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Corn Meal & Mussels??

post #1 of 24
2/1/02 at 2:55pm
Thread Starter 
So this recipe says to soak mussels in water for an hour with a 1/4 cup of corn meal added. You throw the lot out before cooking the mussels.
What would the corn meal do? Any ideas? Thanks

Jock
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post #2 of 24
2/1/02 at 3:24pm
Hey there Jock, This works for some bivalves. I do not do this with mussels, Mussels do not live in the sand, they cluster themselves in the moving currents above the sand. So besides the beard to pluck..you should have clean mussels. On the other hand "steamers" burough deep in the muck close to shore. They take in the nutrients from the ocean bed, with that they take in sand. the corn meal soaking will tease the steamers into eating the meal and pooping out there grit. No kidding!!
cc
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post #3 of 24
2/1/02 at 4:25pm
In the "old days" this was a common practice in Belgium. Except it was regular flour instead of cornmeal. It made them puff up and kept them pale, which was considered a desirable quality at the time.
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post #4 of 24
2/1/02 at 4:27pm
Thank you Anneke, I never knew that
cc
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post #5 of 24
2/1/02 at 5:08pm
Thread Starter 
That's fascinating. Thanks so much. I love little gems of information like that. (It's why I'm so good at "armchair" Jeopardy.)

Jock :) :)
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post #6 of 24
2/1/02 at 6:10pm
OMG!!!!
I am both appalled and amazed that you know such things, CC!!!

Gross!

Nice little tidbit, though.
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post #7 of 24
2/1/02 at 8:01pm
I find that putting them in the dishwasher does wonders. If you don't drain them afterwards you have a lovely nage!:eek: :confused: :D
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post #8 of 24
2/1/02 at 8:12pm

Question for chrose

If you wrap them really well in foil and put them on your manifold, how far to you have to drive until they're done?
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post #9 of 24
2/1/02 at 8:18pm
Suzanne are you talking Car-B-Que?
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post #10 of 24
2/1/02 at 8:22pm
Yup -- although for me it's all hypothetical, I don't own a car.
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post #11 of 24
2/2/02 at 7:17am
I once asked an Italian who owns one of the top rated Italian restaurants in the USA if he makes polenta from the cornmeal ingested by the clams.....he didn't think it was funny, I was semi-serious.
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post #12 of 24
2/2/02 at 10:15am
Suzanne, I once had a cookbook written for cooking on top of your manifold in your car. Someone gave it to me as a joke and I have long since passed it one to someone else, though there are times that I kick myself for doing so. I think the book was called "Manifold Destiny" if I remember correctly.
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post #13 of 24
2/2/02 at 10:45am
Oh yes. We do that in Crete with snails but we use flour instead.
It "cleans" them.We pick snails after rain. After all the snow we had and all the rains we finally had some snails. I picked-up a whole basket last week, so I proceed to feeding them with flour for 3 days before cooking them. But if you do this use a basket and not a casserole...
I had no idea that they do that with mussels too...

What is Car-B Que?
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post #14 of 24
2/3/02 at 1:03pm

Re: Question for chrose

Suzanne if only it were that easy. You see, if you're driving in the winter in essence you are braising because the top of the hood is cold and the air is constantly cooling the top. If it's the summer though you are gettting the sun baking the top of the hood so you are in effect roasting. Bearing that in mind if it's summer, by the time you get to the 7-11 you should be able to picnic in the parking lot with your beer. Winter time I would say you could get back from the bakery with your baguette and have a lovely stew.

You actually shocked me with that question at first. I wrote a query one time to a food mag. and used cooking on your cars engine for a humorous hook to catch the editors attention on an article I wanted to write on cooking en papillotte. She thought I seriously wanted to write about cooking on your cars engine and turned me down!:confused: I learned that day I could be too clever for my own good!:rolleyes:
I thought you had seen that query when I first read your post:eek:
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post #15 of 24
2/3/02 at 6:05pm
Chrose and Pete, I've never actually seen Manifold Destiny, but I'm a devoted listener to Click and Clack, The Car Guys. They recently rebroadcast the segment when "That Martha Lady" was on with them, and she mentioned that you should never use aluminum foil like that. Something about Alzheimer's, but I forget .... In any case, maybe the answer is to do a real parchment en papillote and then wrap that in foil. But as I said, I have no car, so I had no idea it could be so complicated. Different in different parts of the US, and different countries, too, I guess. ;)
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post #16 of 24
2/3/02 at 11:06pm

The Car Burrito

In the summertime I have made bean and cheese burritos wrapped in foil and left them on the dashboard of my car and come back a few hours later to a hot lunch.....
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post #17 of 24
2/4/02 at 5:03am

Since we've gotten WAY off-topic:

Starting a new thread on Car-b-que ...
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post #18 of 24
2/4/02 at 5:49am
When I lived in Berkeley, California, residents told me to soak the free roaming local snails - for escargots - in cornmeal to relieve them of any accumulated poisons from insecticides, herbicides, snailcides, etc. that gardeners would put in the garden. Dunno' if this helps.
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post #19 of 24
2/4/02 at 1:02pm

Manic Monday*

Since we are off topic

Kokopuffs how do they cook the snails there??

We do them here with two MAGNIFICENT ways.
Stifado, tones of onions in red sauce
Boubourista ( from Crete) braised with wine and rosemary...:lips:

* the song that's on the radio now...BTW snails are excellent source of Ferrum for pregnants
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post #20 of 24
2/4/02 at 1:04pm

SCARGOTS

For scargots in those days we'd saute them in clarified butter, garlic, shallots and parsley.
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post #21 of 24
2/4/02 at 1:08pm
Hmmm

Very French. Pas mal, pas mal
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post #22 of 24
2/4/02 at 1:14pm
That was in 1976 when I worked for a wine importer; Chez Panisse had just taken off, and Berkeley's "gourmet ghetto" was still in it's infancy. Pig By The Tail was located down the street. I could get entire sheets of pork fat back for lining pate terrines and breasts of roasting hens procured at Lenny's Meat Market. Narsia's Restaurant, a very chi chi place, was the ultimate in east bay dining experience.

Mmmm mmmm. The dayze of long hair and flaired levi's, and gasoline costing around a dollar. Tuition at Berkeley amounted to only about $1000 a year, only $200 at Cal State. Sigh.

Sorry for going off topic.
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post #23 of 24
2/4/02 at 1:41pm
Narsi Davids....my little brother after hearing the appetizers asked if they had anything but entrails to eat.....I could have killed him. Siblings sheeesh. Boy that was long ago and far away.
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post #24 of 24
2/5/02 at 5:33am

NARSAI'S

Shroomgirl:

In the late 70's/very early 80's Narsia's opened a gourmet deli next to their restaurant. Patronizing the establishment every Saturday morning was always a great adventure, new flavors and aromas. I miss it. I learned about Narsai's thru Dr. George Linton, owner of Winetaster Imports, for whom I worked in his warehouse.

Here in Denver we have Tony's in Englewood and Cook's Market in Greenwood Village. Quite comparable to Narsai's Deli.

Did you live in the east bay? When? Where? Just curious.:bounce:
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