Mussels are easy to cook and sweetly delicious to eat, but these little bivalves have been on the waiting list of ‘next big things’ for a while. Now that they’re firmly installed on hip restaurant menus across the country, isn’t it time you started cooking them at home?

Not least because mussels are great value for money. You can find uncooked New Zealand greenshells for about $6.50 a kilo, or about $8 to $10 a kilo for my favourite live local blue mussels. Cooked mussel meat (no shells) will cost you around $14 a kilo. These are great for adding to fish pies, throwing into your pasta sauces (mussels added to a bacony amatriciana or aglio olio are a lovely twist), or even frying them like they do in the streets of Istanbul. A quick-cooking tempura batter is ideal at home.

While farmed mussels are available across the year, June and July is the best time to eat wild South Australian blue mussels as they prepare to spawn. In fact, the cooler months before spawning are best for wild mussels from Tasmania, Victoria and Southern NSW as well. 

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Credit: Mark Roper

How to cook mussels 

Cooking mussels might seem daunting, but it’s a breeze. Just rinse them well, rubbing them together (or using a plastic scourer) to clean, then discard any with cracked shells or any that are open. In a large pot with a lid, soften diced onions and diced fennel, if you have it, and deglaze the pan with wine, vermouth, beer or stock – perhaps even a splash of ouzo or pastis for an aniseed hit. As this is bubbling away and throwing up steam, add the cleaned, drained mussels and put on the lid. 

After a few minutes, start removing the mussels as they open to a warm dish in the oven. When they’re all open, taste the liquid in the pan. It will be meaty with the salty mussel juices. Adjust seasoning or mellow out any saltiness by cooking in a can of chopped tomatoes or a good splash of cream. Never add salt to your mussels before this moment! When combined and reduced, pour some of this over the cooked mussels and serve. To make this more of a meal, add some buttered linguine on the side, and serve this tossed in the remaining sauce and maybe a dollop of creme fraiche – just look out for any errant pieces of shell. Remember to add herbs for flavour and beauty. Parsleys, dill or fennel tops are my favorites.

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Credit: Ben Dearnley

The best ways to eat mussels 

The bold, meaty flavour of mussels means they go well with everything from the obvious like pork products (think chorizo, or crumbled pork and fennel sausages) or chilli to the more obscure like rhubarb or sweet chilli potato chips. You’ll find these chips and pork and fennel snags working rather wonderfully together in my ‘moules boganaire’ – a take the classic French dish of moules mariniere. You could also try my cheat’s puttanesca with mussels and orecchiette. For my angel hair pasta with ‘nduja and red capsicum, you’ll find the recipe on my Insta feed @mattscravat. 

Mussels are also great pickled in a seafood salad and – of course – smoked, such as in this recipe for smoked mussel paella. 

You could also try Silvia Colloca’s saffron and mussel risotto, Paul Carmichael’s mussels with fiery habanero sauce and cooling mayonnaise, Manu Feildel’s lemongrass, coriander and chervil mussels or Shannon Bennett’s mariniere of mussels with baked sweet potato chips.

Rick Stein’s moules poulette is a creamy Normandy dish of cider-steamed mussels and creme fraiche; Matt Moran offers the Southern Indian-inspired Australian blue mussels with Indian spices and coconut; and Jesse Gerner’s mussels come with aioli and jamon migas (AKA porky breadcrumbs).

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