How to store fresh collected mussels. Delicious mussels

How to choose seafood

Fresh mussels smell exclusively of the sea. If there is an unpleasant odor and foreign odors, the product is spoiled. When choosing mollusks in shells, you need to pay attention to their valves - they must be tightly closed. Frozen, peeled sea creatures are light yellow in color. The shells must be intact, the surface without cracks or damage. If this is present, it means that the shellfish were defrosted or stored incorrectly. These have already lost their beneficial properties and may not be safe for health. Larger mussels are tastier than their smaller counterparts.

You can check whether mussels are alive or not in the following way. Immerse them in cold water and soak for half an hour. Live (good) mussels will drown; those floating on the surface are not the first freshness. Another important feature is that live mussels always have closed shells. A slightly open shell of a living product - knock on it and it will immediately close; those that do not close can be thrown away.

How to store boiled mussels

Boiled, or boiled-frozen mussels are the main form in which they are found on sale. The mussels are cooked until cooked and frozen using the dry method, after which they become a fully ready-to-eat semi-finished product. Prepared mussel salads cannot be stored and should be purchased immediately before consumption. And prepared mussels in oil in jars should be stored as indicated by the manufacturer on the label.

After purchasing, you should store frozen mussels only in the freezer, and it is better to bring them home as soon as possible after purchase so that they do not have time to defrost. In this form they can be stored for up to two months at a temperature of -18°C or lower.

If you've already boiled the mussels for a salad or for pizza and haven't used them all at once, they can be refrozen by flash freezing and stored in the freezer for another week. And if you do not want to freeze ready-made mussels, they can be stored in the refrigerator in the freshness zone at a temperature of up to +5°C for no longer than a day.

Remember that mussels should be stored for a very short time, this seafood spoils quickly and such poisoning can lead to very serious consequences. In addition, you can buy mussels in every store and always have fresh, delicious seafood at home.

Mussels are a delicacy and a healthy product containing natural high-quality protein, which is equal in amino acid content to a chicken egg. In addition, mussels contain more than 30 minerals and trace elements, so in order to maintain the nutritional value of this product, you need to learn how to properly cook mussels. You can make soups, pilafs, salads and stews from mussels; they are salted, pickled, boiled, fried in batter, cooked over a fire and smoked.

This dish is served with rice, potatoes, meat, fish, vegetables, fruits and herbs - peeled or in shells. The mussels taste very tender, pleasant, sweet and salty, but most importantly, they are low-calorie (80 calories per 100 grams of meat), so they can be eaten in any quantity without fear for a slim figure. Now let's try to understand how to cook mussel meat according to all the rules.

It's no secret that mussels, along with shrimp, are one of the most popular seafood in Russia. The tender meat of these mollusks is perfect for preparing a wide variety of dishes.

Experts say that good mussels should smell only of the sea, and if there are foreign odors or an unpleasant odor, then the product is spoiled.
The shells of molluscs must be tightly closed.
Quality frozen mussels are usually light yellow in color, with no cracks on the surface of the ice. The presence of such defects indicates that the mussels have already been thawed, and, therefore, have lost their beneficial properties.
Large mussels are juicier and tastier than small shellfish.

How to cook mussels correctly - secrets and subtleties

Buy mussels of the same size. Small shells are not useful, they contain little meat, about the size of a tiny pea.
You need to defrost shellfish in the refrigerator, placing them in a bag. Slow thawing will preserve the taste and nutrients of the product. Afterwards, peel, rinse and drain them in a colander.
Blanch the mussels by pouring boiling water over them for a few minutes, or steam them.
Mussels cook quickly - 6-10 minutes. The shell doors must open after cooking. If this does not happen, then they are not fresh.
Since mussels are a highly perishable product, they must be cooked immediately.
Before cooking, wash them thoroughly under running water and carefully scrape off small algae with a brush or knife. They must be washed until shiny.
To be sure that shellfish do not contain sand or debris, they can be soaked in cold water for 4-6 hours.
To prepare mussels, you can use the following products: vegetable oil, lemon, salt, pepper, dry white wine, bay leaf, tomato, onion, bell pepper, garlic, sour cream, carrots, cheese. For herbs and spices - celery, fennel, thyme, parsley, rosemary, cilantro (coriander), star anise (star anise), basil, ginger, saffron. Additional components can be any products: sour cream, yogurt, cheese.
It is delicious to eat shellfish with beer and dry white wine.
Eat mussels with your hands using a fork. Take the opened cooked shell in one hand, and a fork in the other, which is used to twist the meat and separate it from the shells. You can replace the fork with a shell flap, and restaurants serve tongs for this purpose.
Cooled ready-made shellfish can be added to salads, main courses or sauces. Afterwards, they must be washed to eliminate the possibility of foreign particles getting in, dried and scattered on a flat plate.

Gastropods - rapana, trumpeter

Of course, no review of edible shells would be complete without mentioning gastropods. With rapana the situation is somewhat contradictory. They are listed in the Red Book in Russia, and their production is prohibited there, but in the Black Sea these gastropods have multiplied greatly. Their number has increased so much that they have now become a threat to the Black Sea mussels, and the Black Sea scallops and oysters have already been almost all eaten by them! Therefore, in Ukraine, rapana can be harvested absolutely legally, including being caught in an amateur manner. It is very simple - you only need a diving mask and fins, and you will have to dive to a depth of three to four meters. There are several ways to remove rapana from a shell, depending on whether you want to preserve its integrity. The rapana shell is very beautiful and will be a wonderful souvenir. In order not to damage it, the leg of the rapana is trimmed with a small knife, and the remaining meat must be scraped out and thrown away. If you don’t mind the sink, then place the brine in boiling water for about 3 minutes. After this, you can remove the meat with a fork or skewer and throw everything away, leaving only the white leg for further cooking. The trumpeter is another species of gastropod, smaller in size than rapana. Its habitats are much further north than that of the rapana. The extraction of trumpeter is in no way limited by laws on the protection of nature, and it is a complete analogue of rapana in terms of preparation. Once removed from the shell, the trumpeter should be cooked immediately. You can cook it for about 10 minutes and freeze it.

How to cook mussel meat

Fresh
shellfish must be cooked on the day of purchase, or stored in the refrigerator for a couple of days. They must first be cleared of shells and washed. Clams in shells - rinse thoroughly, remove shells and cracked shells. Then everything depends on imagination and taste preferences. The main thing is not to overcook them: peeled mussels are boiled for 5 minutes, clams in the shells - until the shells open.
Frozen
mussels are prepared in the same way as fresh ones. They are thawed and washed thoroughly. Readiness is determined as follows: cleaned frozen seafood is cooked for 7 minutes, and shellfish in shells - until the shells open. Mussels in shells should be brought to a boil, drained and boiled for 10 minutes in fresh water until opened.
are served
hot, because... cooled ones lose some of their taste. They are not prepared for future use due to the high risk of poisoning. Therefore, it is not recommended to heat and store them.

How to properly store mussels

Most often we buy this delicious seafood frozen. How to store mussels in the freezer, and how long can they last in the refrigerator?

We cannot know how long mussels were stored in the supermarket before we bought them, so it is better not to stock up on them for future use, because they are always on sale.

In the freezer, it is necessary to set the minimum temperature, not lower than 18°C, then the mussels will retain their taste and aroma.

If you bought canned mussels and did not eat the whole jar, you can store the mussels for no longer than 3 days, tightly closed. You can add a little oil to the jar to cover the mussels and store them as directed on the label.

How to cook frozen mussels: step-by-step recipe

Before you cook frozen mussels, you should select them. They are usually sold by weight or packaged in vacuum bags. Seafood should be covered with a thin layer of ice - it retains its beneficial properties and taste. Carefully feel and shake the frozen bag: the mussels should not be a frozen lump, and there should be no crunch of snow inside the bag. The presence of these defects indicates that the mussels have already been thawed. If possible, choose sea reptiles that are packaged in a clear bag or a bag with clear “windows” so that you can evaluate their appearance.

Calorie content per 100 g - 172 kcal.
Number of servings - 2
Cooking time - 10 minutes

Ingredients:

Frozen mussels without shells - packaging
Water - a large saucepan filled 2/3 with water
Table salt - to taste
Seasonings and spices - to taste

Preparation:

Wash the mussels thoroughly in running water, remove all dirt and algae.
Fill the pan with water, add salt, spices, herbs and bring to a boil.
Boil and place the clams in boiling salted water.
Bring to a boil again, reduce the gas to low and cook for 5 minutes. The specific cooking time depends on the size of the shellfish. Large reptiles can be cooked for 5 minutes, small ones for 3.
After a certain time, transfer the mussels to a plate. If you leave them in a pan, for example, to keep them warm, the clams will turn rubbery.

How to cook frozen mussels in shells

Housewives of coastal countries have more than one favorite recipe for cooking mussels, which cannot be said about housewives of the middle zone.
And although seafood recipes are becoming more and more popular and more and more people are mastering them, not many people still know how to cook them correctly. Ingredients:

Mussels in shells - 1 kg
Drinking water - 4 l
Salt and spices - to taste

Step-by-step preparation of mussels at home:

Thaw the shells of frozen sea inhabitants, wash them well and clean until shiny. Completely remove sand and dark, tough ingrown algae.
Place a pot of water on the stove and boil over high heat. Salt and add spices.
Reduce the heat to low and cook the frozen reptiles at a low simmer without a lid for 3-5 minutes. After using a slotted spoon, remove them from the water and use them for their intended purpose.

Mussels are extremely healthy, tender and delicious shellfish. Dishes with mussel meat can be found in the cuisines of many countries. Rich in vitamins and minerals, healthy mussels strengthen the immune system and stimulate metabolism. There are many cooking options - they are boiled, stewed in sauces, fried in oil, prepared in salads and snacks. In countries far from the sea coast, few people know how to properly prepare fresh mussels; the easiest and most nutritious way is in shells.

To cook fresh mussels in shells, you will need:

Mussels in shells, always fresh – 1 kg;
Water – 1 l;
Salt and spices;
Juice of 1 lemon.

Rinse the mussels thoroughly, use a knife to remove growths, algae residues, sand, and limestone deposits from the shells. In this case, partially opened shells must be thrown away. The shells of fresh and edible mussels must be tightly closed. Boil water, add salt, spices and lemon juice. Place the prepared mussels in a large saucepan with a small amount of boiling water - the top of the shells should remain on the surface. Cook the mussels for about 5 minutes, during which time their shells should open and the meat should be cooked. We remove only the opened mussels from the water, discard the unopened ones. The finished meat is suitable for salad; you can take it out, put it in one of the doors and sprinkle with lemon. A very tasty recipe for mussels in shells, stewed in garlic or wine sauce. You will need:

Mussels in shells – 1 kg;
Lemon – 1 piece;
Olive oil – 80 ml;
Garlic – 5 cloves;
Salt, spices;
Greens – dill, parsley.

The mussels must be washed well, as in the previous recipe, placed in a saucepan with a small amount of water and heated until the doors open, then removed.
Prepare the garlic sauce - pour olive oil into a frying pan and place garlic cloves in the oil. Stir until you smell the garlic, remove the garlic itself, and put the mussels in the oil, after removing the top flap. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze out the juice, sprinkle the mussels on top with finely chopped herbs, add spices. They should be simmered, covered with a lid, for 6-7 minutes. Place the finished ones on a dish, sprinkle with lemon and serve with white wine. One recipe option is to simmer mussels in wine sauce instead of garlic sauce. A tasty secret is to boil them in their shells, adding 1 glass of wine to 1 glass of water. The shellfish will acquire the delicate taste and aroma of white wine. Also delicious are mussels baked in the oven, with grated tomatoes, bread crumbs, parsley in olive oil. It's easy to prepare a salad with vegetables, herbs and tender mussel meat. There are a lot of recipes, the main thing is to find the one that suits you. Dishes made from mussels cannot be stored, they spoil quickly, and low-quality mussels can easily cause poisoning. But you can keep fresh mussels in shells, in the refrigerator, wrapped in a towel. It is also permissible to freeze mussels for a period of 3 months; to do this, pour a little water into the container with them. Mussels are an easy to prepare, nutritious, tasty and aromatic seafood product. They are most often served in Belgium, where it is a national dish. When combined with cold wine, shellfish turn into a delicate delicacy.

Seafood is very popular because it is a source of healthy vitamins and microelements. Some of them, for example, mussels, are considered delicacies. There are many recipes for preparing them, including various appetizers and side dishes, where the shellfish are cooked in their shells. You can create delicious mussel dishes yourself; the main thing is to choose the right shellfish and adhere to some nuances regarding their preparation.

Beneficial features

1. A tasty mussel contains a large amount of protein and at the same time, there is practically no harmful fat in it, for example, a dozen mussels replace a good piece of meat in nutritional value, but are much healthier. Therefore, it is an ideal product in the diet of athletes, workers engaged in heavy production and people recovering from serious illnesses.

3. Regular consumption of mussels reduces the risk of cancer, strengthens the immune system, promotes the removal of harmful substances from the body and improves the quality of the blood.

4. Mussels have a low calorie content, only 77 kcal per 100 g and are a good antioxidant, and the abundance of phosphatidates has a beneficial effect on liver function.

5. In addition, mussels are rich in unsaturated fatty acids, various microelements and vitamins, which improve brain activity and vision.

In addition to the beneficial properties, mussels also have a disadvantage. The thing is that these mollusks, passing a huge amount of water through themselves, accumulate a rather dangerous nerve poison, saxitoxin, and large amounts of it are unsafe for humans. However, if you choose the right products, the risk of poisoning is minimal.

How to choose delicious mussels

It is believed that the best tasting mussels are those caught in the cold season. Mussels can be sold with or without shells.

The caught mussels are tightly closed, and when scalded with boiling water or boiled for 5 minutes, they should open; if they do not open, then they can be safely thrown away.

To check their freshness and quality, you can also shake them; nothing should be loose inside the shells

The smell of fresh produce is reminiscent of the sea, and bad-smelling shellfish can harm your health.

You should also not buy mussels with whitish or broken shells.

When purchasing frozen products by weight, make sure there is no ice on them.

How to store

Once caught, fresh and tasty mussels can live for several more days. Immediately after purchase, they must be covered with ice so that they do not come into contact with flowing water. Store no more than 3 days

It is better to cook purchased fresh mussels on the same day, since due to the large amount of protein they contain, harmful bacteria quickly begin to form, leading to poisoning.

How to use

The best way to cook mussels is to steam them, but you can also boil them for 3-5 minutes. Before eating shellfish, they are usually sprinkled with lemon juice.

A man in a tavern ordered a dish with mussels for the first time and asks the waiter:

- Hey, how do you dig these mussels out of there?

The waiter answers:

- There’s no need to dig them out. You just make a hole in the side of the mussel and suck it out. The man understood everything, took the mussel, made a hole and began to suck it out. I sucked it out for a long time - nothing worked. I decided to look through the hole to see what was wrong. He looked, and there the mollusk in a terrible pose spread out in all directions, rested, saw a man and said in an angry voice:

- What are you looking at, come on, suck!

From this article you learned, but whether to include it in your diet or not is up to everyone to decide for themselves.

Have a successful and useful shopping!

We have a special attitude towards seafood, because these are quite expensive products. If you bought this delicacy and don’t know how to store mussels, it’s time to learn all the secrets of storing this tasty and healthy seafood. We love mussels for their unique taste and aroma, and even a small supply of them at home is a guarantee that when guests arrive, you can prepare an amazing table in just half an hour. How to store mussels at home, we will tell you about this in our article.

Selecting a product and required equipment

Mussels are affordable and quite nutritious. At home, you can prepare many delicious and original dishes from them. Uncleaned seafood is usually purchased for heat treatment. In addition to their attractive and exotic appearance, mussels in their original state attract buyers for another reason. An important advantage of unpeeled shellfish is the ability to discard stale specimens during the preparation process in order to avoid the risk of poisoning.

As for the taste of the future dish, it depends on proper preparation and compliance with all possible subtleties of the process. To cook shellfish in shells, you should adhere to a number of rules when choosing them.

Regardless of whether fresh or frozen mussels are purchased, it is worth selecting the largest possible shellfish, since small shells will contain very little tasty and nutritious meat.
A visual inspection of the container with the proposed products will help determine the presence of damaged shellfish. It is not worth purchasing and preparing such specimens, since there is a high probability that the mussels were stored and transported in violation of established requirements.

Seafood with an open shell will indicate that the shellfish was most likely already dead or diseased when caught and packaged.

You can check the quality of fresh seafood by knocking on the shell - a suitable product should close its doors.
Frozen goods must be defrosted before cooking. In this case, the defrosting process should be gentle, eliminating the use of a microwave oven. This will allow the seafood to retain all its beneficial components as much as possible.
Both frozen and fresh shellfish need to be cleaned until their shells are smooth. For such work, a knife that is not too sharp is suitable; it needs to be used to scrape the doors.
To thoroughly prepare seafood before cooking, it is best to keep it in cold water. This will make it easier to get rid of sand and other sediments, in addition, it will allow you to simultaneously remove unusable, dead shellfish from the entire mass.

To work with the dish during the cooking process and for serving it, you can purchase special tongs and forks. They make it more convenient to hold the shell flaps and remove the meat.

Cooking features

Unpeeled mussels can be boiled, stewed, fried, cooked in the oven or over a fire. To improve the taste of the product, professional chefs recommend using not only ordinary salt water for stewing and boiling, but also white wines, lemon or tomato juice, dairy products, and various sauces based on garlic, dill or pepper. You can use one ingredient or several components at once for a dish.

If shellfish will be boiled in their shells, a minimal amount of water should be used for heat treatment. When cooking, it is better to give preference to sea salt instead of regular table salt. However, the use of salt is not necessary, since the shellfish meat itself has a salty taste.

Stewing mussels in wine, fish broth, water, sauce or milk should also be done by adding a minimum amount of liquid. The best option is the amount of product used that will simply cover the bottom of the cookware.

You can determine the readiness of the shellfish by the fact that they will appear on the surface, while the valves will be open. As a rule, 4-6 minutes are enough for this. Those mussels that remained at the bottom or did not open must be discarded.

A product that has not been cold-treated should be checked for freshness during preparatory work. To do this, a test is carried out: the purchased batch is immersed in water for 15-20 minutes. After this time, fresh shellfish will drown. It is recommended to remove those that continue to float on top.

A rather original way to consume this seafood is the option that includes raw shellfish, which, after mandatory cleaning, before serving, are simply sprinkled with lemon juice and lightly salted. However, this recipe is not used often. Typically, mussels are still cooked.

Recipes

The fastest and easiest way to prepare mussels is, of course, to boil them. The dish includes:

fresh shellfish;
lemon;
salt, black pepper;
water.

The heat treatment technology is described below.

Before cooking seafood, they must be kept in chilled water for about 20 minutes. After this, the ingredients suitable for further processing must be cleaned of silt, sand and other impurities using a brush or knife.
The next step is to prepare the lemon. You need to cut it into two halves and squeeze the fresh juice into a container for boiling shellfish. If bones get into the pan, it is better to remove them.
Then you need to add a little water, salt and spices to the juice. The mussels should be dipped in the resulting liquid and placed on the stove with the lid closed.
When the water boils, you can reduce the heating temperature and let the clams cook for about 5 minutes. Those shells that have already opened should be taken out and placed on a separate dish. If the remaining shells do not open after 2-3 minutes, they should be discarded.

To prepare mussels in wine you will need the following products:

frozen shellfish (for example);
carrot;
dry white wine;
butter;
white pepper

The dish is prepared using simple technology.

After defrosting, the clams need to be kept in plain water for about half an hour, after which they should be cleaned and the antennae, if any, should be cut off.
Vegetables need to be peeled and cut into small squares, then fry in butter until cooked.
Add peeled shellfish to the vegetables, add wine and pepper all the ingredients. The dish should be simmered at medium temperature for about 5 minutes with the lid closed. After this, you need to remove the dishes from the heat and stir the dish. The mussels will be ready after opening the shells.

It is better to serve shellfish immediately. As a rule, this snack is combined with croutons or white bread.

You can extinguish unpeeled mussels using a fairly popular technology, which is presented below. To prepare this healthy dish you will need the following ingredients:

fresh shellfish;
water;
lemon;
greens (optional);
garlic;
salt pepper;
butter and cream.

The dish is prepared in several steps.

Cleaned seafood should be placed in a container with water and lemon juice. If desired, you can lightly salt the liquid.
The pan should be put on fire, the seafood should be brought to a boil. You need to take out the finished mussels and remove one flap of each shell.
Then the mussels should be transferred to a frying pan, melt the butter in it, add chopped garlic and cream. The dish needs to simmer for 5 minutes.
Then the dish should be placed on a flat plate, and the herbs should be added to the sauce and boiled. The seafood can be poured with marinade and served.

Unpeeled shellfish can not only be boiled and stewed, but also baked. To prepare delicious baked mussels at home, you need to take the following ingredients:

seafood;
tomatoes;
bread;
oil;
garlic,
parsley;
cloves;
salt pepper.

The operating technology is simple.

The product must be immersed in water and boiled until it opens. The top flaps of cooled products should be removed.
Then you need to press the garlic and rinse the tomatoes with hot water to remove the skins. The pulp should be crushed and combined with garlic.
Then you need to mix salt and spices. The bread should be grated into the tomato-garlic mixture, sprinkled with spices and sprinkled with olive oil.
After heating the oven to 170-180°C, you need to line the pan with parchment, place the shellfish on it, and pour in tomato sauce. Bake the dish for about 10 minutes. It should be served by dividing it into portions or placing it on one shallow dish.

Cheese goes well with seafood. To cook mussels in the oven with cheese, you need to take:

any shellfish;
mayonnaise;
water;
lemon;
garlic;

The dish is prepared using the technology described below.

Shellfish need to be processed and boiled in regular lightly salted water, removing unusable shells. Afterwards the product should be cooled.
Then you need to open the doors, take out the meat, chop it, pour over citrus juice and mayonnaise, and sprinkle with garlic. All ingredients should be mixed well.
The resulting mixture should be spread over the shells and sprinkled with chopped cheese on top. It is best to use a fine grater so that the dairy product quickly takes on the required consistency during heat treatment.
After preheating the oven, place the dish in a mold or directly on a baking sheet. You need to bake for 5 minutes in an oven preheated to +200°C.

This dish can be prepared for a regular lunch or served at a holiday table. Shellfish should be cooked immediately before serving to preserve all the flavor and prevent the cheese from drying out.

Since mussels in shells are considered an exquisite and delicious dish, famous chefs actively use some secrets to make seafood as tasty as possible.

As for the classic option of serving boiled shellfish, to improve the taste of seafood, it is recommended to boil them in water and white wine in a 1:1 ratio. This method will give the dish an incredible aroma.
To prepare various soups consisting of a mix of seafood, it is worth using mussel broth as a base, which remains after boiling. In this case, the first hot dish will have the aroma of the sea.

One of the most delicious delicacies is mussels. They come in various types, very healthy, rich in natural microelements and minerals, but very low in calories. You can prepare a wide variety of dishes from mussels: they are baked, boiled, stewed, fried, marinated, added to pilaf, spaghetti. Below you will learn how to cook mussels deliciously, correctly, in shells and without them.

How to cook delicious mussels

It is known that seafood, including mussels, are... There are many ways to easily prepare mussels for dinner. Here are a few recipes that will make your partner go crazy, and you yourself will not remain indifferent. You can cook fresh mussels or frozen ones.

Mussels in creamy sauce

What you will need:

a pair of garlic cloves;
3-4 spoons of heavy cream;
greens, parsley, dill, ;
400 g frozen mussels;
a couple of spoons of olive oil.

How to cook:

Pour oil into a saucepan, put on high heat, add unthawed peeled mussels.
Finely chop the herbs and garlic and add to the saucepan.
Stirring gently, cook for a couple of minutes, then pour in the cream.
Reduce heat to low and simmer seafood in sauce for 5-10 minutes.
If desired, you can add salt and grated cheese.

Seafood in batter

Ingredients:

3 spoons of flour;
400 g of frozen mussels, or a kilogram with shells;
100 ml white;
egg;
230 ml vegetable oil;
half a lemon;
half a spoon of salt;
ground black pepper.

How to cook:

Thaw frozen seafood at room temperature and dry with a napkin.
Place the defrosted food on a plate and sprinkle flour on all sides.
Beat a chicken egg, pour in alcohol, salt and pepper.
Add flour and knead into a thin batter.
Dip seafood into the dough and place on a hot, greased surface.
Fry for 4-8 minutes, stirring gently.
Place on a napkin; when excess fat is absorbed, transfer to a plate.

Marinated mussels

Components:

glass of water;
350 g mussels;
half a spoon of vinegar;
1.5 spoons of granulated sugar;
lavrushka;
sunflower oil;
peas;
half a spoon of salt.

How to cook:

Thaw seafood. Bring the water to a boil.
Pour boiling water over the mussels for 12 minutes, then drain the liquid.
Marinade - boil a glass of water, adding salt, bay leaf, 3 peppercorns, granulated sugar. After removing from the stove, add vinegar.
Place the shellfish in a container, pour in the marinade, and pour oil on top. Close the container until the mussels have cooled completely.

Pasta with mussels

What you will need:

300 g fresh tomatoes;
3 spoons of olive oil;
salt, ground pepper;
350 g mussels;
350 g short;
a couple of cloves of garlic;
fresh greens.

How to cook:

Boil the mussels.
Boil pasta in salted water until fully cooked.
Pour oil into a saucepan, heat and add chopped herbs and garlic. Fry for 4 minutes.
Add chopped tomatoes, salt, pepper and simmer for 7 minutes.
Then add the mussels and mix thoroughly.
Place the prepared pasta on a plate and place the mussels in the sauce on top.

How to cook mussels in shells

Shellfish can be cooked not only in their peeled form, but also in their shells. True, when buying, you should pay attention to the appearance and aroma. It is necessary that the mussels smell only of the sea, and that there are no streaks or cracks on the frozen products. If there are cracked shells in the package, they should be thrown away without regret.

Boiled mussels are easy to prepare. Rinse the shells, place in cold water and put on fire, bringing to a boil. Then drain the liquid and boil the shells again in cold water for about 12 minutes. If desired, you can sprinkle with spices and fresh herbs.

Baked mussels

fresh seafood in shells 500 g;
a small piece of hard;
a pair of garlic cloves;
fresh herbs;
a spoonful of butter and olive oil;
3 spoons of water;
ground black pepper.

How to cook:

Rinse the mussels thoroughly with a brush, discard any cracked or open ones.
Place the mussels in a saucepan, add water, cover with a lid and boil for about 5 minutes.
Drain the liquid and set aside the opened shells. Remove one half of the shell, leaving the meat on the other.
Place the clams in the pan. Melt separately and cool.
Add grated cheese, herbs, pepper, garlic, olive oil into the oil. If desired, you can add a little lemon juice.
Place a little cheese mixture on each shell, pressing down lightly.
Preheat the oven and remove the pan in it for literally 3-5 minutes.

Mussels stewed in cream

Ingredients:

75 ml semi-dry white wine;
garlic clove;
small onion;
200 g frozen mussels per shell;
100 ml heavy cream;
solid .

How to cook:

Defrost the sinks and rinse them.
Heat a greased frying pan.
Finely chop the garlic and onion, place in a frying pan, cook for about a minute, stirring constantly.
Place the mussels with the shells up, pour in the wine and simmer for a couple of minutes.
Grate the cheese and pour into a saucepan. Pour in the cream, simmer until thick.
Serve with sauce.

How to cook mussels

Boiling shellfish is quite simple; the most important thing is not to overcook them in water, otherwise they will become rubbery and inedible. Mussels with shells should first be thoroughly washed and brushed. Boil them in cold water twice. The first time, bringing it to a boil, and the second time, boiling them for 5-7 minutes after boiling.

Peeled frozen mussels do not need to be boiled, because they are boiled before freezing. They can be thawed and “finished” using a water bath.

If the recipe says “boil”, then you can cook them for no more than 10 minutes. Lightly salt the water and add fresh herbs and various spices. Boiled shellfish can be consumed this way, or added to salads, rice, pasta, spaghetti, even in...

You can also first boil the broth with herbs, spices, carrots, and after boiling, add the peeled mussels and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Mussels are a delicacy beloved by many, which can be boiled for a holiday table or just for dinner, and you can also prepare many delicious dishes from them, so in this article we will look at how much and how to properly cook mussels (fresh, frozen) at home.

How to store cooked mussels

You can often find mussels on sale already boiled, so they can be stored for a very long time if deep frozen. If you have cooked mussels and haven't used them all, you can store them the way we usually store meat or fish. Ready mussels can be stored in the freezer, as supermarkets do. Place the mussels in a tray, after letting the water drain, or better yet, blot them with paper napkins to prevent ice from forming. How long should you store ready-made mussels and how to ensure that they are ready for use immediately after defrosting? During cooking, add spices and salt to the water so that the mussels are ready; when boiled, they can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How to store ready-made mussels if you have already seasoned them? Place the finished dish in a clean glass container and store in the refrigerator for no longer than a day.

How long to cook mussels?

The cooking time for mussels depends on the type of mussels (fresh, frozen), as well as whether they have been shelled (shelled) or not. Let's consider separately how long you need to cook mussels in a pan:

How long to cook fresh mussels in a pan?
Fresh mussels in shells must be cooked for 4-5 minutes after the water boils in the pan.
How long to cook peeled frozen mussels?
Freshly frozen mussels should be cooked for 5-7 minutes after boiling water in a pan, and boiled frozen peeled mussels should be cooked for 2-3 minutes after boiling water.

Note: when preparing mussels, you should follow the cooking time, as overcooked mussels will be tough and less tasty.

Having found out how long to cook mussels, we will next consider the process of cooking these shellfish in a saucepan.

How to cook mussels (frozen, fresh) in a saucepan?

Regardless of the type of mussels - fresh or frozen (boiled, fresh), the sequence of their cooking is the same, only the preparation for cooking differs (fresh mussels in the shell must be thoroughly rinsed before cooking and manually remove any remaining algae, if any). Let's look at how to cook mussels in a saucepan step by step:

Pour cold water into the pan (on average 1 kg of mussels per liter of water) and bring to a boil over high heat.
Add salt to the boiling water, seasonings if desired (bay leaf, herbs, garlic), then add the mussels. Cook the mussels for 4-5 minutes if the mussels are fresh in shells, 5-7 minutes for fresh frozen ones or 2-3 minutes for peeled and boiled frozen ones.
At the end of cooking, immediately remove the cooked mussels from the pan (you can drain the water through a colander), since if they are left in the water, they will boil and become rubbery.
We serve boiled mussels to the table, and to improve their taste, the mussels can be doused with lemon juice or a prepared sauce (for example, olive oil, garlic and fresh herbs).

Note: if fresh mussels do not open during cooking, then they are lost and should not be eaten (after cooking, unopened mussels are selected and thrown away).
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How to properly store mussels

On sale, mussels, or mytilids, are found in every corner of the earth and are among the products that are popular all over the world. It’s good that they are also found in the Black Sea, and they are not so expensive here, only twice as expensive as beef, but how much healthier they are! Mussels can be found on sale in three types:

fresh in shells;
boiled-frozen;
canned;
mussel salad.

We will tell all gourmets about ways to store mussels of different types.