Mussels – Cleaning, Preparation and Cooking

Some mussels you buy are cultivated in protected areas of the sea bed, or grown on poles, fixed in clean saltwater. Others, because of their habitat, are often sandy and need to be scrubbed; mussels also ingest sand and grit as they feed. Buy good quality, local mussels and they are well cleaned and very fresh.  I buy Port Arlington mussels from my fish supplier, Aptus Fish Mongers, at the South Melbourne market.

Live mussels must be bought very fresh. Kept in a moist, cool environment, mussels will live out of water for between 8 – 12 days, depending on the season.  They do this by gaping open and breathing. I store mine in a large plastic container, without the lid, in the refrigerator and I use them within a day or so of purchase from the fishmonger.

Most mussels bought today are cleaned very well and so they do not have the barnacles.  Some will still have the beards and these must be removed.

These ‘beards’ are also known as known as byssus threads. They are the filaments that the mussel uses to secure itself to hard surfaces. They are usually brownish and may appear somewhat like seaweed. If a mussel has lots of ‘beard’ they have been grown on the rocks; whereas, if they have just a little ‘beard’ it indicates that they have been grown on ropes.

Most mussels commercially available have been farm-raised so often the beards have already been removed during processing.  If your mussels are not cleaned, scrub them clean with a stiff brush or stainless-steel scourer, to remove the barnacles.

Remove the weed-like ‘beard’ from the shell. To do thus, hold the mussel shell tightly, forcing the shells together, take the beard and pull it upwards to remove it from the mussel inside.

Discard any mussels that are broken or that gape open and refuse to close when you tap them sharply and any that float. If a mussel is alive, it will close when handled.

If the mussels are to be cooked in a liquid that can be strained, preliminary purging is not necessary. If the mussels are to be cooked directly in the sauce, they should be purged.  Fortunately, most mussels we buy these days do not need this purging.   If you collect them yourselves from the water, they will need to be purged.

Ways to purge the mussels of sand and grit:

• place the mussels in a large bowl of clean, cold, salted water, sprinkle with a handful of oats and set aside for a few hours. The mussels will feed on the oats and expel any grit they contain.
• soak mussels for 2 – 3 hours, in salted water, one handful for each litre, changing the water 3 times.

The colour of mussel meat:  in cooking classes, we are often asked why do some mussels have orange meat and others have white meat? The orange-tinted meats are actually mature females, while the ivory meats are males and immature females.  While some ‘mussel aficionados’ maintain that mature females taste better, there’s no scientific evidence to back this up. I do think the orange tinted meat is nicer as it is creamier, has more taste and looks inviting.

To cook mussels: the usual way to cook mussels is to heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot and gently fry 1 small shallot or onion for about 10 minutes, add 2 cloves of chopped garlic and cook for another minute.  Add one cup of white wine, 6 black peppercorns and 4 parsley stalks, 1 bay leaf, 2 to 3 celery stalks with the green leaves., 3 sprigs thyme; turn up the heat, and when very hot and boiling add the mussels, put the lid on the pot and shake it vigorously to distribute the heat.

It is best to remove the mussels as they open, otherwise, you risk overcooking them. After a minute or two of cooking, remove any mussels that have opened; cover again and keep shaking the pot and repeat removing the cooked mussels. Discard any mussels that refuse to open. Strain the cooking juices through a fine sieve, strainer or some muslin cloth and reserve this precious mussel liquor to use in a sauce.

A few general hints about mussels:

Allow 500g mussels per person for the main course and 250ml of dry white wine or cider for every kilogram of mussels.

Don’t add salt when cooking

The best liquids for cooking mussels – red or white wine, Pernod, sherry, cider or beer or water and mixture with water

Best beverages for drinking with mussels – white wine, Riesling especially, Normandie cider, beer, pinot noir or green tea.

Herbs that love mussels – parsley, basil, tarragon, oregano, coriander and thyme

Natural flavour partners – garlic, onion, eschallots, tomatoes, capsicum, olives, butter, cream, lemon, lime

Stronger flavours that go well – chilli, lemongrass, ginger, cumin, fennel, saffron and pepper

Don’t cook for longer than 5 mins – they’ll be tough!

Don’t eat any that don’t smell “sea sweet”

Mussels are high in protein and heart-healthy omega-3 fatty acids; they are relatively low in calories and fat and have excellent nutritional value.

Mussels attach themselves to the rocks or ropes by way of a byssus thread or beard.

I have included a few of my favourite mussel soup recipes in the recipe collection of this website. Search in the search box for mussels.