April provides a final chance to enjoy mussels and clams before the summer spawning season. Hugo Arnold digs in while there's still an 'R' in the month
I'm a slurper. I try not to be, but I enjoy it too much. As any noodle eater will tell you, the slurping makes everything taste better. Something to do with the oxygen intake. It heightens the flavour, makes it bigger. What works for noodles also works for sea shells - scoop a mussel or a clam into your mouth and pucker those lips.
This is the last month until September for mussel eaters to indulge. The coming warmth will start them spawning and the flesh will go milky and flabby, as it will for many of the bivalves.Clams are not so badly affected, but they tend to be a little harder to get.
How do mussels, those seemingly inpenetrable bi-valves, manage to pack so much flavour? They are little nuggets of creamy piscine deliciousness that melt in the mouth and help to generate a liquor of such depth. Garlic, white wine and cream, with lots of parsley, is the traditional treatment for mussels. But they can also be paired with lemongrass, coconut and ginger for a Thai flavour, while roasted cumin, chilli and onions bring an Indian flavour to them.
There is little to beat the ease of preparation in a bowl of mussels. No wonder the sensible Belgians are so keen on them. But there is also good eating to be found in stuffing a mussel, which is not as complicated as it might sound.
An Irishman called Walton is credited with the invention of rope-grown mussels. Having been shipwrecked in 1235 in the Bay of Aiguillon, near La Rochelle in France, he turned to bird catching, using nets which were strung out on poles on the mud flats so he could snare the birds skimming across. However he noticed that the poles become covered with mussel spawn and changed tack, moving into mussel farming.
He constructed twin rows of stakes which became the first bouchots. The system has been refined over the years, but essentially remains the same.
The only snag is that the mussels are exposed at low tide, which cuts short their feeding time. This led to the development of mussel rafts, something the canny Spanish are credited with inventing.
In Ireland we tend to be restricted to imported clams of one variety, from France, my fishmonger tells me. This is a shame as there are plenty of other varieties available. In London, the Irish chef Richard Corrigan sells mammoth examples over the bar at his restaurant Bentleys.
My favourite clams are the tiny coquinas, which in bars in Spain are often served simply sauteed with a little oil and garlic, and eaten like sweets. You can get Venus clams occasionally; their striking shells give a good indication of the stellar eating they offer.
All of these sweet nuggets are delicious eaten raw. Not quite as good as an oyster perhaps, but sweet and saline nonetheless. My favourite way to cook them is over an open fire on the beach. This has the added advantage of meaning that even when I cook them at home, I am reminded of those occasions. Not a bad memory to be derived from such a small and inexpensive food.