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Bay-leaf
A tablespoonful of Salt.
First, well wash the mussels and lay them in water over night with a handful of salt; when they are quite clean put them in a stewpan, with the onion and bayleaf; sprinkle over them the salt, put on the lid, and stand them over the fire for a few minutes, when the shells will open; take them out of the stewpan and carefully take them from the shells, removing with care a small piece of weed which lies in the centre of the mussel. Strain the liquor which will be in the stewpan, and, if liked, can be made into a sauce with One ounce of Butter.
Half an ounce of Flour.
This is one of those entries printed under an ingredient heading rather than a dish name, so the quantities appear scattered through the text: an onion, a bay-leaf, a tablespoonful of salt, and for the sauce an ounce of butter and half an ounce of flour. Assume roughly two quarts of mussels in the shell.
- The hinge: sort the mussels before and afterDiscard any mussel that is cracked, or that stays open when tapped, before cooking; discard any that stays shut after cooking. A mussel that has died before it reaches the pan is the one thing that spoils the dish.
- The overnight soakThe recipe salts the soaking water with a handful of salt, but an overnight stand at room temperature will still kill mussels. If you want to purge grit, hold them no more than a few hours in the refrigerator in cold water salted to about 35 g per litre, which approximates seawater, and cook them the day you buy them.
- "A small piece of weed"This is the byssus, the beard the mussel uses to anchor itself. Modern rope-grown mussels are usually debearded already; if not, pull it sharply toward the hinge. Removing it after cooking, as here, is easier than before.
- A few minutes means a few minutesSteam over high heat with the lid on until the shells open, three to five minutes for a full pan, shaking once. Mussels held longer shrink and turn to rubber.
- Strain the liquor twiceSand settles in the bottom of the stewpan. Pour the liquor off carefully, then strain it through muslin or a coffee filter rather than a sieve, and taste before adding any further salt: the natural liquor plus the tablespoonful already sprinkled over is often salty enough.
- The sauce proportionsOne ounce of butter to half an ounce of flour is a slightly rich roux, correct for about half a pint (roughly 285 ml) of strained mussel liquor thinned with a little milk or cream. Cook the flour a minute before adding the liquid. Parsley and lemon are an optional finish, not part of the original.
- Vessels and yieldA "stewpan" here is a wide, lidded saucepan; anything that gives the mussels room to open will do. The recipe never states how many mussels are meant; if you work from about two quarts in the shell, expect enough shelled meat for two as a main course or four as part of a fish course.
Mussels sat at the cheap end of the Victorian and Edwardian fish counter, gathered from tidal beds around the British coast and often sold by the quart. The entry is filed under Bay-leaf because the book is arranged by ingredient, a reference format of the period: the cook looked up what was in the larder rather than what was to be served. The method itself, steaming shellfish open over aromatics and then building a white sauce from the liquor they release, is the same procedure that underlies French moules marini e and older English mussel dishes.