Mussels

[exgtt]

Hi guys, was lucky enough to be in Tarbert last week and bought a kilo (£2.50) of fresh mussels from the harbour. Lovely fresh mussels! Howeather when cooking i notice ALOT of sand/silt in the bottom of the pan after cooking, and they were indeed very gritty. Gutted as had to sling em. I removed beards & gave em a scrub before cooking.

The ones i normally buy from the fish market/super market are fine after said scrub, is their a process i missed buying em direct from the harbour? I'm assuming there is a process i missed between landing em and them being sold retail?

[Heff]

Presumably supermarket ones etc are purged first. IE kept in freshwater for a time to allow the shellfish to expel all the grit.

[exgtt]

Ah there we go - these were full of sand. Noted for next time cheers.

[Jer_1974]

Farmed mussels are grown on ropes so don't really get grit in them. Wild mussels should be placed in water for a while before cooking.

[Kneetrembler]

Heff said:

Presumably supermarket ones etc are purged first. IE kept in freshwater for a time to allow the shellfish to expel all the grit.

I certainly would not want to buy any Mussels that had been kept in Freshwater as they would probably be dead
As has been said most Commercially grown Mussels are grown on ropes and so no grit/sand

[Rooster]

just pour some flour on surface of a big bowl of water with the mussels in. They ingest the flour and the grit comes out, leaving them lovely and clean for eating!

[Heff]

Kneetrembler said:

I certainly would not want to buy any Mussels that had been kept in Freshwater as they would probably be dead
As has been said most Commercially grown Mussels are grown on ropes and so no grit/sand

Doh, didn't even think of that.

[jogon]

Bit of a thread revival but as were back in the 'r' months and they seem to be on every pub and restaurant specials board at the moment I thought I'd see if anyone has any special recipes.

Currently favouring Thai myself using this recipe - http://www.jamieoliver.com/magazine/recipes-view.p...

Quick and simple to cook and as mentioned by the OP very cheap to purchase from your fishmonger rather than pay £14.99 for 1/2 kilo with chips at your local.