What does flushing mussels in water with flour do?
On Serious Eats, I read the following comment under a recipe:
Why not flush before cooking? The correct spelling and translation, meuniere, means mussels a le miller’s wife. Because they add a bit of flour to the flush water before cooking.
For clarity, this is the comment I refer to:
If I understand correctly, the comment refers to soaking mussels in water with flour before cooking them. The water is often used to get the mussels to release some unwanted things in their shells, but I'm not sure what the flour does.
After searching a bit, found that Meunière is a French technique for cooking fish. It involves drenching the fish in flour to fry them afterward. That makes sense as the flour, some fat, and the high temperature make some sort of crust or roux.
When cooking mussels, however, there's liquid during the cooking to prevent reaching that high temperature. I've found that a roux cooks at temperatures upward of 300°F (~150°C), which the steam will not reach.
So my question is, what does the flour do when adding them to the mussels' soaking water? Is there any benefit, perhaps to the resulting stock (the linked recipe uses the stock for the sauce, but doesn't use flour)?
Best Answer
I think you are confusing Meunière (mostly for pan fried fish) and Marinière which is one way to prepare mussels.
Cornmeal is often used to clean mussels; it is supposed to help remove grits and dirt from the mussels.
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Quick Answer about "What does flushing mussels in water with flour do?"
Many consumers store mussels in a bowl of salted water. Sometimes, they even add flour to the water. Mussels supposedly cleanse themselves from the sand and the meat supposedly gets a nice white colour. Presently, one of this is necessary.Why do you soak mussels in flour and water?
Most of the mussels we buy today are farmed, so they don't contain very much (if any) sand or grit. But, for the mussels and clams that do have debris, the flour helps to speed up its removal. While soaking, they breathe, filtering in the water and flour, and expelling any grit.How do you purge mussels with flour?
To clean the mussels, put them in a large bowl with 2 quarts of water and the flour and soak for 30 minutes, or until the mussels disgorge any sand. Drain the mussels, then remove the "beard" from each with your fingers. If they're dirty, scrub the mussels with a brush under running water.Is it necessary to purge mussels?
If the mussels are to be cooked in a liquid that can be strained, preliminary purging is not necessary. If the mussels are to be cooked directly in the sauce, they should be purged. Fortunately, most mussels we buy these days do not need this purging. If you collect them from the water, they will need to be purged.Should you soak mussels in water before cooking?
Before cooking, soak your mussels in fresh water for about 20 minutes. As the mussels breathe, they filter water and expel sand. After about 20 minutes, the mussels will have less salt and sand stored inside their shells.What Are Effective Methods to Rid Clams of Sand? : Seafood \u0026 Fish
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Answer 2
Apparently, the flour is supposed to help flush the sand out. It supposedly works by having the mussels take in the flour so it spits out the sand. I found this on an old blog post in Dutch, which actually recommends not doing this as most mussels are already flushed on the fisher boats.
The blog does not say whether it actually helps if there is still sand in the mussels.
The relevant quote (in Dutch) from Smulweb:
Veel consumenten bewaren mosselen in een bak met zout water. Soms wordt er zelfs bloem aan het water toegevoegd. Mosselen zouden zichzelf dan reinigen van zand en het vlees zou mooi blank van kleur worden. Tegenwoordig is niets van dit alles nodig. De Zeeuwse mossel is absoluut zandvrij. Direct na de vangst worden de mosselen aan boord gespoeld.
Translated:
Many consumers store mussels in a bowl of salted water. Sometimes, they even add flour to the water. Mussels supposedly cleanse themselves from the sand and the meat supposedly gets a nice white colour. Presently, one of this is necessary. Zeeuwse Mosselen are absolutely free of sand. Directly after they're caught the mussels are flushed on board.
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