How to Collect, Clean and Cook Fresh Mussels Safely. If you buy your fresh, live mussels from a fishmonger's or supermarket, the chances are that the barnacles, beard and other potential attachments will already have been removed.
Where you have collected the mussels yourself, however, this is a job you are going to have to undertake when you get home. Just like cleaning any type of fish or shellfish, there are a few tricks which will not only help make the job easier but ensure you are less likely to damage the mussels in preparation. The beard of mussels is a fibrous attachment, protruding from one side of the shell. Cooking School - How to Prepare and Cook Fresh Mussels Community Forums - p1. Mussels - How to prepare and cook fresh mussels: There is nothing more mouth-watering than a huge bowl of artistically presented mussels, yet the fun part is eating them.
The best way is to use an empty mussel shell as a tool to pick the remaining mussels from their shells and then eat them. It's a brilliant excuse to use your fingers to eat rather than the usual knife and fork. Probably the most popular mussel dish is "moules marinieres", a classic French recipe using wine, garlic, shallots, parsley and butter. Katie Lee's Logan County Hamburgers.