The first time I prepared mussels, I was in for a big surprise. Not only are mussels incredibly reasonably priced (they’ll run you approx. $4/pound), but they are also shockingly simple to make.
The most important part of cooking mussels is preparing them properly. This means keeping them alive and cleaning your mussels.
CLEANING and PREPARATION TIPS
- You’ll want to buy approximately one pound of mussels per person.
- You want to make sure that your mussels are alive. That means you should immediately throw away any mussels that are open or slimy. A closed mussel is a live mussel.
- If you find a few that are open, give them a quick tap on the counter. If it closes back up, that means it is still alive and is safe to eat.
- If you’re not cooking the mussels immediately, cover your bivalves with a cool towel and store it in the coolest part of your refrigerator.
- When you’re ready to cook your mussels, give them one last run-through. You’ll want to pull off the “beard” that comes out from between the shells and scrape off any barnacles or residual sand.
- If you buy your mussels from a nice market or grocery store, your mussels will already be cleaned for the most part. Nonetheless, you need to be sure to rinse your mussels to remove any grit. I use a colander to make this even easier.
One of the great things about mussels is that there are so many flavors you can use for cooking them. If you’ve been to a place like Granville Moore’s or Brasserie Beck, you’ve seen the various combinations you can use. White wine with garlic and herbs is probably the most common, but you don’t have to stop there.
My DC 