Sunday, 9 August 2009
You can't go wrong on mussels - preparation tips
Going to start fancy, why not? London's Borough Market which I visited few days ago was amazing but that going to be a subject of another post. The main reason why I decided to visit it was to put my hands on some fresh sea food. Had a real dilemma what to choose as all the fish was big, fresh and beautiful. After sniffing around the stall for couple of minutes the first choice was made: mussels.
On the way back home I started panicking a bit- what on earth I'm going to do with them. Have never cooked them before and they definitely do not look like a piece of cake (ok that wasn't the best comparison as I find cakes to be much more difficult to prepare than dinners but you know what I mean). I hit Google and supprisingly everyone around has some simple and magic ways to prepare them. And I must say that they're right. Mussels are easy and relaxed dish yet very fancy and original. Oh and I think thay're an afrodisiac :)
Now look at those:
Did all my research and that's what I've learned..
Cleaning tips:
-if you don't cook mussels on the day of purchase, store them in a bowl covered with damp cloth in a fridge
-do not keep them in water for a long periods of time
-before you start washing them, check for any open ones
-if there're any open mussels, tap them on a hard surface- if they close- you can use them, if not, make sure you discard them as they are dead and may cause food poisoning
-if you stored them in a fridge, give them a minute to close after tapping as they reaction time is slower. I would put some open ones aside to throw as they wouldn't really move after tapping them couple of times ( was trying really hard, didn't want to waste any of those little treasures) and then after couple of minutes found them almost all closed. Now thats retarded!
-clean them properly under running water, you can use a sponge to scrub the dirt
-make sure all the mud on the shells is gone
-discard all the broken ones
Simple as that. To minimize the chance of food poisoning by eating dead mussels just follow this simple rule:
Discard all the open ones before cooking and the closed ones after.
Enjoy!
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