Skip to main content
Main

Sea Mussel Soup

A soup made with fresh sea mussels, shallots, garlic, white wine, heavy cream, saffron, curry, herbs, butter, salt, and pepper.

From the Recipes Wiki (Fandom) · 10 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Shallot and garlic match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 4% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 2,000 recipes. Both carry coumarin, which smells sweet, hay. The science ↓

Sea Mussel Soup

Time4-5 minutes

Ingredients

Directions

Make the soup

  1. In a pan, fry finely chopped shallots, crushed garlic, herbs and spices in butter.

  2. Add the mussels and white wine. Let it steam under a lid for 4-5 minutes.

  3. Add the cream and let cook for 3-4 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Serve

  1. Serve the soup with the mussels in it, bread and butter.

Nutrition, whole recipe (rough)

338Calories
26 gProtein
18 gFat
15 gCarbs

Counts 9 of 10 ingredients. The other 1 aren't in our nutrition table and add nothing above, so the real totals are higher.

What these numbers assume: 9 portions
IngredientPortion assumedkcal
Butter1 tbsp (14g)102
Shrimp100g cooked99
Cream1 tbsp (15ml) heavy51
Onion1 medium (110g)44
Wine2 tbsp cooking wine (30ml)25
Clove1 tsp ground (2g)7
Black Pepper1 tsp ground (2.3g)6
Garlic1 clove (3g)4
Salt1 tsp (6g)0
Saffronnot in our table0

One typical portion per ingredient; the recipe's quantities are not counted. A rough guide only, not for medical or dietary planning.

Recipe from the Recipes Wiki (Fandom).

Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Shallot + garlictop 4% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,000 recipes

    Shared aroma: coumarin (sweet, hay).

  2. Clove + peppertop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together17,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).

  3. Shallot + clovetop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,677 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Clove + saffrontop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together455 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Shallot + saffrontop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together38 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fresh sea mussels
Provide the main protein and release briny juices that flavour the broth as they steam open.
Shallots
Soften and add a mild, sweet onion-like base to the soup.
Garlic
Adds pungent aroma that mellows and sweetens as it cooks in butter.
White wine
Adds acidity and helps steam the mussels open while lending bright flavour to the broth.
Heavy cream
Adds fat and body, giving the soup a rich, smooth texture.
Butter
Carries the aromatics and adds rich flavour as the base fat for frying.

The step that matters

Steam the mussels until they open. Mussels cook quickly, and overcooking makes them rubbery. Cover the pan so the shells open in the steam, then remove any that stay shut.

Swap the clove

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (shallot, garlic, white wine, cream, saffron, butter, pepper):

  1. Tarragonfits better
  2. Thymefits better
  3. Parsleyfits better
  4. Clovethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against shallot, garlic, white wine, cream, saffron, butter, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

You might also like

Tomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipesYorkshire PuddingYorkshire Pudding264 recipes