Instructions
I love the Kiwis, really I do. Well, maybe not the Crusaders rugby team, but the rest of them are pretty good. I can even put up with funky smells of Rotorua, and those idiosyncratic Kiwi pronunciations that plague our fried seafood vendors.
There is, however, a battle much richer than the Bledisloe Cup fought out each day in the commercial kitchens on each side of the Tasman: it is the War of the Mussel.
Ask any Kiwi about mussels and you’ll hear endless opinions on the primacy of the New Zealand green-lip. They’re big, plump and flavoursome. Sure. I can accept that.
But ask yourself a practical question. All mussels are farmed these days, and Aussie mussel farmers are pretty smart guys. So, if the green-lip is the ‘be all and end all’ of musseldom, why do our boys not get in on the act?
In simple terms, New Zealand green-lip mussels are the underwater equivalent of Darth Vader. They are voracious and aggressive beasts bent on the destruction of all other mussels in their path. If we were ever to get live green-lip mussels into Australian waters, our local mussel farmers with their delicate, delicious and tender black mussels would be out of business in a matter of years. And so the only way you can bring green-lips into Australia is frozen, to be sure they’re dead. Three cheers for Quarantine!
Australian mussel producers have made some laudable advances in the last several years. Spring Bay (Tasmania) and Kinkawooka (South Australia) now sell mussels in vacuum-sealed bags meaning freshness is guaranteed. You want to look for mussels that are heavy for their size, as it means they are holding sea water which keeps them fresh.
Mussels are filter feeders, and so they are ambassadors for the cleanliness of their environment. Tassie and South Australian mussels are farmed in waters unmatched for their pristine qualities and will usually be faultless. I would probably advise, however, against sampling the wild mussels you find anchored to the rocks near Manly wharf. Leave them for the local starfish to enjoy.
Belgian style mussels with white wine and blue cheese