Video:How to Make Drunken Mussels

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Transcript:How to Make Drunken Mussels

Today I'm going to show you how to make something called drunken mussels. All that means is mussels cooked in a flavorful wine broth. I'm going to show you a real simple version.

Prepare Your Mussels

There's our black mussels, PEI, stand for Prince Edwards Island. There from Canada, very popular, you can find them in any high-end grocery store. Make sure you buy them closed. You want them completely shut. Make the person behind the counter hand pick them for you. When you get them home give them a brush with some cold water to clean the up a little bit. And if they have any, what called a "beard" with are little thread or hair-like things attached, juts pull those off. They usually don't. In fact I wanted to show you that, but there wasn't any.

Ingredients for Drunken Mussels

1/2 pound per person is plenty. 1 cup of white wine, 4 cloves minced garlic, 1/2 stick butter. And here's a nice trick, we're going to use some fresh parsley, I like to "shave" the parsley. Hold the knife at a 45-degree angle and I just run it along the stems and it shaves off all the leaves and leaves all the stems. Nice trick. That's going to give us 1/2 cup. Salt and pepper to taste, I like red pepper flakes, but any pepper is going to work. You need a pot with a tight fitting lid, very important.

Combine Butter, Garlic, Wine, Salt and Pepper

We're going to throw out butter in on medium. And when it melts and starts to foam, and that foam starts to turn a tan colored, they call it "blond," then throw in the garlic. Sizzle it for just 20 seconds. DO NOT BROWN. Or it will have and off flavor. It's OK that the butter got a little bit tan, a little nutty, but we don't want the garlic browning that's why as soon as I sizzle the garlic I throw in the wine. I throw in the salt and pepper. You're not going to need much salt, maybe 1/2 tsp. Bring to a boil for 2 minutes, that's going to cook out the alcohol. Then we're ready to get rolling.

Cook the Mussels

Throw in the parsley, just half, we'll save the rest for later. Throw in the mussels and put that lid on. Give it a shake. That swishes the hot liquid over the mussels. And leave it alone for 2 minutes, on boil, it's still on high. Give it a little stir. Now you'll notice, they are just starting to open, OK they're not cooked yet, but they are starting to open. That stir helps things along. In a couple more minutes, and they all should be open. It depends on the size. Mine only took 2 or 3 minutes, they were pretty small. If some don't open, don't serve them. Once they are open you want to serve immediately! So you have beautiful plump mussels.

Serving Drunken Mussels

If it cooks two minutes too long, this is what you got. What is that? Do not serve that to anyone. So you have to serve these immediately, just when they first open. Spoon over that delicious, amazing garlic, butter, wine broth. Some lemon, some toast, that is a super dish. There is a reason this is on every Bistro menu in France. Really, really delicious. I hope you give it a try. Enjoy!