Musings from Gottingen Street: Fried Mussels

Aug 27, 2009

I am working at the Halifax Public Library on Gottingen Street this morning, although it's too bad, because it's a fine day outside; clear and cool, with a light breeze.  Nothing like yesterday during the afternoon and evening - it was near dungeon fog all the way down from Cape Breton pretty much, and I missed many miles of coastline in the grey unbroken.  Still, it was a nice drive, with plenty of turns in the road to keep me occupied. 

One thing that caught my eye yesterday was seeing little hand-painted signs along Marine Drive, Burma Shave - style, advertising lots of good fried foods at the approaching Trail Restaurant.  Although the signs weren't particularly unusual, one of them said 'Fried Clams and Mussels' and this one definitely was an attention-getter.  It was the 'fried mussels' part of the sign, since I've been wanting to try a fried mussel for several years.  I'd been introduced to the concept by Babe Stanley, a fisherman and erstwhile shellfish grower I'd met a while back, while we worked on his idea for a submersible mussel raft.  The mussel raft project was a modest success and deserves further attention, but the notion of fried mussels has been stuck in my brain ever since.

As it happened, Babe has been in the seafood industry for quite some time, and he brought up his fried mussels many a time, as we worked together on the model raft in the tow tank up in Orono.  He'd steam the mussels a bit to get the shells to open, shuck out the meats, and then fry them up in his own special batter recipe.  He said they were just delicious, and I certainly believed him.  According to the story, everything was going on splendidly in the fried mussel trade until he was tripped up by bureaucracy.  It seems that he was calling his lovely little inventions 'Blue Oysters', and the use of the word 'oyster' was a no-no - misleading the customer and what-not.  So, that turned out to be the end of that particular endeavor.

Now, when we flash forward to the present day, I've often thought that the seafood-consuming populace had matured enough so that the notion of a fried mussel might be a going concern.  No longer are mussels thought of as trash; fit only for the very poor or for bait to catch something worthwhile.  Mussels can be found on the menu of white tablecloth restaurants the world over.  Mostly however, they are steamed and offered with some sort of sauce; curry, wine and butter, butter and more butter, oil and pepper, and the etcetera list goes on.  Occasionally you can find a place that will actually serve them naked, and you can choose the dip you like, though a steamed mussel all by its lonesome is a delicious thing anyway, a delicate taste and just the right size mouthful.

I had to stop at this place, and so I did, there to chat up the owners.  Well - they were out of mussels; their harvester had not brought any to them lately.  Mostly, they get them wild harvested, but sometimes ranched as well.  They were short on clams too, and so it ended up being a Reuben-style hot dog for me.  Rueben halfway down and not bad at all, and lo and behold, there was one last order of mussels!  These were plump and obviously farm raised, so into the batter and then the fryer they went.  The owners noted that it's easy to steam them lightly first, then freeze the meats.  They get a very brief microwave thaw, then batter fried, and off you go.  So, if you've got a decent stock of fresh mussels but not enough market at the moment, you can put them by and keep them in good shape till the customers show up. 

Now, I'm a crispy-batter sort of guy - for fried clams, onion rings, and all that other good stuff.  Tempura is right up my alley, and some of the best fried clams I've ever had have been at Gritty McDuffs in Freeport, ME.   So, if you've had Gritty clams (note the capital G there, folks), then you'll know just what I'm on about. 

Having admitted to that, the mussels were very nice indeed - just the right size, and the batter did not cover up the taste of the mussel too much at all.  I asked the owners if this product was popular and they allowed that it was.  They'd seen other restaurants offer fried mussels, but only sporadically.  They then told me that some Japanese tourists had come by a couple of years ago, and being very familiar with seafood - what respectable Japanese person isn't? - they had to try the mussels.  They reportedly commented that their previous understanding was that the champion blue mussel growers and chefs were the Dutch, but that these fried little babies left them in the proverbial dust.  So, I left the shop with a story, a full stomach, new acquaintances, and a new experience. 

It was funny enough, having had a discussion two nights previously with Charles Purdy about the lack of value-added products in the shellfish industry (Atlantic Canada and the NE US, both), that here was one item that might just fit into this category.  It could be great for wild harvesters and for bottom culture operations together, and maybe even suspension growers.  I do wonder if suspension-grown mussels would fit into this on the basis of the price to the consumer, given the extra cost in raising them, but I guess that's for the individual businesses to figure out, isn't it?  It would be a good thing to diversify the products offered by Maine growers, harvesters and seafood businesses.

My take-away thoughts, as I drove away southwest down the foggy outer shore of Nova Scotia was why nobody in Maine is test marketing a fried mussel?  Seems like a market opportunity to me - and a potential fine future excuse for trying out more roadside food.