Preparing delicious seafood in the high-quality electric smoker is a perfect way to impress your family and friends. Smoke and mussels are a perfect flavor match. The great thing about them is that they are nutritious and cheap.
Here’s the deal:
According to Quartz, ‘’Widely recognized as crucial to good health, sufficient omega-3 levels have been linked to better heart health, reduced inflammation, and may be associated with lower rates of cancer, though the evidence is far from conclusive. A single serving also contains 20 grams of protein, 19% of the recommended dose of Vitamin C, and a striking 340% of the recommended dose of Vitamin B-12.’’.
Mussels are delicious when they are served with the white wine sauce. This recipe combines smoking with steaming for a great meal. With the electric smoker, all you have to do is set the right temperature and let it do the job for you.
So, if you want to know more about this recipe, all you have to do is read on.
Ingredients:
- One kg of fresh mussels, scrubbed and inspected
- Four tablespoons butter (unsalted)
- One tablespoon olive oil
- One clove of minced garlic
- Two tablespoons minced shallots
- Two tablespoons chopped flat leaf Italian parsley
- ½ of dry white wine
- One twig of rosemary
- One twig of thyme
- Lightly toasted French bread
- Pecan wood chips or chunks (soak them in water for about 4 hours)
1. Prepare the mussels
To clean mussels, scrub in plenty of cold water to remove barnacles or sand. Discard any that float to the top. Give any open mussels a sharp tap with a knife and discard any that fail to close (they are dead). Remove the ‘beard’ – a fibrous clump of hairs that sprout from the shell – by giving it a sharp tug towards the hinge end of the mussel. Place cleaned mussels in a fresh bowl of cold water until ready to use. Change this water two or three times to remove any salt or sand that the mussels may expel.’’ according to BBC Good Food.
Once they are ready to cook, filter the liquid in the pot through a cheesecloth or a paper towel and reserve. With the sharp, small knife cut off all the mussels and put them into the broth.
Make sure to soak them for about twenty minutes.
2. Smoke the mussels
Set the heat of the electric smoker to be around 145 F degrees. As for the smoke, it is best to use pecan wood chips or chunks. Because this seafood is very small, you will need to use a fine grate to prevent them falling through it.
For example, you could use dehydrators grates.
The next step is to place the mussels with aluminum foil and put them in the smoker. Let them get thoroughly penetrated by the smoke, and cook them for about half an hour. This kind of food doesn’t require a lot of time to be prepared; it is enough when it gets that smoky flavor.
So, be careful not to overcook them and don’t let the smoker gets too hot. You know they are done when all the shells are open.
3. Sauce
In the meantime, you can make a sauce for them. Place a butter and olive oil in the sauce pan and let them melt together. Put the shallots and garlic and cook them for a few minutes.
The next step is to bring the heat to the higher temperature and add the white wine. Cook it for a couple of minutes until it begins to reduce. Bring down the heat to the simmer and put in the thyme and rosemary.
4. Serve it
When the mussels and sauce are done, you can serve your meal. Place them into the bowl, pour over the wine sauce and sprinkle them with parsley. Serve them with French bread.
Additional advice:
When it comes to this delicious seafood, you should be careful not to eat a bad one, because it can cause you some medical problems. So, you need to know how to recognize one that is not good.
It is essential for your health.
According to Rachel Phipps, ‘’Eating food that has gone bad is never good, but when it comes to seafood eating a bad one can make you very, very sick. Usually, in any good restaurant where they know what they’re doing your food should be okay. When you’re going to cook mussels, uncooked, they should all be closed.
Any that are cracked or chipped are already dead and will have gone bad. The same with open ones. Mussels should open as they cook to release their tasty center.
When confronted with a bowl of them in a restaurant, though they are sometimes still okay, if a mussel is still closed after cooking there is a good chance it has gone bad because it was already dead before cooking. Discard it and move on, don’t try and pry it open to eat it whatever you do! Also, if a mussel looks funny or different to the rest of them in the bowl, discard that one also.
Better to be safe than sorry!’’
It is also important to know how to store them properly. According to Reference, ‘’Mussels should be stored appropriately before cooking to prevent them from going bad. Cooks should first scrub them with a soft brush, rinse them under cold water and remove the beard if desired. Next, they should refrigerate live mussels in a bowl with a damp cloth or towel over them, keeping the temperature constant between 32 and 45 degrees Fahrenheit.
Storing them in plastic bags or airtight containers is not a good idea, as the mussels will die quickly and begin to spoil.’’
Conclusion
Following this recipe, you will quickly learn how to cook the mussels like a chef. The result is nothing more than great, super tender and delicious. With the smoky and wine sauce flavor, they are nothing but fun to eat.