Help! What to do with fresh Mussels?

Str4berr3

Hiya all!

If anybody can help me, as I would like to eat these fresh mussels I have bought today for dinner tonight.

Just a question:

How do I prepare them?

I heard long time ago that You are suppose to leave them in a pan of cold water and wait for them to open up but how log does it take?

And when I do decide to cook them ( I would like to stir fry them ) would it clam shut again?

Please, any suggestion would be handy!

ancasta_2

Give them all to me

I always pre boil mine in hot salted water for abuopt 10 mins, any ones that are open before boiling give a good firm tap on the bench, if they dont shut, bin them. Once you have boiled your mussels, if any stay shut, bin them too.

Once i have boiled them i then cook them in a sauce but i often stirfry them, either in their shells or out but i always find pre boiling them sorts out the good from the bad and makes them safely cooked.

Hope this helps, if not,let me eat them. yum.

Str4berr3

Thanx Ancasta,

Does that mean, If I was to pre boil them, they will open up and I dont really need to soak them in cold water?

ancasta_2

Yeah.

Im not too good at explaining things am i

Altho this was my tried and tested method for when i used to chef.

Noozan

They probably won't need soaking as most mussels are grown on ropes these days. Soaking in the salted water used to encourage them to shed any sand that was trapped in the shells.

I would give them a quick scrub and pull out any beards that might be attached. As Ancasta says, tap any that are open and discard any that won't close.

Bring an inch or so of water to boil in a large pan. Throw in the mussels and put on a lid. Give the pan a good shake after 2 minutes. The mussels are done when they are all open. If you want to stir fry them later, you can take them out of the shells (a few will have fallen out anyway)

If you'd like a base stock/sauce for your stir fry; you could add some wine, garlic and herbs to the water that you cook the mussels in. Just boil it rapidly at the end to reduce it down.
I love mussels!!

ancasta_2

Can we all just stop making my mouth water now. its not fair im hungry and i want mussells now

LMAO.

Gillby1

Me too! I love mussells with chopped shallots, in white wine and cream garlicy sauce with crusty bread.

So hungry...

ancasta_2

Stop, im drooling onto my keyboard

Str4berr3

I thought that I would try a black bean with garlic sauce as a stir fry?

Pink.

Str4berr3 wrote:

I thought that I would try a black bean with garlic sauce as a stir fry?

That sounds lovely! I always cook them with white wine, garlic and cream. I fancy trying something new. Think I'll have to look out for some mussels at the market tomorrow.

To prepare them I just scrub all the beards off and put them straight into the pan, then discard the unopened ones before serving.

Pink

Yoga_Girl

Paella paella paella!!!

Fresh mussels look so good sitting on a bed of paella. We cook the mussels in small amount of water and some white wine in a saute pan with the lid on so they basically steam, then put them on the top of your paella. The liquid they've been cooked in is really tasty and can be poured over the paella.

I'm so hungry now!!!!!!!!!!