Mussels au Gratin

Ingredients

• one quart of very fresh mussels
• half a glassful of cold water
• one heaping table-spoonful of butter
• two table-spoonfuls of white onions, chopped fine
• one teaspoonful of flour
• one salt-spoonful of salt
• one salt-spoonful of pepper
• one table-spoonful of parsley, chopped fine
• one table-spoonful of wine vinegar
• one table-spoonful of fresh butter

Method

1. 1

   Put mussels in cold water and scrape them clean.

2. 2

   Cook in a saucepan with cold water until they open.

3. 3

   Remove from shells and strain the liquor.

4. 4

   In a small saucepan, melt butter, add onions, and cook without browning.

5. 5

   Add flour and blend, then slowly add mussel liquor and cook for three minutes.

6. 6

   Season and add parsley and vinegar.

7. 7

   Butter a baking dish, layer sauce, add mussels, cover with remaining sauce and bread-crumbs, and distribute butter over crumbs.

8. 8

   Cook in a warm oven for seven minutes.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Harper's cook book encyclopædia (1902), page 160. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Mussels au Gratin. — Put into cold water one quart of very fresh mussels, and scrape them until perfectly clean. Rinse well, drain, and dry them with a fresh towel. Put in saucepan with half a glassful of cold water and cover, stirring from time to time. Cook un- til every mussel opens, when they may be taken from the fire and drained. Remove from the shells, and strain the liquor through a fine sieve and re- serve it. Into a small saucepan drop one heaping table-spoonful of butter. When hot, add two table-spoonfuls of white onions, chopped fine, and cook four minutes. Do not brown. Add slowly one teaspoonful of flour and blend same well. Now, while stir- ring, slowly add the liquor of the mus- sels, and cook three minutes more. Season with one salt-spoonful of salt and one of pepper, add one table- spoonful of parsley, chopped fine, and one table-spoonful of wine vinegar. Stir well and remove from the fire. Butter well a silver baking-dish and put in it one thin layer of the sauce just described, and dress the mus- sels over. Put the balance of the same over the mussels, and cover them with one thin coat of freshly made bread-crumbs. Divide in small pieces one table-spoonful of fresh butter

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.