14 Biggest Mistakes To Avoid When Cooking Mussels - Tasting Table

There are quite a few potential mistakes you could make when cooking mussels, but the biggest mistake of all happens before you even get into the kitchen. When it comes to seafood, you want to make sure you're sourcing the right thing from the right place, so you should be paying attention to where your mussels are coming from. The number one place you shouldn't be sourcing your mussels from is a freezer.

First of all, frozen mussels are usually sold pre-shelled, which erases half of the fun you get from eating mussels in the first place. Additionally, they may already be cooked, which obviously isn't ideal if you're looking for the freshest seafood possible. On top of that, they may even be dyed so they look more appealing. Although they may look okay, the texture is not likely to be good. Fresh mussels are soft and moist with just a touch of chewiness, but frozen mussels tend to be uncomfortably chewy.

That's why you should head to the live seafood counter if you want to make sure you're buying the best possible mussels. Fresh mussels are actually alive, so they do require more careful handling. However, once they're actually cooked and on your plate, you'll be glad you went through the extra hassle to get the good stuff.