The mussels: cleaning and preparation

The most complicated thing in preparing mussels, otherwise very simple to do, is their cleanliness;
operation from which, however, it cannot be exempted.
It is true that now in many fishmongers you can have mussels cleaned with a special machine but, once you get home, it is always better to complete the work.
Also because often the machine, no matter how delicate it is, breaks some of them, rendering them useless.
And the same goes for those purchased alive in sealed trays with modified atmosphere.

So let's roll up our sleeves and see how to proceed; both for cleaning and for subsequent steps.

Preparation:

Start by carefully washing the mussels under running water:
passemble them one by one throwing, without afterthought, all those that appear with the broken shell.

Pass them well with a small knife (or a metal brush) and gently remove the beard that protrudes.
Wash them very well (I leave them in the water, after a first rinse, in freshly salted water for half an hour; then rinse them again a couple of times).

Unless you want to consume them raw (I generally avoid it) now the mussels will have to be opened; operation to be performed hot in the pot.
Put them in a high-sided, covered, fire pan and cook them on a high heat for about ten minutes, stirring a couple of times until the mussels are open.

Mussels can be prepared in this way, naturally or already flavored at this stage (for example for the marinara preparation adding in the pot a couple of cloves of garlic (peeled and just crushed with the knife blade), olive oil and white wine; if you want to add a nice sprinkling of pepper and parsley.

As soon as they are opened, remove from the heat and remove the mussels that have remained closed.
Do not try to recover them by opening them by force, they should not be used!

The mussels are now ready to be consumed as they are, perhaps sprinkled with finely chopped garlic and parsley seasoned with a little olive oil, or used for other preparations.

ADVICES AND NOTES:

• Reserve the cooking liquid by filtering it (it can be used to flavor a sauce or another sea preparation).
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