# Help - accidentally froze mussels



## Cooking-Fool (Aug 12, 2007)

...i bought a couple pounds of live Muscles and stuffed them in the freezer a couple hours by mistake,,,,,

some of them are open...and wont close when i tap on them.....but when i put them into the wine to cook they opened themselves more......can i still eat them??


----------



## keltin (Aug 12, 2007)

Sure, you can still eat them. You say they were fresh and only frozen for a few hours, so they are basically still “fresh”. The muscles open up when they die. The ones that opened in the freezer are just dead…..which is what was going to happen to them in the pan anyway. The freezer didn't do anything to them but save them from being cooked alive.


----------



## Cooking-Fool (Aug 12, 2007)

GREAT now I can eat my delicious muscles in white wine.......

TAHNX


----------



## kitchenelf (Aug 12, 2007)

Next time just put the mussels in your refrigerator - in a cooler spot.  Make sure they can breath and they are not wrapped totally in plastic.  You can always keep them in the bag, with another towel under them and put them in a bowl of ice - but not directly on the ice.

The only problem I see is you don't know which ones were already dead and could possibly upset your tummy  

If any shells are broken do not eat those as they were probably broken to begin with.  Those would NOT be ok to eat.

Enjoy your mussels - I LOVE them!


----------



## llvllagical_llkook (Aug 19, 2007)

Muscles are lovely to cook with. I cannot eat them due to allergies but I do cook them, wearing gloves.


----------



## auntdot (Aug 19, 2007)

I am with the elf here.  The old tried and true 'don't eat those that don't open when cooked' cannot apply here.

I would think those that opened were alive when they met their chilly demise.  But probably many, if not all, of those that are closed are healthy also. 

It depends upon what you feel comfortable eating.  Me, I would probably toss the lot and resolve not to do that again.

Just my humble take on things.

And if there is anything better than mussels meunierre I haven't tried it.


----------



## buckytom (Oct 24, 2014)

kitchenelf said:


> Next time just put the mussels in your refrigerator - in a cooler spot.  Make sure they can breath and they are not wrapped totally in plastic.  You can always keep them in the bag, with another towel under them and put them in a bowl of ice - but not directly on the ice.
> 
> The only problem I see is you don't know which ones were already dead and could possibly upset your tummy
> 
> ...



bump. lurker surfing. can't sleep.

i was going to answer that they'd be ok so long as they were quickly defrosted and cooked immediately in a sauce like wine or tomato.

lots of pizza places use frozen mussels on the 1/2 shell for their mussels marinara.
but then i read elfie's words of wisdom that you wouldn't know which ones were bad before they were frozen.

has anyone tried freezing (known good) mussels before?

do they need to be quick frozen, more quickly than a standard home fridge?

do you think they are blanched first before freezing to open them up?


----------



## Mad Cook (Oct 25, 2014)

Cooking-Fool said:


> ...i bought a couple pounds of live Muscles and stuffed them in the freezer a couple hours by mistake,,,,,
> 
> some of them are open...and wont close when i tap on them.....but when i put them into the wine to cook they opened themselves more......can i still eat them??


If they were all closed when they went into the freezer it's probably the cold that opened them and they will be OK to eat. They won't close when you tap them either because the yare still frozen or because the freezing killed them. If they weren't all closed when they went into the freezer there's no way of telling which is which so I would chuck the lot.

If in doubt chuck 'em out is sound advice when dealing with shell fish.


----------



## Chief Longwind Of The North (Oct 25, 2014)

I say hop in a hot tub with epsom salts, and soak for about an hour to unfreeze your mussels, oops, muscles.

Someone had to say it and B.T. didn't jump at the chance.

I've purchased frozen mussels at the grocers and they were still quite tasty.  But since we have no fresh available in my neck of the woods, I bow to the wisdom of those who posted before me.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North


----------



## Sir_Loin_of_Beef (Oct 25, 2014)

Frozen muscles. Don't you just  love cryogenics?


----------

