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Moules-frites

Name: Moules-frites
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 4 kg mussels, cleaned (Zeeland mussels are sold cleaned); 2 piece onions, finely sliced; 2 piece leeks, finely sliced; 3 piece celery stalks, strings removed, finely sliced; 100 g butter; 2 sprig thyme; 2 piece bay leaves; Belgian frites; mayonnaise sharpened with vinegar and mustard

moules-frites / mosselen met friet

A big pot of mussels steamed open over butter, onion, leek and celery, with Belgian frites and a sharp mayonnaise on the side. The recipe is the Belgian chef Carlo de Pascale's, as broadcast by RTBF: a kilo of mussels per person.

Location: Belgium · Pictured: Belgian frites, Sole Ostend style (sole à l'ostendaise)

Servings: 4
Preparation: 20 min
Cooking: 15 min
Total: 35 min
Difficulty: Easy

Equipment

Very large pot with a tight lid (or two pots)
Colander

Servings4

Ingredients

Mussels
4 kgmussels, cleaned (Zeeland mussels are sold cleaned)
2 onions, finely sliced
2 leeks, finely sliced
3 celery stalks, strings removed, finely sliced
100 gbutter
2 sprigsthymeRTBF gives thyme and bay without quantities.
2 bay leaves
To serve
Belgian frites
mayonnaise sharpened with vinegar and mustard

Shopping list

Method

Rinse the mussels in cold water, even if they are sold cleaned.
Melt the butter over a low heat and soften the onion, leek and celery for 5 minutes without browning.
Timer · 5 min5:00
Turn the heat to full, without burning the butter. Tip in the mussels, add the thyme and bay and cover at once.
Why Carlo de Pascale's 'thermal shock': a very hot pot makes the shells open quickly, so the mussels steam in their own juice rather than stewing.
Holding the lid on, shake the pot. Keep cooking over a high heat, covered, shaking now and then, and stop as soon as the mussels have opened. Serve straight away with frites and the sauce.
Timer · 6 min6:00

To drink & serve with

Belgian frites
Frites are the point: RTBF serves them home-made with a mayonnaise, vinegar and mustard sauce (egg, mustard).

Substitutions

Celery → Leave it out (it is an allergen) and use a little more leek.
Butter only → Many cooks add a glass of dry white wine with the mussels (the French moules marinières); RTBF's Belgian version does without.

Common mistakes

Cooking on a moderate heat: the mussels open slowly and shrink.
Overcooking once they have opened: they turn rubbery.

Storage & reheating

Eat at once. Cooked mussels can be shelled, chilled within 2 hours and eaten the next day, cold or added to a hot sauce at the last moment.

Safety

Mussels are molluscs, one of the 14 EU allergens; the sauce adds egg and mustard. Buy from a reliable fishmonger and keep them cold. Discard any mussel still closed after cooking (one guideline: after 6 minutes in a cioppino).

Allergens

Molluscs · Milk · Celery

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

A national dish

RTBF calls moules-frites the emblematic dish of Belgian cooking and the national dish of identity. It also states that mussels and frites were first served together in 1875 at the Fritz friture on the Liège fairground. We found no primary record for that date, so it is given here as a claim, not a fact.

Most mussels eaten in Belgium come from Zeeland, across the Dutch border; RTBF notes they are sold already cleaned.

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Hot, covered, shaken

The vegetables go in first, gently, in plenty of butter. Then the heat goes to maximum and the mussels go in all at once under a lid. Steam from their own liquid opens them; shaking the pot moves the closed ones to the bottom. The juice left in the pot, buttery and salty, is eaten with a spoon or a frite.

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