Help! Grit in Mussels

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Louie

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Scuba Instructor
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I'm sure you've experienced this at some point in your seafood tasting ventures...

A gorgeous mussel dish at home or in a nice restaurant: you take the tasty orange morsel of flesh out of its shell and bite into it. You're about to savour flavour and texture and all of a sudden.... CRUNCH. Curse, swear, your meal is ruined.

The grit in mussels has got to be one of my biggest peeves in cuisine. When I cook mussels, I clean them with a small brush prior to cooking but this doesn't do the trick completely.

All you shellfish enthusiasts, please give us a hand. What is a good method for getting rid of the damn grit?

Thank you. This will restore my confidence in mussel cooking.
 
I found this in some of my notes-

To remove grit or sand that may be under the shells, you'll need a pot big enough to hold the mussels. Dissolve about 1/4 cup salt in 2 cups warm water and then add 2 tablespoons cornmeal or flour. Add the mussels and enough cold water to cover them. Soak for 2 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. The mussels will actually take in the grain and expel the grit or sand. Before using, rinse the mussels and scrub if scruffy-looking and snip off the "beards" (dark threads) with scissors. If mussels have opened slightly before cooking, tap the shell. They should snap shut. Discard any mussels that don't pass the tap test, as well as any that fail to open during cooking.

Some do subscribe to the idea. It's results seem to be pretty hit and miss. I just say, since it's a filter feeder, get used to a little grit.

Hope that helps.
 
I second soaking them in water for a couple of hours. They tend to spit out the grit.
A really good way to clean mussels that you get while diving is to put them in a mesh bag and tie them to the stern of the boat. By the time you get back to the dock, most of the clingons are cleaned off. It works really well.
 
I'm not an expert on mussels but being a New England cook I know my little neck clams.

The night before the clambake I put the bussel of clams in a shallow pan. So that the clams are 3-4 deep. Then I sprinkle with about 1.5-2 cups of corn meal on top of them. They then go into the refrigerator over night. Absolutely no ice or water in the pan. No cover on the pan.

In the morning rinse them off good under running cold water and scrubbing them with a brush. You will have 0% sand or grit in your clams. Now you can keep the clams "on" ice. (not "in" ice or water.) Don't drown them.
 
I always soak my mussles for a couple of hours in cold salt water with a handful of breadcrumbs thrown in. The water should be about as salty as seawater. It's not perfect, but they definitely do start feeding and spit some grit. I've never had any mussel casualties from doing this either, though I wouldn't do it for much longer than a couple of hours (I understand they've done all the pumping they're going to do by then anyway).
 
Ditto on the cornmeal

When we dig clams around here, we put them into a bucket or large tote with seawater in it, and throw a bit of cornmeal in with them (don't put too much in.... it can result in a reeeaaalllly grody disaster). I prefer to let them sit overnight, but they are still a whole lot better even after a couple of hours.
 
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