Bouchot mussel, Bay of Mont-Saint-Michel

Moule de bouchot de la baie du Mont-Saint-Michel

What it is

The appellation is written in numbers: a shell at least 4 cm long, a meat content of 120 or more on the Lawrence index, and over 4% carbohydrate in the cooked flesh — the glycogen behind the sweetness its specification names as the dominant taste. The posts stand in the flats south of a line from the bell tower of Carolles to the pointe de la Chaîne, where the largest tidal range in France feeds them twice a day. Protected across Europe since May 2011, when the AOP replaced the French AOC.

In the kitchen

The specification rules out sand and crabs, so there is nothing to soak away: rinse them, and pull the beard only just before cooking, since a mussel does not live long once it is gone. Five minutes, lid on, in a pan barely wet: they cook in their own water.

Goes with

Shallot Parsley Cream Butter Garlic Potato Leek

Same species

Mussel

In season alongside

Bafun uni Abalone Japanese abalone Clam Common prawn Lobster coral

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