I grew up in Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois - in short, corn country. Serious corn country. I didn't see the ocean until I was 10 and didn't eat much fresh seafood until I moved to Boston in my 20's. At first, I was hesitant to try anything beyond seared white fish. Lobsters were intimidating. Scallops were a complete mystery. Shrimp just seemed odd. And then I had my first bowl of steamed mussels.
What really drew me to mussels was the whole experience of eating them. Picking up the purple shell, scooping a bit of broth, slurping out the sweet, tender meat. Even repeatedly wiping your fingers on the napkin seems like a crucial part of the experience. It's so tactile and sensual and all-consuming. For the space of that one bowl, you can do nothing else but eat.
A bowl of mussels has seen me through a lot. It's what I order when I'm eating alone and just want to sit quietly with my book and a glass of wine for an hour. I've eaten them with friends, all our hands reaching toward the bowl as we laugh and talk. I've used the dish to set new friends at ease. I ate mussels the night before a big job interview and had another bowl in celebration when I got the offer a few weeks later. And once after a particularly heart-wrenching break-up, I ate a bowl of mussels nearly every day for a month before I was able to pull myself together and move on.
Lobsters aren't quite so scary anymore, and now I'll eat all the scallops off of my plate and yours, too. But for sheer comfort and belly-rubbing satisfaction, there's no replacing a bowl of mussels. No matter what, I'll always come back to mussels.
(Image: Flickr member foodistablog licensed under Creative Commons)
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I feel the same way. I grew up in the Seattle area and was raised on clams and adore them, along with oysters but I came to mussels relatively late. I'm making up for it now. I find I eat them anywhere I can trust them (living in Texas now, their quality isn't always assured...). There's an Indian place in Austin that does amazing green curry mussles and I recently went home for a visit and had bowl after bowl of mussles, in pernod, garlic broth, simply steamed, on and on. Moules frites is my favorite dish when in Paris, and mussles are great on the grill too.
I generally dislike seafood. I'm only just beginning to eat shrimp again. And yet, every time I see them, read about them or hear of them, I want to eat mussels. I should give in and eat some soon.
I love mussels! There's this place in Philly called Monks that cooks them in all different kinds of savory, slightly spicy broths and serves them in a big pot, with another big pot for the empty shells. They have lots of Belgian beers on tap, of course.
There's nothing better on a summer evening than a big, steaming pot of mussels and a cold pint. And shellfish is good conversation food too.
Squirrely, I'm i Austin as well and love mussels! Will you shair your green curry source?
I love mussels, too. Your post reminds me of a story my husband told me other day about seeing a whole lobster carcass in the garbage when he was a little kid right after his family moved to Montreal. He was terrified because he thought that his new city was home to huge, monster bugs!
Seafood can be odd for the uninitiated but it's worth exploring, isn't it?
I haven't found a restaurant near me that makes great mussels and I've heard that they are pretty simple to make!
Does anyone have a good white wine recipe for a amateur mussel maker?
MarthaMay:
Get good fresh mussles, clean them and discard any that are open and don't close after a minute or so when tapped lightly.
In a pot large enough to hold all of your mussles with some room to spare, toss some broth or white wine or water and herbs, or whatever liquid strikes your fancy. Add some garlic if you'd like. the liquid should be about an inch deep. Cover, and heat to boiling, then toss in your mussles and steam, covered, for just a few minutes, until the mussles open up. A few won't open, and I've read that you should discard those, as well, but I've also read to just pry them open and eat them anyway. We ate them anyway, and haven't died yet, so I'd say go for it. Dump the whole shebang in a bowl, put an empty bowl on the side for shells, and have at it!
There are ALL SORTS of recipes online, just google "steamed mussles," but this sums up most of them. You barely need to season mussles at all, they're so amazing plain! They great with crusty bread or over plain pasta (buttered or oiled, so it doesn't stick, then pour the extra broth over it!).
hobsy, Clay Pit on Guadalupe. It's on the appetizer menu but add a few pieces of naan and it's a reasonable priced entree. I get it every time and sometimes I even save the broth and cook my own mussles in it the next day (what can I say, I'm obsessed).
I love mussels. But I follow the rule that you shouldn't eat them from May-August (months without Rs) due to potential high levels of toxicity.
From the wikipedia page on mussels:
Although mussels are valued as food, mussel poisoning due to toxic planktonic organisms can be a danger along some coastlines. For instance, mussels should be avoided along the west coast of the United States during the warmer months. This poisoning is usually due to a bloom of dinoflagellates (red tides), which contain toxins. The dinoflagellates and their toxin are harmless to mussels, even when concentrated by the mussel's filter feeding, but if the mussels are consumed by humans, the concentrated toxins cause serious illness, such as paralytic shellfish poisoning. Usually the U.S. government monitors the levels of toxins throughout the year at fishing sites. See Red Tide.
I love mussels! In New Zealand they are so incredibly cheap. 1 kilo mussels is enough to feed 2 adults for dinner and costs less than 1 MacDonald's cheeseburger.
I saved a story from the newspaper about someone traveling in France who was invited to dinner. The hosts had arranged muscles on a board in a beautifully fitted arrangement which was then covered with pinestraw and lit ablaze. then served as appetizers with wine. He tried to do it himself and became sick and then did again and claimed success. There was even a follow up story about returning 20 or so years later and tracking down the hosts to tell them how significant the experience had been to him. They didn't remember him but it turned out well in the end. I want to do this technique but feel a little afraid to try.
Mussels not muscles.