On Thu, 04 Dec 2003 23:51:37 GMT, Donna Rose
> wrote:

>I bought a batch of mussels recently and made a fantastic wine broth for
>them. They were delicious, but they were a bit gritty.
>
>How does one assure that all the sand is removed prior to serving? Does
>soaking them in sal****er for any length of time help? I seem to
>remember something about oatmeal, but maybe I'm confusing this with
>something else. Anybody have any ideas? And, would the same method work
>with clams as well?

I usually buy farmed PEI mussels, rather than wild ones. That pretty
much avoids the problem. Littleneck clams I do get from the fishermen,
however.

For the clams I start the soup part of things and when it is about
four minutes from the end I zap the scrubbed clams in the microwave,
starting with 3 minutes for a dozen clams. If they are not all small a
few may need a little more time.

I take the clams out into a warm dish, and carefully spoon the clam
broth into the soup, leaving the dregs with any sand that is there. If
any clam looks gritty inside, I rinse it under a faucet.

When I have mixed in the clam broth and heated all to a simmer again,
I dish out the soup and put the clams in a nice circle in each bowl.

THis works fine doing dinner for two people. The zapping time gets
longer with larger batches.

It may be that only one or two of your mussels are gritty, and you may
be able to spot which ones if you look at them, but when they are
piled in the steaming pot it is hard to see.





Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a


The sound of a Great Blue Heron's wingbeats going by your head