ISO: ISO Richard, Joe, et al. An excerpt from Saveur’s recipe for the grilled mussels (post #7078)

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“- - - I walk out back and observe Edith pouring a sack of fresh bouchot mussels (a prized variety found along the western coast of France) onto her Weber grill (one of several she’s bought since her first visit to my family, years ago) and arranging them so that they’re wedged vertically between the grill’s slats. Next, Eric hauls a burlap bag filled with dried longleaf pine needles out of the garden shed and loads heaping handfuls of the needles on top of the shellfish. Finally, after aperitifs are served, I am given the honor of touching a match to the needles, which catch instantly and send a fearsome column of flame and smoke skyward. Once the fire has subsided, we dust away the ashes and gingerly pluck the hot mussels right off the grill, pulling out the tender, smoke-tinged flesh with our fingers and popping it into our mouths.”

Be careful!

 
I am SO going to have to try this!

Vertically, huh? That means they want the juice to run off so they get smoked better I guess. But I still can't imagine that the mussels aren't covered in ash, since they do open wide when they're cooked, they've positioned them straight up, and they talk about brushing away the ash.

 
Maybe you'll have to be quick with your mini brush before they open? If not, you'll just

have to enjoy carcinogenic heaven - lol!

 
It's official. I was wrong--the pine needles go on top of the mussels. I'm confused about

arranging them vertically. To me the juices are the best part.

 
But if they're wedged vertically, wouldn't that keep them from opening?

The bars of the grill would keep the mussel closed, right? And I agree about the ash (although isn't a bit of charcoal good for your system?). Someone had better try this soon and report back. Or find a picture for us to look at. This really needs to be cleared up!

I had the best steamed mussels at a biker bar a few months ago. They were fabulous; just as good as anything I had in Brussels when I lived there.

 
Hmm, I hadn't thought about that. It seems the more information we get about the "Mussel Bake,"

the more it seems like a ritual shrouded in mystery, LOL.

If I had about six months' free time I'd go through all the old videos in the cupboard to see if I could find the TV episode I first saw this on. It was an '80s French show called "Le Cuisine des Mousqueteres" (sp?) with Madame Maite, a hearty bonne femme from the Southwest of France who makes Julia Child look petite and demure. (I once watched her nail an eel's head to her table so she could skin it more easily. I don't think she'd have minded a little ash in her mussels)

All I recall is that she did it in her fireplace and the whole procedure took just a few minutes.

 
Look! A clue cried Nancy...

The sleuth then posted this recipe for

MUSSELS COOKED IN PINE NEEDLES
(Trout Point Lodge Cookbook)

A meal featured in a CBC program about the Order of Good Cheer prompted authors Vaughn Perret, Daniel Abel and Charles Leary to “perfect the settlers’ technique of cooking wild-harvested mussels in dry pine or spruce needles. The flavour of the mussels is marvelous – just be careful not to get ashes on them! This is best done in a fireplace or outdoors on a grill.”

2 pounds fresh mussels, cleaned and de-bearded
About 2 armfuls of clean dry pine or other conifer needles

Arrange a substantial bed of pine needles on the floor of a fireplace or grill. Lay the mussels on the pine needles in a single layer, with at least one-half inch between mussels. To help prevent ashes from getting into the mussels, place a piece of fine-mesh metal hardware cloth or screen over the mussels. Then cover the mussels with pine needles. Ignite the needles at several points around the perimeter, adding more as needed to keep the fire going until the mussels open, 5-8 minutes. Pick the mussels out of the ashes and serve immediately.

 
Look cried George! Another clue!!!

Wolfert book —An article in last week's section on "The Cooking of Southwest France" said that nine pounds of fava beans had to be husked and peeled. Although nine pounds are husked, only one cup of the beans had to be peeled.


I began with éclade de moules, a legendary dish from the Charentes region of France, along the Bay of Biscay. Traditionally, it's made by packing mussels tightly onto a wooden plank laid out on the ground of a handy forest clearing, covering them with half a foot of pine needles and lighting the needles on fire. When the flames die down, the ashes are brushed away and the mussels eaten with "ash-blackened fingertips."

Trying this at home seemed problematic, particularly since I live in a downtown loft, not in a pine forest..

 
Aha exclaimed Ned! But here is the photo to answer All of the questions!

Mussels,
a method of cooking mussels in the region

I like, you like, we like, everyone likes mussels, nature, marinières or in sauce Mouclade.

Then, you will also like the "éclade", it is the official name for this method of cooking mussels but people from this region generally say "la terrée".

Enjoy the éclade or terrée with friends, in the garden. Do you want the recipe?

You will need 500 grams of mussels per person, a piece of wood about 50 cms by 50 cms, and a bag of pine needles, which you will go to collect with the children, in the forest of Palmyre or somewhere else.

When the mussels have been washed, the hardest work will begin. You have to do a balancing act with them. First of all,you need to stand the mussels on the board stacked tightly together, with the pointed part of the shell facing upwards.
A little trick to help you succeed ; put half a potato in the centre of the board to hold the first mussels upright.
Once you get the first mussels in place, the rest is easy – you will see !

Then you must cover all of the mussels with your pine needles and strike a match to light them. Attention, please, set fire to the mussels, not the house!

Lovely to look at, delightful to eat. While the mussels cook in their shells and in their juice (for a few minutes), you should have prepared slices of fresh buttered bread or toast, with slices of pâté or cold pork which will accompany this meal of mussels beautifully.

Please, do not forget to provide a big basin of water nearby, not to drink, but to rinse your fingers, because this gourmet menu is best eaten with your fingers and the mussels are black - black after cooking. Another little bit of advice, please, wear appropriate clothes, nothing too delicate! Enjoy your meal !

If you are not planning to eat mussels in the garden, it is better to go and enjoy the éclade on the banks of Seudre in La Tremblade, where friendly fishermen welcome you in their picturesque huts which they transform in the holiday season into restaurants. I recommend the restaurant ‘La Bonne Renommée' or the restaurant of the Razé family to you.

The resorts organise huge éclades for holiday-makers. Let's go there, it is very convivial and friendly

And so ends "The Case of the Fiery Charred Mussel". But little did Nancy know, her next culinary mystery was just around the corner, "The Clue in the Beaten Biscuits."

http://www.bernezac.com/moules_uk.htm

http://www.bernezac.com/moules_uk.htm

 
Thanks, Richard, but now I'm more confused than ever. Pointed end up? Is that to keep

the ash out as they open downward? Wouldn't that send all the juices spilling out? LOL, potato or no, it would take me at least two days to get them all balancing on their round ends like that.

 
"Mystery solved," said Bess, admiringly. "Nancy, you're so clever."

Nancy grinned rakishly and drove off in her speedy little roadster.

Thanks, Richard. Handy tool, the Internet.

I love the phrase in the article, "You will need 500 grams of mussels per person, a piece of wood about 50 cms by 50 cms, and a bag of pine needles, which you will go to collect with the children, in the forest of Palmyre or somewhere else." Sounds like a French language exercise, something along the lines of: The pen of my aunt is on top of the table next to the large bowl.

 
Hello. My name is Marilyn and I'm a Nancy Drew-ite. We're like Luddites, but wear plaid.

I've dedicated entire quadrants of my brain to paragraphs from "The Secret of the Old Clock."

 
I was a latch key kid, and when I was sick, I was brought home and given a Nancy Drew book to keep

me out of trouble. I could not wait to be sick, and was not always sick when I claimed to be. I just wanted to read.

 
the whole point, joe is so you can speak sternly to the pine needles saying,...

"get yer ash outta my dinner!"

 
I remember being very impressed that Nancy could recognize Sanskrit.

She knew everything! Too bad they revamped the series in the 1980s so that Ned had to get her out of trouble all the time. The original Nancy just kept him hanging around to take her to football games where she'd wear her racoon coat. The previews for the current Nancy Drew movie make me cringe.

 
and then about that itme along came the Hardy Boys...do I remember correctly that Nancy and the

boys teamed up in a book or two. I was alwasy so mesmerised by the American way of life in these books (compare to African bundu living when I read these books) and was so tremendously pleased that a road near us was called Riverside Drive, sounded so worldly and exotic. I loved Nancy Drew.

 
Now, if I dig out the box of old "True Confessions" mag rag that my aunt hooked me on

then I'm in trouble. Hadn't thought of those in ages. Actually, those mags are longgggg gone.

 
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