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Smoked spicey mussels

FM Former Member
Well, I have to tell you that I knew that getting this wonderful cooker/smoker would be the best thing since "sliced bread and pockets". The fact that the Cookshack device keeps things so moist and is so well temp controlled is the truest key. This also enables it to use just the very least amount of wood that enables it to provide a very "fresh" smoked flavor rather than the typical "stale" smoked flavor to achieve the same amount of smoking.

I digress, but that is just one of my writing/speaking problems that continually challenges me. The subject here is receipes and more specifically MUSSELS.

I love shell fish in general and living on the Texas Gulf Coast I do love oysters, shrimp, and Blue Gulf crabs are my favorite, especially the soft shelled ones. So, you are asking yourselves what in the heck am I doing with "MUSSELS"? Well, you can get them here occationally alive and all the time frozen in the Green Lipped variety. For this, it really makes no difference, at least to me.

This is a dump and drizzle reciepe and no need to measure. Basically, you need at least 2-4 lbs. of mussels. Usually, you can find them frozen in right at 2 lbs. or just over. So, I am going to list the ingredients and then explain how to assemble them and cook/smoke. The measurements are just for you "anal" types that have to have measurements.

2-4 lbs. fresh or frozen mussels
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 C Olive oil
1/3 C Key lime juice
1/4 C Balsamic vinegar
1 Onion (large-sliced)
2-3 Red Jalapenos (sliced)
1-2 Green Jalapenos (sliced)
2-4 Pods of fresh Garlic (chopped fine)
Seasoned Salt (to taste)
Freshly ground Black Pepper (to taste)

Place the mussels into a stainless steel pan that is plenty high enough to hold all the mussels that you are using. Now, melt the butter and drizzle it over the mussels along with the olive oil. Next, take the vegetables a spread them evenly and lightly apply the salt and pepper. You can leave things as have been stated above or toss everything.

Place the pan in the middle of the Cookshack and use about 1/2 to 1 oz. of wood MAXIMUM, I love hickory or pecan and HATE MESQUITE. Set the thermostat to 225 and then bury a remote meat thermometer into the bottom/center of the pan under the mussels. Close up the unit and let it cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and the themometer reads around 220 degrees F.

Turn the Cookshack off and open the doors and remove the thermometer. Let things set for about 15 minutes and remove the pan of smoked mussels.

Your basically done. Just get yourself a good bottle of wine, salad, fresh french/italian bread (mainly for sop'in the dripin's), and enjoy yourself. You can leave them out at room temp for appetizers in their shells or you can shell the left overs and combine them with the pan drippings and place them into the fridge for later, etc.

I just can't wait to try this with oysters !!!!!!!!! I think if you were to try this with shrimp, lobsters, or something like that, I would preheat the cooker to the highest setting, closed of course, and then open it to add the shrimp, etc. with a very small amount of wood. Or perhaps once the unit is preheated you could open it, add the wood, when the smoke was observed, then add the seafood with a thermometer until the temp reached between 160-180 F.

When I do this I'll post the receipe. Hope everyone enjoys this, as it is very tasty.

Regards
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FM Former Member
Are Mussels from the Gulf different than an inland lake in the north-east? I never thought about eating them. As a kid we would pull cattails out of the water, �long weeds with cigars at the top� and use them to catch Mussels. Just row the boat over them at the sallow end of the lake and slowly push the cattail down into their open clam shell, BAM they would clamp down hard if you hit there trigger. We would just pull them up and throw them back and move on for the next one. If we are talking the same crustation I might have found a new food source. Sounds good but who would have ever thunk it?
FM Former Member
The mussels we're used to eating are the Green-Lipped. They come from the ocean off New Zealand. They are in the family -Mytilicea.

Most of the fresh water critters in the north-east, as far as I can tell, come from a different family- the Unionoida. Here's a quote from a dude who has a whole website dedicated to edible mussels, snails and their kin.

"Many Unionoida are edible; however, when I tried to gain some deeper knowledge and species, I kept coming up with comments such as this:

In Ontario we always say that if you've got a recipe that calls for mud-flavoured latex high in persistant pollutants, you can freely substitute Unionids for the latex.

I've eaten them from northern lakes when I've been collecting specimens (anything tastes good with plenty of butter and Garlic on it), but I've never heard of anyone eating them on a regular basis."

I'd be happy to post the link if anyone wants to pursue these morsels any farther. Big Grin
FM Former Member
Well, first let me say that I am glad that my posting caught the eyes of "someone".......LOL However, to the first repliant, you certainly CANNOT get mussels here on the Gulf Coast of Texas as it is way too warm. As an extreme shellfish fan I was just trying to make the point that via one of our local Kroger supermarkets many years ago I had the distinct pleasure to taste my first "native" cultured northeastern mussels. It was only after my cooking passion led me to Asian markets that I found the abundant availability of the Green Lipped variety that are rope grown, i.e., "cultured" from New Zealand.

Now, regarding the second posting, I have no idea what is or are the genus and species of the mussels are that I have refered to. I have three degrees, i.e., Microbiology, Chemistry, and Dentistry and only mention that because I do have the background to appreciate someone that might bring a subject of that nature up. All "bi-valve" type creatures feed via "filtering" the water that they reside. Therefore, if they are in polluted waters they and/or the ones that consume them realize the risks envolved. Here on the Gulf Coast they have mandated several requirements in order to sell oysters. Even though several people still succomb to eating oysters raw I do it and thoroughly enjoy it. Life is too short to fail to realize these little pleasures as far as I am concerned.

The fact is that when you cook these mollusks you virtually "kill" these pesky pests so you virtually remove the "risks". Therefore, once oyster season rolls around again I will be posting oyster reciepes in kind to the one that I recently posted for mussels.

I hope that this has answered any and all of the queries that were made, except that perhaps the ones regarding the more specific genetic order questions. As far as the rubberiness or chewy nature of mussels this is a personal preference. I will have to tell you that initially this was something that I had to adapt to, but it did not take me long and know fortunately or unfortunately I find myself "craving" everything from mussels to octopus to squid. Just one of those individual things I guess.....

Regards
FM Former Member
Hey T-rex,

Well, first off I am jealous........... You have some of the best tasting oysters that I have ever had. That is saying a great deal being from this far down in southeast Texas, where a drive to Louisiana for some great seafood or some fantastic fishing is not at all out of the question.

Now to get down to the "nitty gritty". First of all if you are lucky enough to get your oysters in the shell, that is just how I would smoke them. First off you will preserve a great deal of their moisture and of couse your going to be getting the freshest things around. The next item of business is the oil. From your posting, i.e., "nuttin fancy", I would imagine that some sort of olive oil is out. If it is, I would use something very bland like Canola oil. First, it's good for you and second it won't spoil the natural taste of the oyster. For me, I am an Olive oil nut and there is no doubt in my mind that Olive oil would be my choice. However, you need to know about olive oils, as there are major differences between each variety as their name exhibits. Exta Virgin Olive oil is that oil that is, or should have been the initial "cold pressed" extractions from the olives. The next pressing is then referred to as Virgin Olive oil, the following is called Pure Olive oil, and finally the lowest is what is called Pommace. There are some details that I won't bore you with each of these forms of Olive oil, just suffice it to say that each step gets less and less strong with the olive taste and is more suitable for cooking.

As far as smoking oysters and using Olive oil I would use the "Pure" variety. If it were me, I would scrub each oyster well and lay them in one layer in a non reactive pan and then drizzle the oil over them rather heavily. Place no more than 2 oz. of HICKORY or PECAN, just because I love that flavor and smoke them for about an hour at 225 F.

I personally plan on pre-heating my cookshack smoker without the wood box at the 225 F setting. When I get ready to place the oysters into the cooker I will then add the wood in the wood box and begin to smoke/cook for about an hour.

Once this is done I will turn off the cooker and leave the door ajar for about 15 minutes. Checking for any "unopened" shells, those to be discarded, I would take the rest and open them and harvest the smoked bounty into a jar. The "yummy" smoked oily "juice" left in the pan would need to be strained with something like cheese cloth into the jar containing the oysters.

I hope this has helped, as this is how I would do it. If you are relegated to only shucked oysters I would definately place them into a pan with about 1/2 of them covered in oil. I would probably only smoke/cook them for about 30-40 minutes to keep them from drying out, or place a piece of aluminum foil over the pan holding the oysters to try to retain the moisture.

Either way this is how I would start out and as I described earlier with my "in the shell" mussels, they did great. Let me know how things go, or if I can be of any further help or assistance. I am excited for you and wish I could be there to taste your first batch. All the best mate.

Tara for now.
FM Former Member
Saus,

Is funny you like Northwet oysters. I prefer Gulf Coast oysters. Spent much time in Homer and New Iberia. Ain�t nuttin better an Doz. On the half shell for breakfast.

Anyways In WA the limit is 18 a day and must be shucked on the beach. If it�s a private beach you can take them in the shell. Or (God forbid) buy em in the shell. When I gets to a private beach I do close to what you do but I squirts in a little beer onced the shell popps.

The one thing you missed in my question is----- I want to CAN them.


JackRussel--- Don�t know if it�s da osyter or what. Don�t need �Viagra� yet --- But a little �No-doz� might help.
FM Former Member
Does the Key Lime Juice and Balsamic Vinegar just get drizzled on, along with the butter?

quote:
Originally posted by sausagemaniac:
[qb] Well, I have to tell you that I knew that getting this wonderful cooker/smoker would be the best thing since "sliced bread and pockets". The fact that the Cookshack device keeps things so moist and is so well temp controlled is the truest key. This also enables it to use just the very least amount of wood that enables it to provide a very "fresh" smoked flavor rather than the typical "stale" smoked flavor to achieve the same amount of smoking.

I digress, but that is just one of my writing/speaking problems that continually challenges me. The subject here is receipes and more specifically MUSSELS.

I love shell fish in general and living on the Texas Gulf Coast I do love oysters, shrimp, and Blue Gulf crabs are my favorite, especially the soft shelled ones. So, you are asking yourselves what in the heck am I doing with "MUSSELS"? Well, you can get them here occationally alive and all the time frozen in the Green Lipped variety. For this, it really makes no difference, at least to me.

This is a dump and drizzle reciepe and no need to measure. Basically, you need at least 2-4 lbs. of mussels. Usually, you can find them frozen in right at 2 lbs. or just over. So, I am going to list the ingredients and then explain how to assemble them and cook/smoke. The measurements are just for you "anal" types that have to have measurements.

2-4 lbs. fresh or frozen mussels
1 1/2 sticks butter
1/2 C Olive oil
1/3 C Key lime juice
1/4 C Balsamic vinegar
1 Onion (large-sliced)
2-3 Red Jalapenos (sliced)
1-2 Green Jalapenos (sliced)
2-4 Pods of fresh Garlic (chopped fine)
Seasoned Salt (to taste)
Freshly ground Black Pepper (to taste)

Place the mussels into a stainless steel pan that is plenty high enough to hold all the mussels that you are using. Now, melt the butter and drizzle it over the mussels along with the olive oil. Next, take the vegetables a spread them evenly and lightly apply the salt and pepper. You can leave things as have been stated above or toss everything.

Place the pan in the middle of the Cookshack and use about 1/2 to 1 oz. of wood MAXIMUM, I love hickory or pecan and HATE MESQUITE. Set the thermostat to 225 and then bury a remote meat thermometer into the bottom/center of the pan under the mussels. Close up the unit and let it cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and the themometer reads around 220 degrees F.

Turn the Cookshack off and open the doors and remove the thermometer. Let things set for about 15 minutes and remove the pan of smoked mussels.

Your basically done. Just get yourself a good bottle of wine, salad, fresh french/italian bread (mainly for sop'in the dripin's), and enjoy yourself. You can leave them out at room temp for appetizers in their shells or you can shell the left overs and combine them with the pan drippings and place them into the fridge for later, etc.

I just can't wait to try this with oysters !!!!!!!!! I think if you were to try this with shrimp, lobsters, or something like that, I would preheat the cooker to the highest setting, closed of course, and then open it to add the shrimp, etc. with a very small amount of wood. Or perhaps once the unit is preheated you could open it, add the wood, when the smoke was observed, then add the seafood with a thermometer until the temp reached between 160-180 F.

When I do this I'll post the receipe. Hope everyone enjoys this, as it is very tasty.

Regards [/qb]

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