At present, the mainland market has been domestic production of elephant mussels supply, its price compared with imports, nearly 10 times cheaper, so we buy elephant mussels, identify its species and quality is particularly important. Now on the market for the sale of mussels varieties are:
The toffee mussel, mainly produced in Fujian, Guangdong coast. From the outside, the toffee mussel shell is ovoid arched round, gray-white shell vaguely reveals a faint fat red, when it is in the water, the mussel mouth is slightly open, the suction tube extends, its suction tube snow-white crystalline, looks extremely rich in beauty. The toffee mussel is suitable for use in steamed dishes.
Ivory mussels, Fujian, Guangdong coast are produced. Ivory mussels are small, usually only 5 to 7 centimeters long. The meat is sweet, but the meat rate is not high. Since the price is not expensive, it is more popular. Ivory mussels are suitable for stir-frying, stir-frying in sauce, and boiling in white to make dishes.
Black shelled mussels produced in the United States, the shell black dark; thin shelled mussels produced in Canada, thin shell and white color. These two kinds of imported mussels individual large, meat are very full, white and tender, containing a lot of milky juice. Imported mussels are expensive, usually only high-end hotels are sold.
Purchase mussels, in addition to identifying varieties, but also pay attention to whether it is live, because live products cooked out will taste delicious. Selection method is to see, hand touch. Eye, shell opening and can not be closed, for the dead mussels; hand touch, touch the shell with your hand, still appear to be "hard mouth", but also dead mussels. In addition, a little pinch with the hand before the initial processing, the flesh will appear to jump, contraction reaction, after slicing the transparent meat was wave curved, fresh flavor, this should be alive; on the contrary, after slicing flat and fishy, that is, not alive.
Two. Feeding
Because of the high price of mussels, so its feeding, fresh live is particularly important. Some hotels are placed in the salt water seafood pool to feed the mussels. Although this method for guests to watch, choose, but if one of the dead, it will be sprayed with bacterial sewage, affecting the survival of other mussels, will bring economic losses to the hotel. I keep the experience of feeding mussels is: the live mussels first wrapped in paper, and then wrapped in a clean wet cloth, put into the temperature set at minus 4 ℃ to 10 ℃ in the freezer, and then every day out so that it sucks the salty water for 5 minutes, as well as wrapped into the freezer, so you can maintain the life of the mussels for 7 to 10 days.
Three. Primary processing
Elephant-drawn mussels are mainly fresh live body of the water pipe for food. Primary processing, shelling to remove the internal organs, take the water tube and then tear off the outer skin. Previously, many friends are using a razor blade to remove the outer skin of the water pipe, but this method is more wasteful. The author's experience is: remove the guts of the elephant mussels, put the mussels into 80 ℃ hot water to drag a water, you can be like a lady to remove stockings like fading off the outer skin, so that the largest number of mussels can be removed.
After taking out the mussels, they should be cut into slices, strips, or graved according to the requirements of different dishes, and then incorporated into containers and quickly chilled with ice to make their meat more crispy.
Some friends think that the meat of the mussels is delicious, the offal is also used for cooking, in fact, this is very dangerous. Because of the mussels viscera contain red tide toxin, the human body to absorb more, may occur food poisoning. In addition, the consumption of mussels most avoid having sand. For mussels containing sand, there seems to be no good way, in fact, when you pry open the mussel shell with a knife, hand in the suction tube (i.e., mussels) along the length of a light cut, and then wash, mussels will be no sand.
Four. Food
Elephant-braided mussels, meat flavor fresh and slightly sweet mouth, tender and crisp meat, fresh as oysters or over the, without the general taste of the earth, so elephant-braided mussels can be eaten raw, but also can be cooked.
Raw mussels do not need to blanch, directly batch into thin slices, dipped in a flavor plate to eat. But it should be noted that: raw mussels are best used in the deep sea pollution-free mussels. The best way to eat raw mussels is to use uncontaminated mussels from the deep sea. The first thing you need to do is to eat a lot of mussels, and then you can eat them.
The flavor plate can be used in Chinese, Western, Japanese flavor plate. Chinese-style flavor plate can be borrowed from a variety of gazpacho composite flavor, such as ginger soy sauce flavor, spicy soy sauce flavor, garlic yellow pepper sauce flavor, etc.; Western-style flavor plate is usually used lemon juice, cocktail hot sauce; Japanese-style flavor plate, that is, we are more familiar with the horseradish sauce flavor plate.
Cooked mussels, commonly used methods of blanching, scalding, stir-frying, popping, soaking in oil and other methods into dishes. Representative dishes are blanching mussels in chicken soup
Five. Seasoning
Cooking mussels should be cooked hot fire quickly into the fire, the fire would rather owe than too much, or mussels easy to become old and tough, taste is very poor; seasoning should be light color light mouth, to highlight the characteristics of the dish white and fresh.
Of course, the occasional use of heavy color and thick mouth cooking mussels, but also very distinctive. Below, I will introduce you to two of the author's creation of Sichuan-style mussels dishes.
Elephant drawn mussels in red soup
Raw materials: elephant drawn mussels 1 (about 1500 grams) 200 grams of potpourri 200 grams of fresh millet chili pepper 30 grams of hairy bamboo fungus cover 60 grams of hairy black fungus 50 grams of loofah 1 (about 250 grams) Pixi County bean paste 50 grams of pickled pepper paste 50 grams of horse ear onion 50 grams of scallions 50 grams of ginger 50 grams of garlic 50 grams of refined salt, cooking wine, white pepper, vinegar, mash, monosodium glutamate, chicken essence, water bean powder, red oil, sesame oil, appropriate amount of soup 1000 grams of fresh pepper oil 30 grams of peanut oil 2000 (about 150 grams)
Method:
1. with a knife will be prying open the shells of the mussels, cut away from the viscera of the rounded globule and the skirt of the original strips, along with the length of the pipe in the suction of the knife, washed, put into the hot water of 80 degrees Celsius? A little, fade the outer skin, clean, and then sliced into slices, placed in a bowl of ice cubes chilled; potpourri broken into small pieces by hand; lucerne cure, cut into diamond-shaped slices; millet chili pepper cut into circles.
2. net pot on the fire, filled with peanut oil burned to six or seven percent hot, the broken pot into the frying pan, deep-fried until the color is golden and crispy, pour out the oil, loaded into a large nest plate.
3. Another take the net pot on the fire, into the red oil is hot, under the Pixian bean paste, pickled pepper paste stir-fried excellent, and then under the ginger (pat broken), garlic, onion knots slightly fried, cooking wine, into the mash, mixed into the broth, boiling, with a fine eye funnel fishing slag, and then adjusted to fine salt, chicken essence, white pepper, into the bamboo fungus cover, fungus, loofah slices, horse ear green onions and millet chili pepper ring, burn flavor, with After burning the flavor, with sesame oil, monosodium glutamate, vinegar to set a good taste, hooked into the water bean powder into a thin gravy, and finally into the mussel slices, push the pot, into a large soup bowl, with just fried potpourri on the table, by the waiter to the red soup mussels poured in the plate on the potpourri, that is, into the.
Features: red, white and green, sour, spicy and fresh flavor, crisp and tender.
Making key:
1. When making mussels, the water pot should be off the fire, the water temperature should not be too high, otherwise it will be mussels? Old tough.
2. Cooking this dish should be two pots at the same time, a pot frying pot, a pot cooking red soup mussels, so that the effect of the dish will be better.
3. Cooking mussels in Sichuan style can be changed according to the needs of the guests, such as lychee flavor, salty and fresh flavor.
Kung Pao mussels
Raw materials: mussels 1 (about 1500 grams) crispy cashews 50 grams of fresh two gold strips of green peppercorns, red peppercorns 25 grams of dry red pepper section 30 grams of peppercorns 2 grams of short onion 50 grams of garlic 20 grams of salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, pepper, monosodium glutamate, chicken broth, soy bean powder, sesame oil, the amount of fresh soup 1000 grams of peanut oil 50 grams
Method:
Species: 1,000 grams of fresh broth, 1,000 grams of peanut oil
Methods:
1. Elephant-braided mussels with a knife to pry open the shell, remove the viscera and skirt of the original strip, along the suction pipe cut 1 knife, wash, and then cut in half, respectively, graved on the crucifixion knife, and then change the length of 4.5 centimeters, 3 centimeters wide rectangular block, into the ice cube bowl of the town; salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG), chicken essence, cooking wine, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, pepper, water bean powder, etc. **** Na bowl, add the amount of fresh broth into a nourishing soup, and then add the amount of fresh broth into a bowl, and the amount of fresh broth into the nourishing soup. Add the appropriate amount of fresh soup to the right into the Zi juice.
2. net pot on the fire, mixed into the fresh broth boil, off the heat slightly cooled into the mussels block,? After a while, quickly fish out, and then use a towel to sop up the surface water.
3. Wash the pot on the fire, into the peanut oil is hot, into the dry red pepper section, fresh green pepper section, red pepper section, ginger slices, short onion section and peppercorns burst incense, cooking juice, into the? Good mussel pieces, crispy cashews, dripping sesame oil, quickly turn well, start the pot to plate, that is done.
Features: rich color, crispy and fresh, sweet and sour, slightly spicy.
The key to production:
1. Elephant-braised mussels block with fresh soup? System, to master the time, the pot should be immediately removed, should not be long hot, otherwise the meat of the mussels will become old and tough.
2. To Zi juice, the water should not be too much soybean meal, otherwise it will be thick and affect the texture of the mussels.
Colorful mussels
Materials:
Mussels 6 two (about 240 grams), 3 two (about 120 grams) of Dutch beans, 2 two (about 80 grams) of bamboo shoots, salted egg yolks 2, straw mushrooms 2 two (about 80 grams), 2 slices of ginger, minced garlic, green onion, a little. Salt, shaoxing wine, ginger wine, pepper, sesame oil, raw oil and other appropriate amount.
Method:
Elephant-braised mussel meat thinly sliced, add wine, salt, mix well, slightly marinated, with 70% oil temperature pull tender oil (can also be blanched in boiling water until tender and cooked).
Tear off the tendons of Dutch beans. Straw mushrooms head boundary cross-shaped slashes, first flying water, and then simmered in ginger wine, refined salt.
Salted egg yolk steamed and sliced.
Burn a wok with oil, stir-fry garlic, ginger and scallions, put in the mussel slices and stir-fry, then add Dutch beans, bamboo shoots, straw mushrooms, sprinkle pepper, add salted egg yolk slices, drizzle sesame oil, stir-fry well and serve on a plate.
Features:
Rich in color, fresh and crispy.
Can be eaten raw with a little mustard
Elephant-braided mussels, meat flavor fresh and slightly sweet mouth, tender and crisp meat, fresh and tasty as oysters or over the, without the general taste of the earth, so the elephant-braided mussels can be eaten both raw and cooked.
Raw mussels do not need to blanch, directly batch into thin slices, dipped in a flavor plate to eat. But it should be noted that: raw mussels are best used in the deep sea pollution-free mussels. The best way to eat raw mussels is to use uncontaminated mussels from the deep sea. The first thing you need to do is to eat a lot of mussels, and then you can eat them.
The flavor plate can be used in Chinese, Western, Japanese flavor plate. Chinese-style flavor plate can be borrowed from a variety of gazpacho composite flavor, such as ginger soy sauce flavor, spicy soy sauce flavor, garlic yellow pepper sauce flavor, etc.; Western-style flavor plate is usually used lemon juice, cocktail hot sauce; Japanese-style flavor plate, that is, we are more familiar with the horseradish sauce flavor plate.
Cooked mussels, commonly used methods of blanching, scalding, stir-frying, popping, soaking in oil and other methods into dishes. Representative dishes are blanching mussels in chicken soup
. Flame seasoning
Cooking mussels hot dishes should be strong fire quickly into the fire, rather than yawning over, or mussels easy to become old and tough, taste is very poor; seasoning should be light color and light mouth, in order to highlight the characteristics of the dish white and fresh.
Of course, the occasional use of heavy color and thick mouth cooking mussels, but also very distinctive. Below, I will introduce you to two of the author's creation of Sichuan-style mussels dishes.
Elephant drawn mussels in red soup
Raw materials: elephant drawn mussels 1 (about 1500 grams) 200 grams of potpourri 200 grams of fresh millet chili pepper 30 grams of hairy bamboo fungus cover 60 grams of hairy black fungus 50 grams of loofah 1 (about 250 grams) Pixi County bean paste 50 grams of pickled pepper paste 50 grams of horse ear onion 50 grams of scallions 50 grams of ginger 50 grams of garlic 50 grams of refined salt, cooking wine, white pepper, vinegar, mash, monosodium glutamate, chicken essence, water bean powder, red oil, sesame oil, appropriate amount of soup 1000 grams of fresh pepper oil 30 grams of peanut oil 2000 (about 150 grams)
Method:
1. with a knife will be prying open the shells of the mussels, cut away from the viscera of the rounded globule and the skirt of the original strips, along with the length of the pipe in the suction of the knife, washed, put into the hot water of 80 degrees Celsius? A little, fade the outer skin, clean, and then sliced into slices, placed in a bowl of ice cubes chilled; potpourri broken into small pieces by hand; lucerne cure, cut into diamond-shaped slices; millet chili pepper cut into circles.
2. net pot on the fire, filled with peanut oil burned to six or seven percent hot, the broken pot into the frying pan, deep-fried until the color is golden and crispy, pour out the oil, loaded into a large nest plate.
3. Another take the net pot on the fire, into the red oil is hot, under the Pixian bean paste, pickled pepper paste stir-fried excellent, and then under the ginger (pat broken), garlic, onion knots slightly fried, cooking wine, into the mash, mixed into the broth, boiling, with a fine eye funnel fishing slag, and then adjusted to fine salt, chicken essence, white pepper, into the bamboo fungus cover, fungus, loofah slices, horse ear green onions and millet chili pepper ring, burn flavor, with After burning the flavor, with sesame oil, monosodium glutamate, vinegar to set a good taste, hooked into the water bean powder into a thin gravy, and finally into the mussel slices, push the pot, into a large soup bowl, with just fried potpourri on the table, by the waiter to the red soup mussels poured in the plate on the potpourri, that is, into the.
Features: red, white and green, sour, spicy and fresh flavor, crisp and tender.
Making key:
1. When making mussels, the water pot should be off the fire, the water temperature should not be too high, otherwise it will be mussels? Old tough.
2. Cooking this dish should be two pots at the same time, a pot frying pot, a pot cooking red soup mussels, so that the effect of the dish will be better.
3. Cooking mussels in Sichuan style can be changed according to the needs of the guests, such as lychee flavor, salty and fresh flavor.
Kung Pao mussels
Raw materials: mussels 1 (about 1500 grams) crispy cashews 50 grams of fresh two gold strips of green peppercorns, red peppercorns 25 grams of dry red pepper section 30 grams of peppercorns 2 grams of short onion 50 grams of garlic 20 grams of salt, cooking wine, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, pepper, monosodium glutamate, chicken broth, soy bean powder, sesame oil, the right amount of fresh broth 1000 grams of peanut oil 50 grams
Methods:
1. elephant mussels with a knife to pry open the shell, remove the viscera and skirt of the original strip, along the suction pipe cut 1 knife, wash, and then cut in half, respectively, graved on the crucifixion knife, and then change the length of 4.5 centimeters, 3 centimeters wide rectangular block, into the ice cube bowl of the town; salt, monosodium glutamate (MSG), chicken essence, cooking wine, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, pepper, water bean powder, etc. **** Na bowl, add the amount of fresh broth into a nourishing soup, and then add the amount of fresh broth into a bowl, and then add the amount of fresh broth into the nourishing soup. Add the appropriate amount of fresh soup to the right into the Zi juice.
2. net pot on the fire, mixed into the fresh broth boil, off the heat slightly cooled into the mussels block,? After a while, quickly fish out, and then use a towel to sop up the surface water.
3. Wash the pot on the fire, into the peanut oil is hot, into the dry red pepper section, fresh green pepper section, red pepper section, ginger slices, short onion section and peppercorns burst incense, cooking juice, into the? Good mussel pieces, crispy cashews, dripping sesame oil, quickly turn well, start the pot to plate, that is done.
Features: rich color, crispy and fresh, sweet and sour, slightly spicy.
The key to production:
1. Elephant-braised mussels block with fresh soup? System, to master the time, the pot should be immediately removed, should not be long hot, otherwise the meat of the mussels will become old and tough.
2. Zi juice, the water should not be too much soybean meal, otherwise it will be thick and affect the taste of mussels.