Ref:577/03

Building a Better Mussel

A half-dozen raw mussels were strewn across the kitchen counter, their shells agape, and I was ready to pitch them in the trash, sure that since they were open they were unsafe to eat. Still, there was one more chance. With the tip of a butter knife I lightly tapped each top shell. Then I turned my back on them and began to clean the other mussels, the tightly closed ones in the colander in the sink. And when I looked back at the strays on the countertop, each one had closed.

It was a chilling reminder: They were alive.

It doesn't pay to take chances, of course. If these "gapers," as they're called, had remained open or their shells hadn't moved in the slightest, they would have been pronounced dead and then trashed -- my misfortune. But when they responded to my light tap, it was their misfortune. They became dinner.

In fact, a bag of mussels has become an easy, inexpensive dinner, since mussels are now readily available, reasonably priced (about $2.50 a dozen), easier to clean and safer to eat than in days past. Once mussels needed to be soaked to rid them of sand; their broth was gritty unless it was strained through cheesecloth. Today, with a little liquid -- water, beer or wine -- and some seasonings, a bowl of steamed mussels can be taken right from the stockpot to the dinner table in 15 minutes.

Mussels, which are bivalve mollusks, are sedentary, spending their adult lives affixed to one spot, often at the bottom of the ocean, eating the plankton in the area -- and whatever debris happens by. A mussel is a filterer, processing the water in its surroundings. As a result, the numbers growing in polluted or muddy waters caused the shellfish to fall from favor. Some of those mussels were a risk to human health or they were so full of grit that they were muddy to the taste and a hassle to clean. "It is essential, due to the extensive water pollution in many beach areas, that you purchase mussels from a fish merchant who sells shellfish from controlled areas," wrote Madeleine Kamman in her 1976 book "When French Women Cook," a caution that was true the world over.

But advances in the technology used to harvest, clean and ship mussels have almost eliminated those concerns.

Whether grown in the wild or cultivated, blue mussels (Mytilus edulis), creatures of North Atlantic waters, are the variety most likely to show up in restaurants, fish markets and groceries on the East Coast. And they probably arrived from Canada's Prince Edward Island (or Newfoundland and Nova Scotia) or from Maine, where the Great Eastern Mussel Farms in Tenants Harbor have been shipping mussels to markets for 25 years.

At Great Eastern most of the cultivated mussels are "seeded" in 150 acres of clear, clean Atlantic waters leased by the company from Maine. After about 18 months, the tiny mussels that started at 1/4 to 1/2 inch in length have grown to 2 to 21/2 inches and are ready to be harvested. The beds are dragged, the mussels hauled up and immediately placed in aerated water tanks for the cleaning process, or "purging," to begin. A single mussel can process 16 gallons of water overnight, according to Great Eastern's sales manager, Terry Callery, a process that encourages the mussel to kick out sand or grit. But that's just the first step in a series Callery describes that is intended to bring clean mussels to your stockpot.

Mussels attach themselves to their surroundings (such as piers or rafts) and to each other with their byssus ("beard"), so the next step is "declumping," where the individual mussels are ripped apart from one another. Then they are "destoned" as the mussels head down a conveyor belt and through machinery that forces out the stones (pearls!). Then it's off to the "debyssing" machinery, where the beard of the individual shell is stripped away. Mussels are then sorted by size, picked over by humans who discard any with broken shells, packed in boxes with ice and false bottoms (as the ice melts the mussels remain above the water) and tagged, so that the farm can track each lot and the consumer can read the "sell by" date and be sure that the mussels are still fresh.

Most of the Great Eastern mussels are "bottom cultivated" -- grown on the ocean floor. The Prince Edward Island versions are "rope cultivated" -- suspended from ropes attached to a barge. The advantage of the rope mussels, according to Richard Gallant, manager of aquaculture for the PEI Department of Fisheries, Aquaculture and Environment, is their richer diet. Rope-cultivated mussels are grown in a "three-dimensional" column of water, he explains, feeding on plankton passing all around them; bottom-cultivated mussels have only "two-dimensional" feeding opportunities. The rope method tends to produce a meatier mussel (40 percent to 50 percent meat), says Gallant, and those are the mollusks often designated "choice cultured" and headed to restaurants. (For a brief tour of rope culture, visit www.eatmussels.com, Great Eastern's Web site.) Fans of cultured mussels, either rope- or bottom-cultivated, say that the method gives diners uniform size and confidence in food safety and gives suppliers certainty (a supermarket can be sure supply will meet demand). But some mussel lovers say the cultivated versions don't deliver the taste of wild mussels, the same kind of criticism often leveled at farm-raised salmon when it is compared with salmon in the wild.

At Bertha's restaurant in the Fells Point area of Baltimore (410-327-5795), owners Laura and Tony Norris steam a ton of blue mussels a week -- wild mussels. (Anyone in the Washington-Baltimore area who has ever been stuck in traffic and reading the bumper sticker on the car ahead knows to "Eat Bertha's Mussels.") Most of the time they're served not in broth but with dipping sauces. Says Laura Norris assuredly: "Wild mussels are tastier, sweeter," a characteristic that she ranks much higher than the uniformity of size, taste and texture that comes with cultured mussels. Bertha's mussels come from Maine, Massachusetts and Prince Edward Island and all are tagged and sourced to ensure safety. The mussels are cleaned, declumped and debearded at Bertha's.

"Eating wild mussels is an adventure," says Norris, and the only time a batch is sandy, she says, is when there have been storms at sea.

The diners at Bertha's never seem to mind the rare occasions when they encounter sand, as you might suspect from the restaurant's free-wheeling theme song, written by two long-time customers and entitled "Eat Bertha's Mussels." This is the only stanza that is rated PG:

Eat Bertha's mussels, they're the best there is by far.
You can eat them in the dining room, you can eat them in the bar.
So when you're ashore in Baltimore and you fancy a bite to eat,
Just follow your nose to Bertha's, you'll be in for a rare old treat.

Steamed Mussels
(Makes 4 first-course or 2 main-course servings)

Use this formula as your starting point, adjusting the kind of liquid and the type of seasonings as you wish. You may want to experiment with the amount of liquid. You will probably want a thin broth if you are planning to dunk bread in it as you eat the mussels; you will probably want a thick broth if you are serving the mussels and broth as a sauce for pasta or rice. Note that whether you are using 1 or 4 pounds of mussels, the amount of liquid should remain about the same. If you double or triple it to accommodate more mussels, you will have too much broth with too wan a flavor. Remember too that mussels bring their own briny flavor to the table, so use salt carefully. Canned broth or clam juice can be very salty, especially when reduced, so use them in moderation and in combination with water or wine.

1/2 cup liquid (such as water, wine, cider, stock or beer)
2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded (about 1 pound per person for main course)
Seasonings (such as lemon, parsley, lemon grass, ginger garlic, shallots) to taste

Pour the liquid into a large pot or stockpot and bring to a boil. Dump in the mussels, cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, turning the mussels occasionally, until they open wide, 3 to 6 minutes total. Check them frequently after 3 minutes, using a slotted spoon to transfer mussels to a large bowl or individual bowls as they open. Discard any that remain unopened; reserve the cooking liquid.

If desired, strain the liquid, lining the strainer with cheesecloth, a clean coffee filter or a clean paper napkin. Discard the solids.

Ladle the liquid over the mussels and serve immediately.

Ingredients are too variable for an accurate nutritional analysis

Asian-Style Mussels
(Makes 4 first-course or 2 main-course servings)

Mussels adapt easily to the flavors of many cuisines, but they are a particularly good match with Asian seasonings. Start with the proportions as listed here, then adjust them to suit yourself, adding water or subtracting coconut milk. I serve them with a bowl of steamed jasmine rice and pour the sauce over the rice as I eat the mussels. You could also use rice noodles.

1/4 cup water
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
3 stalks fresh lemon grass, finely sliced (outer leaves discarded)
2 fresh chili peppers, red or green or both, seeded and minced
3 tablespoons finely sliced fresh ginger root
2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded
Juice from 1 lime
14 ounces coconut milk
1 teaspoon light brown sugar
1 teaspoon fish sauce
3 handfuls fresh cilantro, pounded or finely chopped

In a large pot over medium heat, slowly bring the water, garlic, lemon grass, chili peppers and ginger to a boil. Dump in the mussels, cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, turning the mussels occasionally, until they open wide, 3 to 6 minutes total. Check the mussels frequently after 3 minutes, using a slotted spoon to transfer them to a large bowl or individual bowls as they open. Discard any that remain unopened; reserve the cooking liquid.

If desired, strain the liquid, lining the strainer with cheesecloth, a clean coffee filter or a clean paper napkin. Discard the solids. Return the broth to the pot over medium heat, add the lime juice, coconut milk, brown sugar, fish sauce and half of the cilantro and heat thoroughly. Ladle the broth over the mussels and garnish with the remaining cilantro. Serve immediately.

Per serving (based on 4): 457 calories, 30 gm protein, 19 gm carbohydrates, 30 gm fat, 64 mg cholesterol, 23 gm saturated fat, 855 mg sodium, 3 gm dietary fiber

Moules à la Mariniere
(Steamed Mussels With White Wine and Parsley)
(Makes 4 first-course or 2 main-course servings)

À la mariniere means "mariner's style," and this recipe is the simple, straightforward one that fishermen cooked on the beach with freshly caught shellfish. The perfect accompaniment is a loaf of French bread. Tear off chunks of the baguette and use it to soak up the broth.

Traditional recipes call for swirling butter into the hot mussel broth just before serving, but the broth is perfectly satisfying without it.

Adapted from James Peterson's "Fish and Shellfish" (William Morrow, 1996).

1/2 cup dry white wine
1 shallot, minced
1 bay leaf
1 sprig fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces (optional)
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, slowly bring the wine, shallot, bay leaf and thyme to a boil. Dump in the mussels, cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, turning the mussels occasionally, until they open wide, 3 to 6 minutes total. Check the mussels frequently after 3 minutes, using a slotted spoon to transfer them to a large bowl or individual bowls as they open. Discard any that remain unopened; reserve the cooking liquid.

If desired, strain the liquid, lining the strainer with cheesecloth, a clean coffee filter or a clean paper napkin. Discard the solids. Pour the liquid into a saucepan over medium heat, add the parsley, butter (if using) and season with pepper to taste. Heat, whisking constantly, just until the butter is incorporated, 1 to 2 minutes.

Ladle the liquid over the mussels and serve immediately.

Per serving (based on 4): 287 calories, 27 gm protein, 12 gm carbohydrates, 5 gm fat, 64 mg cholesterol, 1 gm saturated fat, 658 mg sodium, trace dietary fiber

Fennel-Steamed Mussels, Provence Style
(Makes 4 first-course or 2 main-course servings)

This version will remind you of a bouillabaisse -- though it's less expensive and much easier to assemble than that classic seafood stew from Provence. In the style of bouillabaisse, at the bottom of each serving bowl I put a piece or two of French bread, toasted and smeared with a little garlic butter, then put the mussels and broth on top. Fennel is licorice-flavored, as are Pernod and Ricard liqueurs. Their flavors are strong but modified nicely by the tomatoes.

Adapted from "The Minimalist Cooks Dinner" by Mark Bittman (Broadway, 2001).

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
1 fennel bulb (about 1 pound), trimmed and thinly sliced
1/2 cup Pernod or Ricard
1 cup fresh or canned chopped tomatoes, juices reserved
1 sprig tarragon (optional)
2 pounds mussels, cleaned and debearded

Pour the oil into a large pot and place over medium heat. When hot, add the garlic, fennel, liqueur, tomatoes (reserving the juice) and tarragon, if using. Dump in the mussels, cover the pot and reduce the heat to medium. Cook, turning the mussels occasionally, until they open wide, 3 to 6 minutes total. Check the mussels frequently after 3 minutes, using a slotted spoon to transfer them to a large bowl or individual bowls as they open. Discard any that remain unopened; reserve the cooking liquid.

If desired, strain the liquid, lining the strainer with cheesecloth, a clean coffee filter or a clean paper napkin. Discard the solids. Ladle the liquid over the mussels, adding reserved tomato juices if you prefer a thinner broth.

Per serving (based on 4): 318 calories, 28 gm protein, 18 gm carbohydrates, 12 gm fat, 63 mg cholesterol, 2 gm saturated fat, 679 mg sodium, 2 gm dietary fiber