Food

[Raza]

There are at least to great things about mussels; they are freaking delicious and out here at least, they are incredibly affordable.

These ones were sort of a Mexican take on mussels.

How do you normally make you mussels? I haven't made them at home in a long, long time. Like, two homes ago.

[geoffbot]

How do you normally make you mussels? I haven't made them at home in a long, long time. Like, two homes ago.

You didn't ask me but I use cream, white wine, onion, salt and pepper, lemon juice, garlic and herbs - tarragon and parsley I think, and cook the mussels in them, serve with buttered bread.

[Henry Krinkle]

Elaborate

How do you normally make you mussels? I haven't made them at home in a long, long time. Like, two homes ago.

In this case, a lightish beer, mexican chorizo, garlic, a cayenne pepper, cumin, onion, cilantro. break up the Chorizo and brown, add onions, garlic, cayenne and cumin and cook until the onions and garlic are translucent. Add beer, bring to a boil and cook down for about a minute, reduce heat to a simmer, put the mussels on top and put on the lid. Check after four minutes, if quite a few haven't opened, put the lid back on for another minute.

Often I do them with tomato, Spanish chorizo, chile, dry white wine, onions and maybe fennel.

White wine, cream and saffron is good.

Bacon and beer is a winning start.

When I do cioppino mussels are the dominant seafood I use.

I just found an Asian-y recipe with coconut cream that looks pretty good. I think I'll try those next time.

[Raza]

You didn't ask me but I use cream, white wine, onion, salt and pepper, lemon juice, garlic and herbs - tarragon and parsley I think, and cook the mussels in them, serve with buttered bread.

That sounds quite tasty, but I was being far more basic. I mean, do you steam them, do you saute them, do you bake them?

[Henry Krinkle]

That sounds quite tasty, but I was being far more basic. I mean, do you steam them, do you saute them, do you bake them?

I always steam them. I put them on top of whatever broth I am making and then put the lid on. Four minutes. I have never gone beyond six. If any don't open then, I discard them. Even at six minutes I get concerned they'll be over cooked.

[geoffbot]

I always steam them. I put them on top of whatever broth I am making and then put the lid on.

Same

[boatme99]

I used to love mussles but years ago when I first started working on boats and was making almost no money, I would frequent a neighborhood tavern that featured cheap draft beer and steamed mussles almost every day for happy hour.
Kinda got burned out on them.

[Henry Krinkle]

I can see that. Even I don't want them everyday.

[Henry Krinkle]

This is a light and delicious lunch we've been making lately. A bit of rice, a jammy egg, quick pickled cukes, a dill and sour cream sauce and a bit of smoked fish. In this case it is some whitefish a friend caught. I then smoked all of it and we split the results between the two of us. Whitefish is a freshwater relative of salmon and quite delish, for those unfamiliar with it.

[boatme99]

A seafood market just opened in my town. I stopped in yesterday to check it out.
They claim they get fresh deliveries every other day, yesterday apparently was the second day. Very little selection. 1 piece of red snapper, 1 piece grouper, about 1 dozen cherrystones (a couple already dead), etc.
It would be nice to get fresh seafood but we're so far from the ocean this stuff has to be at least a few days old.
It's also very pricey, if course. $21-29 a pound for most items. I don't think they'll make it here, folks around here are too "frugal" to spend that kind of dough.
Around here, Capt D's is considered good seafood!