Everything you need to know about cooking with mussels
If you are new to cooking with mussels at home, you will be pleasantly surprised to discover just how quick, easy and cheap it can be. With a little knowledge, you will be on your way to whipping up a delicious mussel dish in no time at all.
Delight your taste buds with the uniquely sweet, rich and creamy texture of our Australian blue mussels. Cooking with any of Eyre Peninsula Seafoods’ mussel products means you can enjoy the finest quality mussels all year round.
Here you will find everything you need to know about cooking with mussels.
Finding fresh mussels
We grow our mussels all year round – so they are always fresh.
You can buy them loose at the seafood counter, but you will need to do a little extra work before they are ready to cook. You will need to carefully clean and scrub the shells and remove the beard (small threads which hold the mussel to solid surfaces).
An easier and quicker option is to buy packaged mussels which are already cleaned, scrubbed and debearded. You can get your hands on packaged mussels at your local supermarket.
And because they are securely vacuum sealed you can keep them in the fridge for up to ten days… giving you plenty of time to cook them up.
A quick smell of the mussels is the best way to tell if they are still fresh. They should smell of the ocean – fresh and salty.
A single serve of mussels is around 250 grams with the shells. That’s the beauty of choosing packaged mussels… you can get the right amount of mussels. Whether you are feeding a family of four with a 1 kilo bag or making a dinner for two with a 500 gram bag of premium mussels.
Cooking mussels 101
The magic of cooking with mussels is that it’s so easy! You can cook mussels in less than five minutes. And because it’s so quick you should make sure you have any other ingredients such as pasta prepared ahead of time.
You can cook mussels in a number of different ways: steam, cook, pan roast or smoke.
The simplest way is to steam them:
Put about 1 cup of water into a medium-sized pot.
Turn the heat to high.
Add mussels to the pot and put on the lid.
After about five minutes you should notice the steam is coming out from under the lid.
Remove the mussels and serve in a bowl. Be careful not to overcook mussels as they can lose their flavour and become chewy.
Add some fresh crusty bread to soak up the tasty broth and enjoy – it’s that simple!
In place of water you can add in tomato sauce, white wine or cider. This gives mussels an extra boost of flavour. Or you can get creative… smoke your mussels or add them into a Spanish paella.
If you are worried about mussels being overly salty – there’s simply no need. Our mussels are naturally sweet as a result of the pristine waters we grow them in. But if you want to reduce their saltiness, simply rinse the mussels when you open them up before cooking.
What about unopened mussels? It’s a common wives’ tale to throw away mussels that don’t open once you have cooked the mussels. At Eyre Peninsula Seafoods, we use modern harvesting techniques that guarantee every mussel in the packet will be 100% safe to eat, as long as you have stored them below four degrees. Don’t throw away any that are unopened after cooking – prise open those little gems and enjoy!
Keep your mussels fresh
Mussels are best fresh.
Here are the best tips to keep in mind when storing your mussels:
Never freeze mussels. The best place to keep live mussels is in the chilled section of your fridge.
Once opened, you should cook fresh mussels mussels within two days.
Once cooked, you can keep mussels in the fridge for up to two days.
Ready to try cooking mussels at home?
It’s easy and simple with our range of Australia’s finest mussel brands: Kinkawooka Shellfish and Boston Bay Mussels.
No matter which brand you pick, you will enjoy the same great taste and quality. Plus, all of our mussels come ready to go – cleaned, scrubbed and debearded. So you can discover the joy of cooking with mussels, without the hassle of preparation.
Discover our range of premium mussels today and simple mussel recipes.