Description
Ingredients: mussels (Mytilus galloprovincialis), sunflower oil, wine vinegar, garlic, bay.
WARNING: Cancer and Reproductive Harm — www.P65Warnings.ca.gov/food
We also sell the frother used in these videos.
Don Gastronom (La Narval) Fried Small Mussels in Escabeche 12/16
$8.00
Mussels from the Galician coast prepared in one of the most classic sauces in Spain: Escabeche. This version is made with paprika, vinegar, oil, garlic and bay leaves.
110g tin
In stock
Reviews
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kcward (verified owner) –
I tried these straight out of the tin, and with the traditional delivery method, on chips. I was very impressed, particularly at this price point. Recently tried Siesta’s mussels, at about the same price point, and Siesta’s were “chalky”. Don Grastomon’s, not. Measure up well against Patagonia’s, which I love.
dixiecurrey (verified owner) –
Mmm, escabeche. I love mussels and escabeche, and this was a great tin at a great price! Yummy right from the tin, but Really Yummy with potatoes as suggested. I tried with both kettle cooked potato chips and mashed potatoes, and both were great! The sauce was a little more mild than other escabeches I’ve tried, but still delicious!
Matt (verified owner) –
These were my first tinned mussels and I thought they were very tasty. Ate them with some Cape Cod potato chips and thought they complemented the mussels perfectly. Escabeche was very flavorful and I ended up dipping the chips into the sauce long after the mussels were gone.
Leah (verified owner) –
very very good, especially for the price point. I had with roasted garlic on toast for more of a meal, but it really doesn’t need all of that. straight out of the tin was delicious too. 4/5 will be re-purchasing
rmm59 (verified owner) –
Solid mussels! The escabeche was indeed quite flavorful, and the mussels paired very well with potato chips (as other reviewers mentioned). Not my favorite mussels overall (that still goes to Fangst), but very good for the price point so will be repurchasing.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
largerbirdy (verified owner) –
Very good, especially considering its among the lower priced mussels on the site. We had them over sourdough with pickled red onion garnish and olive oil. The oil was probably unnecessary as the salsa escabeche was a nice flavor. There was a fishiness that our pickles helped counter but a good creamy texture that nevertheless satisfied the mussel fans here!
twa101 (verified owner) –
I think this was my first try at canned mussels and I didn’t pay attention to the box so I was surprised when the Escabeche sauce trickled out when I cracked the tin. A very mild and briny scented tin, and I could smell a bit of the garlic. Fourteen nicelooking mussels in a vibrant paprika hued sauce with several slices of garlic and a big chunk of bay leaf. The mussels had a very mild flavor, nothing funky or off and the escabeche really complimented it with the herbs and punch of vinegar. The mussels were pretty soft, a bit mushy, but I expect that is to be expected after they’ve been through the canning process. I decided to try about half of the tin with potato chips which apparently is the traditional way. The chips added a good textural contrast, even after dipping them into the escabeche before applying the mussel. Speaking of the escabeche, it was delicious and the flavor reminded me a bit of Salsa Espinaler. Very garlicky, with lots of paprika and the large piece of bay added a medicinal, floral pop. I could see why some people like to eat this with mashed potatoes and I think the next time I get these I’ll serve them over cauliflower mash. This was my third different Don Gastronom (La Narval) product, and I must say they have all been as good as their sharp graphic design. Definitely looking forward to trying more.
joshua.c.croteau (verified owner) –
Not for me. These were in my first ever order and I tried them on cape cod chips and they’re a very different animal than the mussels I’ve had in olive oil. I don’t think I’m a big escabeche guy based on what I’ve had.
deenzandgreenz (verified owner) –
Wonderful! I’m not huge on mussels but these were great. Moist with a great texture. Tasted perfect with garlic chips. Thanks RTG!
A. Pearson (verified owner) –
Just when I was about to give up on canned mussels….
Mussels have been one of my least-favorite tinned seafoods. I don’t hate them, but I have found the texture of the ones I’ve tried to be too soft and indistinctive for my liking (though I usually think they taste fine!).
These ones are either slightly firmer than others I’ve tried, or I’ve finally just gotten so used to the texture that I’m starting to not mind it, but it’s the first tin of mussels that made me say to myself “well hot damn I would actually happily buy another one of these.” I also enjoyed the way the hit of vinegar comes through without being overpowering. A good tin!
Daniel Nusdeo (verified owner) –
Oh boy, these were fantastic. My favorite tinned mussels I’ve had yet. I absolutely devoured them with some sliced tomatoes and red onions marinated in balsamic. Mixed some oil from the tin in and dunked the mussels into it, was heaven. They were also absolutely delicious right out of the tin. Solid large whole mussels with a great texture, and no fishy/briny taste.
sparrowking (verified owner) –
This was my first tin of canned mussels in a very long time, and I was very worried that they would end up being grainy or rubbery like the ones I had tried before. I was already halfway through the suggested recipe on the inside of the box before I opened the can, and if I hadn’t already made the pasta I would have eaten all of the mussels straight out of the can (all but three made it into the sauce, which took a tremendous amount of self restraint).
The sauce has a wonderful hit of acidity from the vinegar, not too overpowering and doesn’t take away from the creaminess of the mussels at all. I added the whole tin to a jarred tomato sauce, and it honestly made for one of the best tomato sauces I’ve had in recent history. I have many more cans of mussels to try, and can’t imagine that they’ll be able to top this!
Hream McDan (verified owner) –
Two thumbs up! Great tin that is delightfully tangy and doesn’t need any additional salt (which, for my escabeche preference, is somewhat of a rarity). Super enjoyable experience eating these on mini-toasts. Very few chewy bits with a consistent and soft texture throughout. Visually beautiful and an excellent tin for the price. If you love mussels in escabeche and haven’t tried this one … get it now. And also get the other Don Gastronom mussels in spicy garlic sauce, those are excellent too.
savendra.thoun (verified owner) –
I’m wasn’t quite sure how I feel about these tinned mussels initially, which is understandable because this is my first time having mussels from a tin and trying an escabeche style dish, but I think I can safely give it a solid thumbs up.
After cracking open the tin I poured the oil and vinegar into a high walled cup so I could emulsify it per the recommended preparation, and paired the emulsified liquid and mussels with kettle cooked potato chips. The combination vaguely reminded me of a seafood version of salt and vinegar flavored potato chips, a flavor I wouldn’t actively go for but wouldn’t turn away from if placed in front of me.
The mussels were soft with a slight bit of chew, and had a creamy mouth feel to it. I wasn’t a huge fan, but I was able to get through half the tin once I grabbed an ice cold beer from the fridge. Wasn’t quite sure what to do with the remaining half, but after a bit of research I decided to use the leftover mussels in Patagonia Provision’s Smoked Mussel Chowder soup recipe, with a few additional tweaks and modifications with what ingredients I had and my mind was blown.
I subbed the leek/yellow onion for a few stalks of green onion, skipped the bay leaf and lemon (since the tin already had bay leaf and vinegar), and added frozen corn plus a tin of Trader Joe’s lightly smoked mussels because why not?
The acidity of the escabeche cuts through the richness of the chowder, and the hint of smoke flavor from the extra tin of mussels I threw in added an extra dimension to the soup. Being able to switch between the two different styles of mussels kept my taste buds on its toes, and topping the chowder with some potato chips took my bowl to the next level.
Eaten as is or traditionally paired with chips isn’t my style, but I’ll definitely have this tin again if I’m going to use it in a recipe that could benefit from the texture of these mussels and the acidity of the vinegar.
Molly (verified owner) –
The mussels and sauce were absolutely gorgeous when I cracked open the tin — like little jewels! The mussels themselves were a great size and there were a ton of them inside the tin, all well-coated in the tangy sauce.
I wanted to like the taste of these as much as the visual, but unfortunately, these weren’t my favorite, mostly because of the texture. They were big and meaty but the something about the texture didn’t sit quite right with me — a little bit too soft for me. To counterbalance that, I ate these on chips with thin slices of pickled ramps to add some crunch and even a little more acidity than the sauce provided. In the end, I enjoyed them well enough and I think this is a great tin for someone who likes this style of mussels, but it isn’t one that I’ll come back to again and again.
Christopher Therrien (verified owner) –
This is a nice product that can be utilized to make a great dish.
The escabeche sauce is fine. It’s somewhat muted in flavor with not much zip, but there is a nice fresh essence of ocean. There were 14 mussels in the tin and they tasted great. Two still had their beards, however, so those had to be plucked off. Not a big deal, but it’s a product review so I thought it worth noting.
Inside the box the mussels came in there’s a recipe for ‘Pasta con Mejillones’ with pleasant little pictures in Spanish on one side and an English version on the other (so you can practice your Spanish or English depending on which side of the Atlantic you happen to be).
I watched the accompanying video of Dan whipping up escabeche sauce with a little hand frother. RTG sells this device online. It’s good for frothing milk for cortados, macchiatos, mochas and so on, but it’s also an excellent tool for emulsifying escabeche and similar oil based dressings. That’s a good tip and one I wish I had thought of.
Another good tip Dan gives is to add a small amount of mustard (Dijon works well) or mayo to help thicken the escabeche as well as give it staying power in that it will hold the emulsion longer and cling to the food better. My recommendation is to finely grate a good sized garlic clove (use a microplane zester for this) and use that in lieu of the mustard or mayo. I suggest this because garlic is a component in escabeche whereas mustard and mayo are not, and the garlic will achieve similar results along with giving it a more intense garlic flavor. If you don’t believe me, there’s actually a scientific study on just this topic (you have to love the internet):
https://sci-hub.se/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0268005X18323476
The authors of the study had formed their hypothesis based on the recipe for Spanish “Alioli” or Catalan “Allioli” versus the more well known French mayonnaise based sauce “Aioli.” The traditional Spanish version only has oil, garlic and salt (and sometimes lemon), whereas French aioli has egg (and sometimes Dijon).
Anyway, what I did was made a version of Patatas Bravas: I tossed fried cubes of potato with the above mentioned mussels and emulsified garlicky escabeche.
¡buen provecho!
Kristine (verified owner) –
This is my second foray as far as tinned mussels go with the previous one the Fangst blue mussels with dill and fennel. I would give this a 3.5 stars out of 5 but I’m not yet sold on this.
In the tin were some plump mussels covered in an orange sauce. The escabeche was mild flavored and I can’t really pick out the acidity from the sauce. I ate these with salt and vinegar chips which provided a good contrast with the texture of the mussels. I am giving this 3.5 stars given the: a) texture of the mussels seeming to be soft and chalky, b) not being to pick up any of the escabeche flavor. I prefer the Fangst w/ dill and fennel over these.
luke (verified owner) –
Truly fantastic; I enjoyed this warm-over pasta with some fresh herbs and garlic. I mixed the sauce from the tin into it and dressed the pasta with it. Delightful, and I would definitely order it again. This was really light and balanced. a good ratio of oil and vinegar. Beautiful color, and wonderful texture to the mussels themselves.
Stacy Rosenfeld (verified owner) –
This was my first tin of mussels and I really enjoyed them! The mussels were not chewy like I expected and there was no gristle or sandiness. The escabeche was mild and I used a little milk frother to emulsify it. Next time I’ll add some mustard into the escabeche to infuse some flavor and stabilize the emulsification a bit more. I did expect the escabeche to be a bit stronger but my little bottle of salsa espinaler backed me up with the pop of vinegar I wanted. Overall a tasty mussel experience that I would like to try again!