Blaamuslinger i Cremet Dildsauce

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large stockpot with lid, at least 6 litres
• •Fine sieve or muslin cloth for straining broth
• •Medium saucepan for the sauce
• •Slotted spoon
• •Wooden spoon and whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Sort and clean the mussels

   Tip the mussels into the kitchen sink and run cold water over them. Scrub each one under the tap. If any have a beard, that fibrous tuft clinging to the hinge, grip it between your thumb and a cloth and pull it sharply toward the hinge end to remove it. Discard any mussel that is cracked, broken, or gaping open and doesn't close when you tap it firmly against the counter. A live mussel closes when disturbed. An open mussel that won't close is dead, and a dead mussel can make you ill. Don't take the chance. Set the cleaned mussels aside in a colander.

   Debeard just before cooking. Once the beard is pulled, the mussel weakens and starts to die. Clean them, cook them. That's the order.
2. 2

   Build the aromatic base

   Melt 30g of butter in a pot large enough to hold all the mussels with room for them to open, at least six litres. A stockpot works. Add the diced shallots and cook them gently over a medium heat for three or four minutes, until they soften and turn translucent. Add the sliced garlic and stir for thirty seconds, just until the smell rises. You don't want color on the garlic. Browned garlic turns bitter, and this sauce needs to stay clean and sweet. Drop in the reserved dill stems, the bay leaf, and the peppercorns. The dill stems carry a deeper, more herbaceous flavour than the fronds and they'll perfume the broth from the inside.

   Never throw away dill stems. They hold more essential oil than the fronds. Use them to build flavour in the broth, then fish them out before the sauce comes together.
3. 3

   Steam the mussels open

   Pour the white wine into the pot and let it come to a strong boil. The alcohol needs thirty seconds at a full boil to burn off its raw edge and leave behind the acidity and fruit that the sauce wants. Add the mussels all at once and clamp on the lid. Cook over high heat for three to four minutes, shaking the pot once halfway through by gripping the handles and giving it a firm back-and-forth. Limfjord mussels need only minutes in hvidvin. The moment they open, they are done. Overcook them and they shrink and turn rubbery, and no sauce can save that.

   After four minutes, lift the lid. If most have opened, pull the pot off the heat. A few stubborn ones may need another minute. Any that refuse to open after five minutes should be discarded.
4. 4

   Separate mussels and strain the broth

   Use a slotted spoon to lift the mussels into a large bowl. Cover them loosely with a cloth to keep them warm. Pour the cooking broth through a fine sieve lined with a piece of muslin or a clean cloth into a jug. This step matters. Mussels carry sand and grit, even scrubbed ones. A single grain in the sauce will ruin the experience of eating it. You should have roughly 400ml of strained broth, golden and fragrant. Set it aside. Fish out and discard the dill stems, bay leaf, and peppercorns.

5. 5

   Make the roux and build the sauce

   In a clean saucepan, melt the remaining 30g of butter over medium heat. When it foams, add the flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon for two minutes. You're cooking the raw taste out of the flour. The roux should smell biscuity and look pale gold, never brown. A dark roux would overpower the delicate broth. Now pour in the strained mussel broth in a slow, steady stream, stirring constantly to prevent lumps. The sauce will thicken as the liquid hits the roux. Keep stirring. Once all the broth is incorporated, let it simmer gently for five minutes. This cooks the flour fully and gives the sauce its body.

   If lumps form, don't panic. Pull the pan off the heat and whisk hard. The lumps will break down. A whisk is better than a spoon for this rescue.
6. 6

   Finish with cream and herbs

   Pour the heavy cream into the sauce and stir it through. Let it simmer for two or three minutes more, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon and holds a line when you draw your finger through it. Taste it now. Season with salt, white pepper, and the lemon juice. The lemon isn't there for citrus flavour. It's there to lift and brighten the cream, to keep the sauce from feeling heavy. You'll know when it's right: the sauce should taste of the sea first, then cream, then dill. Now add three-quarters of the chopped dill fronds and all the parsley. Stir them through gently. The herbs go in off the boil because heat destroys their colour and their freshness. You want them vivid and alive in the sauce.

7. 7

   Reunite and serve

   Return the mussels to the sauce and turn them through carefully, coating each shell. Let them warm through for one minute, no more. Pile the mussels into a large warmed serving bowl or divide between deep individual bowls, spooning the creamy dill sauce over and around them so it pools at the bottom. Scatter the remaining chopped dill over the top. Serve immediately with bread for soaking up the broth, because the broth is half the meal. Set an empty bowl on the table for the shells. Tak for mad.

   Eat with your hands. Pick up a shell, use it as a spoon to scoop the sauce, then eat the mussel. When the shells are gone, finish the broth with bread. That's how it's done.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your mussels the day you cook them. Live blaamuslinger should smell of the sea, nothing else. If they smell of anything sour or sharp, walk away. A good fishmonger will tell you when they came in. Ask.
• •Use a dry white wine you'd actually drink. The wine reduces in the pot but its character stays. A cheap, sharp wine makes a cheap, sharp sauce. Something clean and not too fruity: a Muscadet or a dry Riesling works well.
• •The roux must stay pale. This is not a brown sauce. You're building body, not colour. Two minutes of gentle stirring over medium heat is enough to cook the flour through without darkening it.
• •Use sparkling water to soak the mussels for twenty minutes before cooking if you're worried about sand. They'll purge themselves. Drain and rinse before they go in the pot.
• •Save a few perfect mussel shells and use them as spoons to scoop the sauce from the bottom of the bowl. That's the Danish way, and it's the best way.

Advance Preparation

• •Scrub and sort the mussels up to two hours ahead. Keep them in a colander set over a bowl in the fridge, covered with a damp cloth. Do not debeard until just before cooking.
• •The shallots can be diced and the dill and parsley chopped and kept separately in the fridge, covered, for several hours. This makes the final cooking fast and focused.
• •This dish does not reheat. Mussels toughen when recooked and the sauce loses its freshness. Cook it, serve it, eat it. That's the only plan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 280g)