I am probably the only member of the forum who bought an OBS just to smoke mussels. Well, it wasn't the only reason, but it certainly was the primary one. There is a company in Maine who sells very excellent smoked mussels and after eating them for a year at $1/oz. I decided that if I could smoke them and have them taste half as good, I would consider that a success. So I did a little internet research on smokers, found this forum, and headed off to Cabelas to get my OBS. That was two years and 2-3 hundred pounds of mussels ago. Of course, I smoke other stuff now, too, but I still smoke lots of mussels. My missus said we can't be without them and relatives and neighbors say "Thank you for smoking". Here is the recipe and I'd love to have one or more of you give it a try to see what you think.
This recipe is designed for 20 pounds of mussels and my OBS has 2 elements, 8 shelves, and a PID so you may need to adjust what you do.
Dump the mussels into a sink and wash them off with the sprayer.
Mix up a 3 gallon salt water solution, 1/3 cup of sea salt per gallon of water (I use a 5-6 gal pail).
Check each mussel, de-beard it, rinse it off, and throw it into the brine. Chuck all broken or cracked mussels and if they are open, tap it. If it doesn't close, out it goes. Farm raised may not have beards.
Leave the cleaned mussels in the brine for 2 hours to purge themselves of grit. If any float at the end of 2 hours toss them; they're dead. If you know your mussels are farm raised you shouldn't have to purge them. Mussels are normally cleaner than clams but I still purge mine because they are not farm raised and I have gotten gritty ones before. Grit will spoil your day.
Get the smoker ready. I smoke with 1 apple, 1 cherry, 3 oak, and 1 maple puck.
Mix up 7 1/2 cups of water , 3/8 cup of sea salt (or a 20:1 mix), and a tablespoon of sugar and set it aside. You will use this to soak mussel meats later.
Steam the mussels before smoking. Steam until they just open, being careful to not overcook. If some are not open, they go back into the steam for another minute or two. If any of them aren't open then, toss them.
When they open move them to the sink and start shucking, watching for missed beards.
Warm the smoker to 145°.
Give the mussel meats a 2 minute soak in the above briny mixture. Remove from the soak but don't rinse. I use a colander here.
Spread mussels out on smoker trays with frogmats (you will need frogmats). Twenty pounds will require about 7 trays.
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/Mussels%20in%20the%20OBS.jpg)
Smoke for 2 hours at 145-147° rotating the trays every 20 minutes (with each new puck) and spin them front to back occasionally. Set the vent to ½ open.
Move meats to a bowl and coat them with soybean oil. Canola oil will work if you can't find soybean. I found it in a health food store.
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/Coated%20mussels.jpg)
I pack in 6 oz. containers and freeze all but one (the reward).
My most recent smoke was 19.5 lb. This yielded 3.5 lb. of meats before smoking and 2 lb. 13 oz. after smoking.
I'm lucky to be able to get very fresh, local mussels cheap. But I have tried farm-raised mussels from Prince Edward Island. They were twice as plump as what I normally use, but they were unappealing smoked. They are awesome eaten as steamed mussels with butter but they just don't smoke up as well.
Please give the recipe a try and let us know what you think.
Dean
Dsmiley
Man does this sound good!
Mussels are a little hard to come by for a prairie boy here in Saskatchewan but I'd give it shot if I had a chance. ;)
Mike
Hey, Mike. No problem, I will drop some off the next time I'm in Moose Jaw. Yeah, I would imagine mussels and the like might be a scarce commodity there, other than canned anyway. Can you get frozen smoked mussels there?
Dean
Oh my, I need to try this... Maybe not 20 pounds worth the first time. ;)
Quote from: dsmiley on July 02, 2012, 05:51:30 AM
Hey, Mike. No problem, I will drop some off the next time I'm in Moose Jaw. Yeah, I would imagine mussels and the like might be a scarce commodity there, other than canned anyway. Can you get frozen smoked mussels there?
Dean
I haven't looked lately but canned or frozen smoked are even difficult to find. I'm sure if did manage to find some labelled as fresh they would be farm raised.
I'll look forward to the next time your passing through Moose Jaw! :D :D :D :D ;D
Mike
Sounds great,Dean.I love mussel too.Fresh steamed with draw of vinegar.or Preserved Mussell's in straight vinegar.Smokin will give them a whole new meaning.Thanks.
Quote from: slowpoke on July 02, 2012, 11:15:39 AM
Sounds great,Dean.I love mussel too.Fresh steamed with draw of vinegar.or Preserved Mussell's in straight vinegar.Smokin will give them a whole new meaning.Thanks.
Slowpoke, you must have had those rope grown PEI mussels; they are right in your backyard. Aren't they awesome? If you try this recipe get some wild-caught; they work the best. And please do try it. You will be glad you did.
Dean
Well, I was hoping this recipe would spark enough interest for someone to actually try it but it doesn't appear to have. So I just want you mussel lovers to know that you're missing out on the best smoked mussels you will find. These mussels are OMG good. The other day I gave a neighbor who loves these 2 containers and she was so happy she kissed me. So I asked her if she needed more.
Latest smoke – 48 pounds - had to do in 2 batches -
Before processing -
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/before%20processing.jpg)
Into the 2-minute soup -
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/mussels%20in%20the%20soup.jpg)
Ready to smoke -
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/mussels%20ready%20to%20smoke.jpg)
Covered with oil and ready to tub -
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/ready%20to%20tub.jpg)
After processing - 14 tubs of 6 oz. each
(http://www.deansmiley.com/Files/after%20processing.jpg)
I mentioned this in the recipe but it bears repeating - do not overcook; just one minute over in the steam will make a huge difference in the texture and dryness of the finished product. Cook until they just open; plan on cooking some (those that don't open) an additional minute or two.
If you like smoked mussels and try this recipe, you'll be very happy.
Dean
I've always had a great interest in this thread and Manxman's thread on smoked mussels. What is the price of mussels in Maine. I'll be in Maine on Sunday, and if the price is good, I'll bring my cooler and bring back a load of mussels with me. I haven't seen any really good mussels in New York this year.
I get them from a lady in Augusta who runs a fish market (Molly's Seafood), more of a roadside stand, and I let her know in advance. She makes a trip to the coast about every morning so the mussels I get are very fresh. She sells them regularly for $.99/lb which I think is about as low as you'll find them. Purchased in the local grocery stores they will be $2/lb. and on sale in other fish markets maybe $.99/lb. If you are coming to Augusta, PM me so I can arrange for you to get one of my containers.
Dean
Very nice photos and good effort!
Have you tried
a.) cold smoking mussels or
b.) for hot smoking got them fresh out of shells without steaming first?
I haven't tried either of these but am keen to hear your experience,
Thanks for the kind offer, but I will be going to Fryeburg, and it is a day trip. It's going to be a little hectic since it is a 5.5 hour trip one way. So that is an eleven hours of traveling in one day. Part of my trip will be along the New Hampshire coastline, so that may provide another opportunity to get some mussels. Once I get to Fryeburg, I will ask the locals where the nearest seafood stores, or roadside stands are at. I just have a craving for mussels since you bumped this thread. If the mussels are as large as you got, I will pay any price.
Quote from: The Life of Brine on August 02, 2012, 09:32:27 PM
Very nice photos and good effort!
Have you tried
a.) cold smoking mussels or
b.) for hot smoking got them fresh out of shells without steaming first?
I haven't tried either of these but am keen to hear your experience,
I haven't tried either of these. You are presented with major difficulties in both cases and if you were successful, I'm not sure the reward would be worth the efforts. Steaming is about the easiest way to get them open and it firms up the meat enough to handle. Hot smoking in the shell would require a much larger smoker for the quantities I'm after and would be very messy.
I'm pretty happy with this method so I won't be experimenting with others.
Dean
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on August 03, 2012, 01:46:36 AM
Thanks for the kind offer, but I will be going to Fryeburg, and it is a day trip. It's going to be a little hectic since it is a 5.5 hour trip one way. So that is an eleven hours of traveling in one day. Part of my trip will be along the New Hampshire coastline, so that may provide another opportunity to get some mussels. Once I get to Fryeburg, I will ask the locals where the nearest seafood stores, or roadside stands are at. I just have a craving for mussels since you bumped this thread. If the mussels are as large as you got, I will pay any price.
What a grueling day that will be! If it were me I would say to heck with the mussels. In fact, I'm not sure I could even drive that long anymore. Good luck.
Dean
Quote from: dsmiley on August 03, 2012, 07:01:53 AM
What a grueling day that will be! If it were me I would say to heck with the mussels. In fact, I'm not sure I could even drive that long anymore. Good luck.
Dean
Yes! It can be exhausting. I did the same thing last year. I'm glad you revived this thread when you did. I would have never given any thought of picking up some mussels while I was in Maine.
Once the mussels are packed in oil; how do you store them and what is the shelf life?
Quote from: Habanero Smoker on August 03, 2012, 12:56:57 PM
Quote from: dsmiley on August 03, 2012, 07:01:53 AM
What a grueling day that will be! If it were me I would say to heck with the mussels. In fact, I'm not sure I could even drive that long anymore. Good luck.
Dean
Yes! It can be exhausting. I did the same thing last year. I'm glad you revived this thread when you did. I would have never given any thought of picking up some mussels while I was in Maine.
Once the mussels are packed in oil; how do you store them and what is the shelf life?
I'm certainly not a source of info on this but I can say:
The recipe follows USFDA guidelines (this is second hand but I trust it),
I have read another commercial vendor of the same product say 1 mo. in the fridge and 3 mo. in the freezer - http://www.grindstoneneck.com/pdf/Shellfish-Leaf.pdf. I don't ever have this concern. They disappear from the fridge in less than a week and from the freezer in less than 2 mo. I'll bet vacuum packed would last 6 mo. or more.
If you ever come to my neck of the woods please let me know.
Dean
"I haven't tried either of these. You are presented with major difficulties in both cases and if you were successful, I'm not sure the reward would be worth the efforts. Steaming is about the easiest way to get them open and it firms up the meat enough to handle. Hot smoking in the shell would require a much larger smoker for the quantities I'm after and would be very messy.
I'm pretty happy with this method so I won't be experimenting with others."
Thanks for your reply!
Dean;
Thanks for the information. If I ever travel to or near the Augusta area I will definitely let you know.
Dean;
I picked up a 10 lb bag of mussels for $30. I got them in Bridgton, which is an area full of tourist and weekenders; as is Fryeburg. Also it is further inland, but the mussels look great. I may smoke 5 lbs, using your method, and the rest steamed with wine and herbs. I hope to get to them today.
Habs, more often than not we do the same thing. I buy 20 pounds and smoke maybe 16 and we eat the rest with melted butter. This has been a great seafood year for us consumers in Maine with the super depressed lobster prices. We have purchased 20 lobsters in the last week and a half and had lobsters with friends on the coast yesterday that they had purchased on the dock for $2.70/lb. However, it's been a real problem for the lobstermen who went on strike for a short while.
Anyway, glad you found some good mussels! And glad you made it home after that kind of a day.
Dean
When I was in Maine I was talking with a fisherman who mainly traps lobsters, and the price was so good I almost brought back lobsters instead. :)
I'll give you feed back on your smoked mussel recipe.
Dean;
Due to delays, I got around to steaming the mussels this morning, but will not be able to smoke them until tomorrow afternoon. I shucked, covered them in their broth, and refrigerate.
I follow your directions, and had about 40 - 50 floaters. Some shellfish distributors state that floaters may not be bad, but just have an air pocket. I kept the floaters separate, and steamed them last. They all opened except for about 4 or 5. So I'm assuming they were alive when I began to steam them. It is my understanding that dead mussels will not open when cooked. From your experience is that so in all cases?
Well, this is a tough one. I know there are sites that say that floaters may have air trapped in their shells. There are also those who say floaters are dead. I always try to ere on the side of caution when it comes to food so I always chuck them, but I never have that many floaters. The 48 pounds I smoked recently may have had 30 floaters total; that's out of hundreds of mussels. So to have 40-50 floaters in 10 pounds is way out of line. I would certainly be suspicious. My protocol has always been to wait till the end of the 2 hour purge so they have that time to expel any air that may be trapped if they are alive. I have tried to determine in the past if floaters are actually dead but have had no luck in this regard, so out they go.
I wish I could give you more info on this but a marine biologist, I'm not. But 40-50 floaters in 10 pounds - I would not chance it.
It's one of the reasons I try to get mussels as fresh as possible and cook them straight away. I hate the wondering.
Dean
Thanks for the information. I had them on ice since the 5th, and didn't get to steam them until the 8th. While on ice I made sure they did not come in contact with any fresh water. The harvest dates on the bag was August 2 - 4. I should have steamed them on Monday as I originally planned. Out of the bag, except for the 40 - 50 floaters, I only have about 3 broken shells, 5 - 7 dead, and about another 4 that didn't open when steamed. So overall I consider it pretty good.
I will proceed with caution. I'm going to continue to process them separately and send a few email out to few commercial sites and see if I get a response. But as you state, and especially for such a small amount, the risk is not worth it.
This is one of the sites I'm getting some information from:
The Cornish Mussel Shack (http://www.thecornishmusselshack.co.uk/p/hints-tips-dispelling-mussel-myths.html)
After seeing slowpoke's post, I realize I never posted about the final outcome of my mussels. They came out great. I did one tub with a garlic flavored olive oil, the rest I use canola oil. The garlic flavored oil mussels were delicious.
I did decide to throw the floaters away.
Ooh! Flavored oil! What a great idea, and garlic sounds like a good first choice. I need to try that. Glad it turned out well for you, Habs.
By the way, the lobster prices are still down there if you make another trip. I doubt that we will ever see another lobster year like this one so we have been taking advantage of it.
Dean
Been following this thread with interest, time to do some more smoked mussels methinks and follow this recipe!! :)
I have always thrown floaters away as well as those that don't open on cooking, typically this only represents a small minority off mussels but on the one occasion there were a lot of floaters on further inspection I had been given a time expired batch which had gone bad! >:(
Bacteria that cause food poisoning can give off gas..... perhaps this is one reason why they float!! ::)
Great recipe dsmiley. :)
I was going to also try one with peanut oil, but after thinking about it I quickly changed my mind. I love lobster, but I have to have someone else cook them. I just can't bring myself to do it.
Manxman;
After reading your post, I'm glad I threw them out.
Quotegarlic flavored olive oil,
I like the thought of this, was also wondering about a mild chilli infused olive oil?
QuoteI love lobster, but I have to have someone else cook them. I just can't bring myself to do it.
We have had poor year on the lobster, the bad weather has limited the number of times we have hauled our pots but however many lobster we get cooking them is never pleasant. We put them in the freezer for an hour or so first to "sedate" them!
Chilli infused oil sound great.
Quote from: manxman on September 06, 2012, 02:51:31 PM
......but however many lobster we get cooking them is never pleasant. We put them in the freezer for an hour or so first to "sedate" them!
Now this I may try. ;D
Dean,I finally got around to smoking some mussels.I cold smoked them.WOW they were GOOOOOODD!!!!!Thanks for the idea.
(http://i1156.photobucket.com/albums/p566/slowpoke53/earlyautum026.jpg)
Quote from: slowpoke on September 07, 2012, 08:16:37 PM
Dean,I finally got around to smoking some mussels.I cold smoked them.WOW they were GOOOOOODD!!!!!Thanks for the idea.
It's too bad mussels aren't readily available to everyone; they are so good, fixed a number of different ways. When I was young nobody around here ate mussels; but when clam prices started going up mussel popularity grew to a point where they are usually available at any seafood store here.
That's a fine looking smoke. I haven't done any cheese yet so I've got to try that. I was in Lubec recently and had some hot-smoked salmon there which was delicious so I've got to try that again. My last attempt was inedible. That area of the coast is beautiful but so much different than ours. Next summer we may try your neck of the woods.
Dean