Mussels can be cooked by steaming, frying, grilling, or baking. They should be purchased from a reputable source, rinsed, and cooked for about 8 minutes. They can be used in various dishes and dressed with different sauces.
Mussels can be cooked in many different ways, but the most common method is steaming, either as a stand-alone method, or to pre-cook them before using another cooking method. The black, shiny, oval-shaped bivalve molluscs open during the steaming process. In addition to being steamed, mussels are often fried, grilled and baked.
Regardless of the cooking method you will be using, always purchase your mussels from a reputable source in a pristine area. Interestingly, those with meat more on the white side are usually female, and molluscs with meat that tends to be more of an orange color are often male. Both are essentially the same, flavor-wise, with the juice of both being the tastiest part. Mussels should be rinsed several times to remove grit before steaming, and the beard bump should be taken off.
Steamed mussels can be made by adding the prepared shellfish to a few cups of liquid brought to a steaming boil in a large pot or Dutch oven. After adding the mussels, they should be steamed for about eight minutes over medium heat. If possible, they should be rotated carefully after four or five minutes of cooking. Mussels should never be overcooked as they can get tough. Once the shells steam open they are done and those with unopened shells should not be used.
The mussels can be coated in fine breadcrumbs and deep-fried or even deep-fried. They can also be baked in the oven on the half shell and sprinkled with olive oil and herbs. The mussels take about five minutes on an open grill over medium-high heat. They’re delicious in soups, but are best added near the end of the cooking time to avoid overcooking.
These shellfish can be substituted for clams in dishes such as linguine with clam sauce, and some recipes call for both. Mexican-style salads sometimes use mussels and add a distinctive look to the Spanish dish paella. Southeast Asian cuisine often uses coconut and ginger in mussel dishes. The classic French dish, moules mariniers, mixes butter, wine, onions, salt, pepper and parsley with them. A baguette is used to soak up the juice.
Many different types of sauces can be used to dress cooked mussels. A French roux can serve as the base of sauces such as teriyaki or tomato sauce. The commonly used general guideline when buying is to allow 450g of shells per person per shell for a main course and 0.5g of 225g shells per person for a side dish or entrée.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
