How to clean mussels - the rules for handling frozen, fresh and prepared foods

Mussels are deservedly considered to be one of the most delicious and nutritious delicacies, they are actively used in the kitchens of many countries of the world, even if they are not typical for a specific locality. Starting to create culinary masterpieces, you need to understand how to clean the mussels correctly, otherwise there is a risk to spoil the taste and aroma of a delicious dish. The approach will depend on the type of nutrient component.

Fresh, frozen and ready-made mussels are processed in different ways, each method has its own peculiarities and nuances. Correct pretreatment will allow not only to prepare a nutritious and nutritious food, but also guarantees the maximum benefit from the unique in chemical composition of meat.

How to clean a frozen product?

When starting a frozen component, start with its proper defrosting. To do this, we iron the products in a bag, place them in a container with cold water and always press the mussels with a load so that the shells do not open beforehand. The cargo should not be very heavy, otherwise the shells may crack and eat such meat will be dangerous.

The cleaning process itself looks like this:

1. For processing, we select only tightly closed shells, it is better to discard open products immediately. Quality product put in a pan, pour water, add a few spoons of cornmeal and keep in this form for an hour. Manipulation will get rid of the sand that can be contained in the shells.
2. If the products have antennae, remove them with pliers, pulling to the base of the sink. Next, we clean the shells of mussels, armed with a stiff brush.
3. We wash the products once more and immediately start cooking. Purified mussels should not be idle for longer than a few minutes.

The classic option is to immerse the products in hot water and boil them for 8-10 minutes, until the shells are completely opened. You can add a little white wine to the broth, then the meat will be especially tender and fragrant. The table is served only fully opened shells, the rest are thrown out.

Rules and features of cleaning fresh mussels

Fresh product must be prepared on the date of purchase. If the shells need to be kept in their original form for several hours, they should be put in a bowl, covered with a damp cloth and put into the refrigerator.

To clean mussels at home, you need the following scheme:

• First, select a quality product. Its shutters must be closed, on the shell can not be chipped, cracked or damaged.

Tip: Sometimes there are mussels, the leaves of which are slightly opened a little. In this case, you need to forcefully press them, if they shut, then the mussel is live and it can be cooked.

• The selected products are placed in a container with cold water, this will eliminate the sand.
• Half an hour after soaking, we begin to clean the sinks one by one under running water with a brush. The processed specimens are placed in clean water.

After such processing we boil the mussels according to the classic recipe or prepare them according to other instructions.

How should I handle a prepared dish?

Extraction of meat from a finished product is a real art and in the absence of appropriate skills, the process of eating delicacy can turn into torture. If the menu indicates a dish of mussels, then the table should be served with special appliances, consisting of tweezers and oyster forks.

We take the tweezers in the left hand, we grip the sink, which remains in the plate, and with the help of the fork carefully extract the meat. It is poured with sauce and is used for food. The used sinks are added to a separate plate. The whole procedure is quite troublesome, but after a while even begins to deliver aesthetic pleasure. The main thing is to act carefully so as not to splash the juice of others.

The processing of mussels before cooking is the key to quality cleaning of the product, because it is not very pleasant to feel on the teeth not juicy meat, but grains of sand. It is highly recommended not to pre-marinate the product, it will lose its traditional softness and turn into a fragrant but tasteless snack.

We recommend reading the article on how to freeze fresh champignons at home