Mussels

[PossiblyPFB]

Fairly trivial but....

We love Mussels and chips (specifically Moules marienère style) in our house and I find them a great dinner party option as an easy but impressive main dish for a crowd, with skinny chips, salad, and French bread to sop up the sauce.

I always check whether anyone has any dietary requirements or particular dislikes to avoid before hosting. Now I find myself having to ask, and so, what’s your view on molluscs, as some people who ‘are easy’ will say actually, yeah, no mussels thanks when I double check.

It’s become apparent to me that mussels (in general, not mine- which are delicious!) .....are very marmite.

So I’m interested in the MN vote......

Mussels are amazing (YANBU)
Mussels are the worst (YABU)
If they are the worst- WHY??? Help me understand!

Thank you in advance!

I could happily eat a kilo of them (in the shell) freshly cooked with wine, garlic, onions and cream!
I'm with you OP, food of the gods!

Bloody love them. Best I've ever had have been in La Touquet, France, and a small café on the West coast of Scotland. Yum.

Am
Intrigued.

Never tried them but the fear of food poisoning would put me off

I love mussels. I’m with you OP, they are amazing!

I can’t believe so many posters don’t like mussels. Your loss, more for me!

I love them. Probably wouldn't do them for a dinner party though. I did once get the most frightful food poisoning after ordering them in a dodgy restaurant in Islington. Since closed down, I think; I reported them to the local council who couldn't have cared less.

Because they're like fishy slugs in a rock. Fucking disgusting.

In my experience- never buy any that smell fishy, and never eat one that hasn’t opened, and If they are chewy or rubbery at all, they haven’t been cooked well!

I always order them if they are on special at a restaurant- pretty much without fail. I can’t recall having been disappointed and I have gratefully never experienced food poisoning- which I gather is pretty rare - BUT I understand why that would put someone off !!

The ones I serve at home have always been tender, velvety and open, but frankly that could be the ‘problematic’ texture a PP mentioned perhaps.

Interesting reading this. I loved them too then suddenly became allergic to them 18 months ago. Weird. I think detractors find the look of them off putting.

I love them but, having been horribly ill a few months ago after eating some (at a very good restaurant) I’ve taken the decision never to eat them again.

I love them.

Always buy live, pick them though carefully then keep them overnight in a bucket of cold water with some flour or oatmeal to feed - cleans out the guts,
Wash though- discard dead ones.

Delicious!

I’ve never had food poisoning from mussels either, and I eat them regularly.

I have had food poisoning from oysters though. It was happening too often and so I had to give those up. Which I am gutted about because I love an oyster with shallots and Tabasco - mmm.

I love them. I always order them if they're on a menu when we're out.

I have developed a reaction to whitebait where I just end up vomming after eating them which is a massive shame as they were my other favourite. I hope the seafood gods don't make the same thing happen with moules!

Yep - don't cook any that don't close when you tap them, and don't eat any that don't open when you cook them.

We are big oyster fans here as well!

Raw oysters and a shot of gin for breakfast - my family's favourite on special occasions

As a previous poster says, I'd eat the odd one in a mixed seafood dish, but my DH loves them,'. With lots of crusty bread though, rather than frites.

Don't think I'd risk doing them fir dinner party,

I always loved shellfish, mussels and scallops particularly, then was violently sick after eating a portion of mussels. Put it down to a dodgy one but the same thing happened again but with scallops this t. I think I've developed an allergy as others seem to have done. No problem at all with crustaceans though, at least not yet!

Love them. And one of the best sources of iron around! (When anaemic I lived on them. Sorted me out quite quickly!)

are those that are getting ill drinking alcohol at the same time? Seafood is high in histamine and so is alcohol so can be a bad combination. If I drink champagne and eat lobster I will be sick, have upset stomach and get hives and wheezy but am not allergic to lobster.

I don't eat mussels as I don't like the taste or texture but I adore the sauce, i often get DH to get them and I just dip chips and baguette in the sauce

Love them. My kids love them too.

Slimy, salty, rubbery, horrid! And it is an insult to vulvas to compare the two.

I can't eat seafood at all, including mussels. I cannot bear the look, smell, texture or taste. Just the smell is enough to make me gag.

I love all seafood. Well, I love most food really. Bananas and milk can sod off but I'm good with everything else.

Although I may occasionally put them on the menu as a starter, I'd never serve mussels as the main course of a dinner party and I'd feel somewhat deprived if they were served to me as a guest.

If served with french fries they have to be moules frites with mayonnaise on the side and optional bread - forget the salad, it has no place with this dish.