’ bread is the thread like protuberances affixed to the shell. To remove the beard from the mussel’s shell you will need to get a sharp, knife with a curved blade. If you do not have a knife with a curved blade, a straight edged knife will have to suffice.
To remove the mussel’s bread hold the shell in one hand the knife in the other. Scrape down against the protuberances with the knife until they break free from the shell.
Once the mussels’ beards have been removed, take a stiff scrub brush and vigorously scrub the mussel’s shells to remove any grit. If you run across a mussel that has barnacles on it you will need to scrape the barnacle off with your knife.
When all of that is done rinse the mussels several times under cold, running water.
Basic Steaming Technique
Now that the fresh mussels have been properly prepped there is a rather simple way that you can cook them.
Place the clean, fresh mussels into a large, heavy bottomed stock pot and pour in ½ cup of white wine. Add to the wine and mussels some chopped parsley and onions.
Next place a lid onto the stock pot and place it over a low heat. You will know that the mussels are done cooking as soon as the shells open up.
Once the mussel shells have been steamed open remove them from the heat. You now have the option of both serving them whole or removing ½ of the shell from each mussel and serving them “on the half shell.”
It is prudent to recommend that for optimum flavor the freshly, steamed mussels should be kept at least tepid until you are ready to plate them.
Use a clean piece of cheesecloth to strain the liquid off of the mussels into a waiting bowl. The cheese cloth is designed to remove any residual grit that may have come off the mussels during cooking. Throw away the used cheese cloth and set the broth aside.
Serving Suggestions
Place the mussels into a deep platter that has been warmed in either the oven or the microwave. Once the mussels are plated pour some of the hot broth over them and serve.
The steamed mussels pair well with a nice loaf of fresh, crusty bread that can be used to sop up the residual both left in the serving platter and nice bottle of wine.
