Julia Child's classic recipe for mussels marinière couldn't be any easier. Mussels are steamed in minutes with flavorful shallots, white wine and fresh herbs.
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Ever since I opened the first pages of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I don't think I have been the same. I conquered the fragile Cheese Souffle and Julia Child's beef bourguignon have been hooked ever since.
Every year on my birthday, my one request is a large bowl of either Italian mussels marinara or mussels mariniere.
Mussels have always been special recipe for me and takes me right back to my childhood.
Remember to Save the Shells from your seafood to make your own Simple Homemade Seafood Stock get more flavor and stop spending on store bought Stock.
🌿 About This Recipe
Moules mariniere translates to "sailor mussels" or "mussels in the style of sailor". The beautiful thing about mussels mariniere is in its pure simplicity. Outside of cleaning and scrubbing the mussels, the entire dish is made within 10 minutes.
The simple sauce of butter, wine and herbs is exquisite and begs to be slopped up with a roughly torn baguette. That is if you don't shove the bowl in your face and drink all the juice first.
📋 Ingredients
- Mussels: Look for fresh mussels without any cracks on the shell. Mussels should be cooked the same day they are bought and always kept cold.
- Flour: A touch of flour helps the mussels spit out any debris as the mussels soak.
- Shallot: Shallots are mild and slightly sweet and give the French mussels delicious flavor. If shallots aren't available, you could substitute with finely chopped red onion or chives.
- White Wine: Use a dry white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Gris.
- Herbs: Bay Leaf, parsley and thyme steep in the wine and butter sauce and bring a fresh and simple layer of flavor.
- Butter: Mussels can be salty as is so I suggest using unsalted butter to control the amount of salt in the mussels recipe.
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
🧅 Variations
- Add a splash of heavy cream or dollop of creme fraiche right at the end, for a creamy sauce.
- Julia Child's mussels recipe doesn't have garlic in it, but you could saute 2 chopped garlic cloves, which would be a fantastic addition.
- Instead of shallots, add ½ of a sliced leek and saute for 5 minutes before adding the buttery and wine sauce.
💦 How to Clean Mussels Before Cooking
Now before we get into the steaming, let's talk about how to properly clean mussels first. Honestly, it takes longer to clean mussels then to cook them, but worth it so you don't bite into a hard piece of sand.
Place mussels on ice. Once you bring home the mussels, place them on ice and chill in the fridge until you're ready to cook, (usually on the same day).
Debeard the mussels. If you haven't worked with mussels before, it's pretty easy. Each mussel comes with a little "beard". Pull that out (it may be a bit hard at first).
Soak and scrub the mussels. 30 minutes before you're ready to cook, place the mussels in a large bowl of cold water with a bit of flour. This help the clams spit out any sand that may be inside. When you're ready to cook, use a shellfish brush and scrub the outside of each mussel. Then, you're ready to cook!
⏲️ Instructions
- In a wide skillet or pot, add the butter, shallots, wine, herbs, salt and pepper and bring to a strong simmer and reduce for 4-5 minutes.
- Use your hands to remove the mussels from the floury water and rinse them well in a colander. Don't pour the mussels into the colander because any collected sand could pour right back on them.
- Add the mussels to the broth and cover with a lid and cook the mussels until they just open up, about 5 minutes. If there are any closed mussels, discard those.
- Turn off the heat and serve the mussels in wide bowls. Use a ladle to pour wine and herb sauce over the mussels. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with crusty French bread for dipping.
📍 Recipe Tips
- Mussels should smell fresh and briny and not have an unpleasant odor.
- Cook mussels the same day they are purchased.
- Discard any mussel shells that are broken or cracked and mussels that don't open after being cooked.
- Mussels will give off some water when being steamed, which makes. a great dunking sauce!
🦀 More Shellfish Recipes
Love this recipe? Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Julia Child’s Mussels Mariniere
LittleFerraroKitchen.com
Ingredients
- 2 pounds mussels
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup white wine such as Sauvignon Blanc
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 shallot chopped finely
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 parsley sprigs roughly chopped, + more for garnish
- 3 thyme sprigs leaves removed and chopped
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Ground black pepper
Instructions
- Scrub each mussel with a Shellfish brush or something similar and pull the beard off of each mussel. Then place the mussels in a large bowl of cold water sprinkled with flour, toss gently and let the mussels soak for 20 minutes.
- Use your hands to remove the mussels from the floury water and rinse them well in a colander. Don't pour the mussels into the colander because the collected sand could pour right back on them.
- In a pot, bring the butter, shallots, wine, herbs and salt and pepper to a strong simmer. Allow to reduce slightly (about 4-5 minutes).
- Add the mussels and cover the pot with a lid and cook the mussels until they just open, about 5 minutes. If there are any closed mussels, discard those.
- Serve the mussels in wide bowls. Use a ladle to spoon mussels in bowls first, then use the ladle to pour wine sauce over the mussels. Garnish with chopped parsley and serve with crusty French bread for dipping.
Notes
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- Mussels should smell fresh and briny and not have an unpleasant odor.
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- Cook mussels the same day they are purchased.
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- Discard any mussel shells that are broken or cracked and mussels that don't open after being cooked.
- Mussels will give off some water when being steamed, which makes. a great dunking sauce!
Sharon says
Nowhere does it say how to obtain the "floury water" you mention in Step 2. Do you mean to sprinkle the water with flour rather than salt, especially as it gives no mention of salt at the beginning of the ingredients??
Samantha Ferraro says
Hi Sharon, Apologies as that was a typo on my end. Within the step by step photos and ingredients, I mention flour but wrote "salt" in the instructions by accident. Soak the mussels in floury water for 20 minutes, then remove and continue with the recipe. The post has been updated, thanks for bringing that to my attention. -Samantha
Blake says
If you see FRESH Mussels at the store get them and make this amazing recipe. Do not get any Mussels that are open and look dry. The girl behind the counter tapped an open mussel and it closed right away so that one was good. The cooking happens fast so be careful to not overcook. SCRUB and debeard the mussels, it will make a huge difference.
New2Cooking says
We Officially love Mussels now. This recipe was easy and fun. We started scrubbing mussels and it makes a huge difference. The water after scrubbing is funky which tells me in the past when I didn't scrub them the recipe would have been better. This was my first time using Shallots. WOW!
Skylar says
Julia Child was Amazing and We love MUSSELS. Most importantly so does my family. This recipe is WONDERFUL it's fantastic. I go to Little Ferraro Kitchen for the Mediterranean recipes but thought I should try something different. We are waiting for her latest cookbook that we ordered yesterday. The first cookbook is Wonderful.
Anton says
One of the easiest, most delectable, more-ish and wonderfully social dishes in the world.
Groups of us, our friends and family used to share giant pots of freshly harvested sweet moules marinière right on the seaside in Belgium with lashings of warm freshly baked "stockbrood" (baguette) and more wine to drink. Here they will insist that this is not a French dish at all but all Belgian. Of course Belgium being small and never far from the coast you can also get fresh moules marinière in most of the finest Bistros across Belgium and there are many, very many, from Brussels to the deeply wooded Champagne-Ardenne and beyond.
Suffice to say moules marinière it's a firm national favourite of the Belgians, even saying so is nothing short of a gross understatement.
I can't be as dogmatic as the Belgians are about this dish's provenance but from only the tinniest bit of research needed the difference might all boil down to just one ingredient, cream, and the distance from Zeebrugge to Normandy.
Putting aside the fact that French speaking Belgians only just out number the Flemish speaking Belgians in Belgium, the national language still favours the Flemish, it's Dutch. Collectively however and this includes the tiny German speaking regions of far Ostbelgien they don't use cream in their moules and the French in France do. Just 2-tbsp of cream mind. Top French chefs from Raymond Blanc to Hélène Darroze will insist.
The taste of the sea however is nowhere as magically, simply and beautifully made cuisine by a mussels own delectable liqueur, reduced briefly with a little dry white wine, herbs, unsalted butter and diced onion as in moules marinière. So personally I go with Julia and the Belgians on this matter.
Unsalted butter is just enough dairy to make it rich hearty and divine.
Now of course the question of the other most essential ingredient of moules marinière besides the mussels themselves, the baguette must be mentioned here. Yes Im afraid the French can't lay claim to that either, but suffice to say here nor can the Belgians. So one all is a good place to leave it.
Either way you make them, enjoy. A more satisfying, simple and delicious feast as this is very hard to beat.
Samantha says
Anton, thank you so much for sharing so much history into the dish! I did not know it was connected to Belgium at all! I agree, the butter is just enough creaminess and I love the light broth the mussels offer.
Dick says
Masa harina in lieu of flour for our gluten intolerant friends
Samantha says
That is a wonderful idea! Thank you!
Tara says
Reminds me when we did our 15 weeks of Julia Child, how I loved doing her recipes. This looks amazing!!
Claudia says
So delectable! That seems impressive.