Cooking and preparing mussels?!


Question: I have cooked mussel's myself many times- I always clean them well and very rarely have any beard left after cooking.
I recently went to a "decent" restaurant and ordered mussels- upon which there was about 10 mussel's with beard on.
I complained ,and was told that the beard grows INSIDE the mussel and naturally occurs--is this true?
I found it hard to believe , but I bowed down to the chefs superior knowledge- was he correct - or was i conned?


Answers: I have cooked mussel's myself many times- I always clean them well and very rarely have any beard left after cooking.
I recently went to a "decent" restaurant and ordered mussels- upon which there was about 10 mussel's with beard on.
I complained ,and was told that the beard grows INSIDE the mussel and naturally occurs--is this true?
I found it hard to believe , but I bowed down to the chefs superior knowledge- was he correct - or was i conned?

The beard is used by the mussel to cling to surfaces and is tough .....and should have been removed while being cleaned...IF they were cleaned at all.....what you had was a lazy chef.....shame on him for not having more pride in his food.

no,really hope u didnt eat them dude/madam....f u did see a doc soon,,,,

No you weren't conned, some mussels do have these beards. New Zealand ones especially. There is nothing to worry about here, you're not going to eat the beard anyway.

It is nothing to worry about, the beard isn't going to harm you.

Conned- mussels have beards to hold onto a surface outside the shell sand can be inside the shell. Also any shells closed means it was no good when cooked. You knew better having cooked it before and cleaned them.

No and you knew this having prepared them many times yourself, and had you ever seen them that way in a restuarant in your life?

PREPAIRING;

Scrub the shells with a stiff brush to remove all the grit. With a sharp knife, scrape away the beard or seaweed-like strands protruding from each shell, and also scrape off the barnacles growing on the shells. Rinse the mussels in several changes of water to remove any remaining grit.

COOKING;

Put the cleaned mussels in a large heavy-based pan containing 1cm/half inch water or white wine, chopped parsley and shallots or onions. Cover the pan with a lid and heat until the liquid boils. Reduce the heat so that the does not boil too rapidly, then steam the mussels for about 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. As soon as the shells open, take the pan off the heat and remove a half shell from each mussel. Keep the mussels warm under a dry cloth, and strain the cooking liquid . Serve with liquid poured over them. Discard any mussels that are still closed.

Going off the picture in this book that I got this information from, it shows the beard on the outside.

Certainly the beard is a naturally occurring phenomenon of the mussel. However I do believe that thorough cleaning should in the majority of cases remove most of the beard. I usually scrub the mussels, scrape the barnacles off and tear the beards away from the closed "mouth" by pinching between thumb and forefinger.
As someone who has prepared them yourself I think you were right to complain and that the preparation in the restaurant was, at best, a little sloppy.
In an environment where you are paying for the food I think they should have paid more attention to detail.

Some mussel types do have beard on the inside, but any chef worth his salt would clean them before serving





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