various dates
Mussels are a big favorite in Belgium and the Netherlands where people like to eat them with French fries or bread. In the continental US frozen mussels may be your only option. Those are cleaned and fully cooked already and only need a good warm-up. Still, they’ll taste better if you cook them with some vegetables. Reserve the cooking liquid as a base for mussel soup later on.
These pictures are not staged.
This is indeed how they serve mussels and fries in some Belgian and Dutch mussel restaurants: the kettle on the table right in front of you, 2-3 lbs. per person.
internet pictures:
Pic1:
the kettle on the table in front of youThis is what you need per serving:
2019-12-22
Pic3: mussels
2020-12-24
Pic6-8: mussels & fries
The local Walmart here in Deming, NM used to sell frozen mussels until some years ago, the corporate higher-ups decided that we shouldn’t have them anymore. They still sell them in Las Cruces & El Paso. But apparently Deming is no longer good enough for mussels.
I did drive to Las Cruces in July 2021 to stock up on frozen shellfish and bought 10 bags of them in 2 different Walmart stores. Never again. There seemed to be fewer mussels in each bag than there used to be and the amount of water has correspondingly since a few years back.
I decided to check if my impression could be objectified. I cooked two 2-lb. bags = 4 lbs. and obtained less than 11 oz. of mussel meat from those 4 lbs. That is less than half than what should normally be expected from 4 lbs. of mussels. That seems to be the explanation of why Walmart can sell their mussels so cheap: they are selling water instead of mussels. Compare to 2019-12-22 above which are about the same amount, from 2 lbs.
Very disappointing, and it has seriously spoiled my appetite for these Walmart mussels.
2021-07-28
Pic9+10: considerably under-weight for 4 lbs.