The Mussel Myth

If you read any reference to cooking mussels post 1990 it will almost invariably tell you to not to eat mussels that have remained closed after cooking.

Prior to the 1970s revered cookery books such as ‘Larousse Gastronomique’ in 1965 and ‘Italian Food’ by Elizabeth David in 1966 made absolutely no mention of discarding unopened mussels.

The myth seems to have been started by the English food writer, Jane Grigson in her 1973 publication, Fish Book.

The exact quote is: ‘Throw away any mussels that refuse to open.’The reasoning was that these must have died prior to cooking and must therefore be rotten and unsafe to eat.

Jane Grigson is an excellent cook and writer, so unfortunately this advice was taken to be unimpeachable. By the 1970s, some 13 per cent of cookery books were agreeing; and by the 1980s, this had risen to 31 per cent. By the 1990s, there was almost universal agreement among the cookbook writers.

To keep them closed, the mussel has muscles. It uses its specific adductor muscles. When we cook them, the heat can have a few effects on the adductor muscles that keep the two halves of their shells stuck together.

Sometimes, the heat can denature the proteins in the adductor muscles so that they simply disintegrate, or sometimes, it can make one or both ends of the adductor muscles come unstuck from the shell.

During cooking a small percentage of mussels will actually open before they have been cooked long enough to kill any potential pathogens in them. If you removed them from the stove once they opened and ate these mussels, you would be at risk of food poisoning.

The best way to check the safety of mussels is to check them over before you cook them. Mussels have such a small mass that if they are invaded by a pathogen or germ, they will be overwhelmed almost immediately, and will smell bad. So just give them a sniff before cooking.

If we stop throwing out cooked mussels that stubbornly refuse to open, we can stop wasting each year some 370 tons of perfectly good seafood.



Thrifty Wartime Ways to Feed Your Family Today



When war broke out in 1939, the government created the Ministry of Food to help families make the most of wartime rations. Today, in the face of rising food prices, a real obesity problem and ever increasing food miles, The Ministry of Food shows how we can all survive the credit crunch with a bit of wartime wisdom and ingenuity.

Written by bestselling author Jane Fearnley-Whittingstall to accompany a major new exhibition at the Imperial War Museum, The Ministry of Food tells the fascinating story of how people coped with wartime food shortages and, in the process, became healthier than ever before. With step-by-step illustrations showing how to grow your own vegetables, tips on collecting food for free, baking, preserving and lots of thrifty family recipes, this practical handbook is packed with invaluable lessons from more frugal times.

Includes hands-on practical advice on growing your own veg and 60 delicious recipes updated for the modern kitchen



Recycle – the opportunities are endless



Going off the food route but sticking with the need to reduce our impact on the planet there are a number of ways that you can help avoid perfectly good resources ending up as landfill, requiring virgin materials being used to replace them.

Freecycle . org  Freecycle groups match people who have things they want to get rid of with people who can use them. Their goal is to keep usable items out of landfills. By using what we already have on this earth, we reduce consumerism, manufacture fewer goods, and lessen the impact on the earth. 

Green-works.co.uk Green-Works is an award winning social enterprise and registered charity dedicated to helping the environment by diverting redundant office and school furniture from landfill by providing reused and remanufactured furniture to small business, charities, schools and community groups whilst providing real training and work experience to the unemployed.

Furniture Re-use Network The FRN is the national body which supports, assists and develops charitable re-use organisations across the UK. They do this to reduce poverty by helping households in need access furniture, white goods and other household items at affordable prices.  In addition, they support re-use organisations in providing training and work placement opportunities for people who are socially excluded.

Waste Online has details for finding computer recycling operations as well as lots of waste facts, topics and other resources.

Garage Sale is a new set up that helps you to make money from your unwanted stuff. Advertise what you have for sale on their website and the time that you are available to meet buyers. It is ideal for items that you wouldn’t sell on e-bay like second hand children’s football boots and other items that you need to see in person. Can be organised as a charity event or for your own profit and is ideal for getting the family involved with the local community.

Planetreuse (US) ‘Make reclaimed material reuse easier and more people will do it.’ This simple but revolutionary goal drove the founders of PlanetReuse to create a new kind of company in 2008. Frustrated by the time and resources it took to track down salvaged materials for their own commercial projects, they took an entrepreneurial leap to uncover a solution for the building industry as a whole.

Watch the original ‘Recycle – the opportunities are endless’ TV ad.

Sharp as Coleman’s Mustard

Jeremiah Colman was once asked to sum up the secret of his success and how he made a fortune out of such a humble thing as mustard. His reply was that he made his money from the mustard that people left on the sides of their plate. Now as a young child I was confused by this and had visions of Mr Coleman going round and scraping the remains off peoples’ plates and reselling it. Ah, bless.

Instead of wasting your leftover mustard here are some alternative uses:

For washing smelly dishes, add a heaped tablespoon of Colman’s with the soap to remove odours like fish and onions.

Make a paste with Colman’s and spread it on the back of a loose tile to secure it to the wall. Acts like plaster! (my Grandfather also told me the same about condensed milk)

Use as fertiliser for better coloured daffodils.

Sprinkle dry mustard inside shoes to prevent cold feet and frostbite.

Mustard and honey at bedtime for coughs, a pinch of mustard in a glass of water for hiccups.

Colman’s poultry mustard fed to chickens stimulates egg production.

To mend leaky car radiators temporarily, pour in contents of 2 oz tin of mustard while car is running.

Sprinkle over plants to rid them of insect pests.

Dry Colman’s rubbed into dog’s coat helps stop distemper. Cover dog with blanket.

Smear headlights with a dry Colman’s mixed with some water to drive in fog. Voilà, fog lights! (Not sure if that is legal on the continent)

Stuffy nose? Make a paste, spread it generously over a cracker, and take a few bites. This clears it up in seconds!

Do you have trouble with ants? Sprinkle Colman’s mustard over their trail and they won’t cross it.

Hands smell like onions or garlic? Rub some Colman’s on your hand and rinse with warm water to remove the smell.

When using breadcrumbs on chicken or chops, add a tablespoon of Colman’s to the breadcrumbs.

Before cooking mussels, put them in a bucket of water with a few teaspoonfuls of dry Colman’s to make them spit out the grit and sand.

Make a paste and rub it on the sole of the foot and around the ear lobes. This is very relaxing and reduces stress.

Use a thin mixture of Colman’s and water to catch worms for fishing. You have to find a wormhole, and pour the mixture in. The worms wiggle out and then you need to rinse them off before putting them in your bait box.



Can I or Can’t I?

In the spirit of ‘eating it all up’ here is a post that focuses on useful items that might otherwise end up in the waste bin. There are parts of plants that are quite edible that we often overlook such as potato skins and broccoli stalks. There are also parts of edible plants that are poisonous.

So, first the bad news, here are some of the poisonous ones:

The leaves of Rhubarb contain oxalic acid; a nephrotoxin (damages the kidneys.) A lethal dose would be about 5Kg but small amounts will cause symptoms. They can be used as an organic insecticide by leaving them to rot in a bucket of water for two weeks. This is effective against whitefly and cabbage white butterflies

Raw Red Kidney beans contain Phytohaemagglutnin. This toxin is easily destroyed by boiling for 10 minutes and canned beans have already been though this treatment. It is important NOT to use raw beans in ‘slow cookers’ as they do not reach a high enough temperature to damage the toxin, in fact heating the beans up to but not exceeding 80C can increase the toxicity by five times! As little as 4-5 raw beans can be enough for a toxic dose.

Green potatoes, that is ordinary potatoes that have turned green when exposed to light, are also poisonous. Potatoes are related to the Deadly Nightshade family and when they start to make chlorophyll (the green stuff) they also produce solanine which is colourless but toxic. The solanine is found close to the skin and if no more than a third of the potato is affected then this can be cut off and the rest prepared as usual as long as they are peeled.

If potatoes are not green but have produced eyes or sprouts, rub these off with your fingers and they are safe to consume, though they may be a bit rubbery. If they are too far gone you could try planting them.

Elderberry Trees produce abundant white flowers which are used to make cordials or can even be battered and deep fried. Later they are covered in small black berries which are also edible and can be used to make a traditional country wine. The rest of the plant is extremely poisonous and must be avoided.

Bitter almonds, which are grown ornamentally, contain prussic acid (a precursor of cyanide) in a sufficient dose to cause harm. These have a pink flower as opposed to the white blossom of the sweet variety. Sweet almonds can also produce cyanide if they become moldy, although cooking does break down the toxin. Cyanide is also found in the seeds and stones of apples, cherries, peaches, apricots and mangoes; but the human constitution is able to survive the consumption of the occasional apple pip or cherry stone. Cassava root also contains dangerous levels of prussic acid until it is properly prepared to be eaten and is responsible for more human deaths each year than shark attacks.

It is now quite common for tomatoes to be sold still on their stalks, vine ripened. This can make quite a difference to the flavour. The leaves and stalks of the tomato plant do however contain glykoalkaloids which can cause anxiety attacks and stomach upsets. That said, you can use the stalk to add flavour during cooking or marinating as long as it is removed before eating.

Nutmeg is safe when used in small quantities as a spice but it contains myristica oil which is poisonous. An overdose will result in flushing, dry mouth, rapid heart rate, nausea, vomiting and even hallucinations.

So, by all means, make the most of your food resources, just be aware that a quick check before trying something new is often in order.



BBQ Leftovers Recipes

What a weekend for BBQs. So how many of us now have a fridge full of lightly cremated leftovers? I find that this often happens when you invite friends round. Everyone turns up with twice as much as they could possibly manage and you have over catered in the first place.

So, what to do with what is left?

Sausages – These can be sliced up and used in a sausage casserole or as the basis for a cassoulet.

Burgers – these can be chopped finely and used instead of regular mince. The longer you cook it the better the texture.

Kebabs – I’m talking about the flavoured, reformed meat type products. Just think of what type of dish would suit the flavouring. Hot and spicy varieties would obviously go well in a chilli. Minted kebabs work well in a moussaka.

Chicken Pieces – These will probably be quite dry so will benefit from rehydration. Make up a packet of minestrone soup as per instructions and then drop in the drumsticks and thighs. Cook gently on the stove or place in a casserole dish in the oven at 180C. The dish will be ready in 30-45mins if the chicken is already cooked.

Pork Ribs – Shred the meat off the bones and use in a noodle dish or fried rice.

Fish – Mackerel is fantastic on the Barbie. Leftovers can be turned into fishcakes with some lightly fried onion and mashed potato. Serve with mayonnaise mixed with a little horse radish sauce.

Then there are all the added extras, salsas, sauces and salads. You can add salsas to your chilli, etc. If you have a creamy dipping sauce, salad and maybe even some corn on the cob it has to be Mexican Fajitas or Tacos.

So there you go, your leftovers should give you tasty meals for the next few days. Just remember that re-heated food needs to reach 75C to make it safe to eat,



Rolling Menus

One of the easiest ways to use up leftovers is to plan them in advance. Using a bit of joined up thinking to link your menu for the week. The simplest way to illustrate this is with a roast chicken. Eat fresh out of the oven on day one, use the remaining meat in a pie on day two and boil up the carcase up for soup on day three. You can even go a step farther and crack and roast the bones before boiling them up to make broth or stock the following day.

Another technique is batch cooking. This also helps to make the most of special offers. Instead of making a bolognaise sauce for one meal, increase the quantities and give yourself the option of freezing what is left over or using it as a base for another meal the next day. You might simply create two dishes that are exactly the same, eat one and freeze the other. In this case avoid anything with pasta as this comes out soft and mushy after it has been frozen. Thickened gravies also tend to separate after defrosting so avoid dishes that use them. If you can plan ahead you will save yourself time and money by taking items out of the freezer the day before and defrosting them in the fridge. Just make sure that they are not going to leak as they start to melt.

This technique also enables you to eat fresh (as opposed to frozen) meals each day while only shopping once a week. If a piece of meat has a three day shelf life you can cook it on day three and it will still be safe to eat on day six. Remember to check the use by dates when you are doing your shop.

Some meat is not suitable for repeated re-heating. As M.E.Rattray says in her original book ‘Cold meat and how to disguise it,’ ‘never allow previously cooked meat to reach the heat of boiling water (100C), for this will immediately render it, hard, unpalatable and indigestible.’ This is sound advice for joints of beef and pork and lamb. Just remember that if you are reheating food it must reach a minimum of 75C to be sure that is safe to eat.

A very useful book with menu plans and batch cooking techniques is 'The Family Meal planner.'