Mussels harvested from the Galician Rias are hand-selected one by one before being lightly fried in olive oil and a classic escabeche sauce.
Plump. Meaty. Bright. These cooked whole mussels are the perfect balance between firm enough to hold their shape and tender enough to feel buttery on the palate—not chewy like other inferior brands. Their naturally orange color is intensified from the bold and zingy escabeche sauce, which seems to include a good amount of not-too-smokey Spanish paprika. The flavor of the mussels themselves is lightly briny, with a delicate ocean character, which is rounded out by the marinade’s aromatic kick. Bay leaves add a nice herbal flavor, but what truly sets these mussels apart is the addition of wine. We tried another brand that didn’t have both wine and vinegar in its marinade, just vinegar, and it had no where near the complexity of these. The wine coaxes out the paprika flavors nicely, adding a dash of fruity sweetness along the way.
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These tasty bivalves are great to round out your tapas spread. Pair them with classics like Patatas Bravas, Spanish Tortilla with Roasted Red Peppers and slices of Portuguese Cornbread (Broa) slathered in olive oil and butter. And a wedge of Manchego with some pickles wouldn’t hurt either. For a simple meal, serve on toast with a lightly dressed side salad or a poached egg. And if you can bear to cook with them (instead of gobbling them up right away), they make excellent additions to simple pastas. The mussels and their flavorful marinade, when added to the pan with the cheese, will incorporate into the sauce and impart their bold flavor throughout the dish.
Tip: Warming your tinned fish before eating wakes up some of the flavors. Simply remove the outer packaging and open the can a small crack (to allow for building pressure to escape) and put them, tin and all, in a low oven to heat.