Mussels, Pickled

Ingredients

• a quart of mussels
• equal quantities of vinegar
• mace
• whole pepper
• whole allspice

Method

1. 1

   Clean and boil mussels until shells open, then reserve juice.

2. 2

   Mix vinegar with mace, pepper, and allspice, boil for five minutes, and pour over mussels.

3. 3

   They can be eaten immediately or stored corked tightly.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 953. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a quai-t of mussels, after draining them from the cleansing water, in a pint of French white wine or a pint of good sweet cider, with a quarter of an ounce of pepper, the same of salt, a bunch of parsley, and an onion, sliced. Put these ingredients into a deep stewpan, throw in the mussels, cover, and toss them well about until they open. Remove them at once, beard them, dip each one into hot water, and then drain on a soft cloth for use. The above ingredients will be suflicient for a larger quantity of mussels, but as they are best, that is, more equally done, in small quantities, a second dressing may be made without any additional cost. Mussels, Fried. — Cleanse and boil in the usual way, but when bearded lay them out to drain on a soft cloth. Make a thick batter with two e^gs, their liquor, an ounce of butter, and as mucJi flour as wiU be required ; season with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and a little grated lemon-peel and minced parsley. Thicken this batter over a slow fire, pour it when quite smooth and thick into a basin, and with a fork dip each mussel into it, and when well covered place each one on a board to get cold and harden, when they should be rolled in fine bread-crumbs, and fried in boiling lard to a light brown. Sers'c, an-anged high in the centre of a dish, with parsley as a garnish, or as a garnish for fried or boiled fish. Time, five or six minutes to frj-. Mussels, Ketchup of.— When carefully prepared and cooked, mussels make a variety of wholesome and agreeable dishes. The shells must be first cleansed by repeated washing and scraping, and afterwards be well rinsed in a colander until the drippings are quite clear. Put them into a large iron saucepan with only the water that hangs about the shells. Cover closely, and shake the mussels whUe heating to expedite their opening. As soon as this is accom- plished (they will be hard and indigestible if kept over the fire too long), turn them into a clean earthen i)an, and commence to beard and remove the black part. Take a pint and a half of carefully -picked mussels, and pound them in a MUS (437) MUS mortar, then boil with a pint of made wine or cider, and a full pint of the juice that flowed from the mussels when boiled, a drachm of cayenne, and two drachms of powdered mace. When sulhcienlly boiled and skimmed, strain through a hair sieve. Bottle when cold, and see that the bottles are sealed as well as corked. Mussels, Pickled. — Cleanse and prepare as before dii-ected. Boil until the shell opens, but no longer. Iteserve their juice and the water from the boiling. To this liquor mix in vinegar equal quantities of mace, whole pepper, and whole allspice

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