Moules-frites recipe

Mussels steamed on a butter base of celery and onion, served beside fries fried twice in beef tallow and rested in between.

1 hour and 20 minutesmedium10 ingredients

Ingredients

• 1500 g mussels
• 800 g bintje potatoes
• 1000 g beef tallow
• 3 stick celery
• 2 onions
• 60 g butter
• 250 ml dry white wine
• 1 bunch parsley
• 3 thyme
• 2 bay leaves

How to make Moules-frites

1. Scrub 1.5 kg mussels under cold water and pull the beards. Throw out any that stay open when you tap them.
2. Cut 800 g Bintje potatoes into 1 cm batons, rinse off the starch and dry them completely.
3. First fry: 6 to 8 minutes in beef tallow at 140°C, until pale and soft inside. Drain and leave them to cool at least 30 minutes. Skipping this rest is why fries go limp.
4. Sweat 2 chopped onions and 3 chopped celery stalks in 60 g butter for 8 minutes with 3 thyme sprigs and 2 bay leaves, without colouring them.
5. Add the mussels and 250 ml dry white wine, cover, and cook over high heat 5 minutes, shaking the pot twice, until they open. Discard any that stay shut.
6. Second fry: raise the tallow to 180°C and fry the potatoes 2 to 3 minutes until deep gold. Salt them the second they come out.
7. Serve the mussels in the pot with their broth, scattered with chopped parsley.
8. Keep the fries in a separate dish so they never sit in the liquid. That separation is the Belgian rule.

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