prepare; they tolerate some overcooking and
readily come off the shell. Both
characteristics reflect the relatively small
amount of muscle tissue. Because the beard is
attached to the body inside, tugging on it can
injure the animal. Beard removal should be
put off until just before cooking. To avoid
toughening mussels, it’s best to cook them in
a broad, shallow pan in essentially a single
layer: this allows the cook to remove the early
openers so that they don’t overcook while the
others finish.
Oysters Oysters are the most prized of the
bivalves. They are the sea’s tenderest morsels,
the marine equivalent of penned veal or the
fattened chicken, which just sit and eat. Their
shell-closing adductor amounts to just a tenth
of the body weight, the thin, delicate sheets of
all-enclosing mantle and gills account for
more than half, and the visceral mass for a
third. The oyster is a special delicacy when