The Beer and Butter Mussels Adventure…

Falling in love with a new home can be a difficult thing to do. Sometimes it only takes a few weeks and sometimes it takes a year…or in my case, 4 years… I began my relationship with Cleveland in 2005, and we’ve definitely had our ups and downs. The first 4 years were mostly downs, but over the last year and a few months, Cleveland has really begun showing off for me. Somehow, during my 4 years of undergrad, I never managed to venture very far off campus. It was only since beginning medical school, in fact, that I have discovered such not-so-hidden treasures as the bar and restaurant scene (let alone music and art scene) in Ohio City and Tremont. I’ve also been lucky enough to see some amazing concerts at Beachland Ballroom (shout out to Cowboy and Indian) and shows at Playhouse Square.

This particular recipe highlights one of my favorite areas in greater Cleveland – Ohio City. The recipe comes from Bier Markt, the primary ingredients come from Kate’s Fish at the West Side Market, and the forks with which we ate the food came from Unique Thrift (that’s right, we buy our cooking utensils from thrift stores…we’re med students on a very tight budget…). I still remember the first time I had this particular dish…and not to sound overly dramatic, but I’m pretty sure it coincided with the week I decided Cleveland really wasn’t that bad. I’ve been meaning to try to recreate it for a really long time, but was intimidated by it. I assumed that it had to be incredibly difficult and time consuming. This past week, however, I decided to just try asking the cooks at Bier Markt how they did it, and sure enough they were kind enough to tell me. Our new friend Pat told us what we needed (turns out it was a pretty simple recipe), where to get it, and even gave us a quick lesson in the proper pronunciation of “Hoegaarden” (pronounced Hoo-garden, not hoe like the…gardening tool). Unfortunately, in telling us what went into the dish, he managed to leave out exactly how to make it so that was a bit of a challenge, but we managed to figure it out and ended up with a pretty tasty lunch.

Pat's Instructions

To prepare for this recipe, I recommend watching the Good Eats episode on mussels (pay particular attention to how to remove the “beards” and how to make sure the mussels are still alive). I will admit that even though we followed his “how to store mussels” instructions to a T, we did have a few casualties by the time we made the dish. But I guess that’s the risk you have to be willing to take when working with live seafood. Okay…enough talk, on to the recipe.

What you need (serves 3 people as a meal):

3 lbs of mussels (about 40 mussels)
3 bottles of Hoegaarden Beer
1 1/2 sticks of salted butter (12 tbs)
a loaf of french or italian bread

Food photos taken and edited by Gayan De Silva

What you need to do:

Before trying to work with mussels, I really recommend watching the Good Eats episode linked above…you don’t want to end up eating a mussel that was dead before you cooked it…hello food poisoning.
Make sure to wash and scrub the mussels in cool water as well as remove any remaining “beard” (I used pliers and it was relatively easy).
In a large pan (with high sides), melt the butter.
Add the beer and cook down the sauce until you can no longer smell the sharpness of the beer.
Add the mussels directly to the pan and cover with a lid for 3-5 minutes.
The mussels should open up as they are cooking. If any remain closed, be sure to discard them.
Serve the cooked mussels in a bowl with the broth, and be sure to include some toasted french or italian bread to soak up the broth after you’re done with the mussels.