Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-03-10
MUssELs.

Here in England the mussel is much and
most uHdeservedly despised but across
the Channel they know how to value it.
There are nearly 5000 bouchots or mussel-
reserves on the coasts of France, and more
than 3 500 persons get living from them.
The center of this industry is to be found
on the west coast, near La Rochelle, where
the inhabitants of the villages of Marsiily,
VIlledoux, Esnandes and Charron are al
most wholly occupied in rearing mussels.
NJ d'0rbigny, in his account of the bust.
ness. says that it originated thus: In 1885
an Irish bark was wrecked off Esnsndes,
and the skipper, man named Walton,
alone was saved. He remained in the
country, and proved to be of an ingenious
turn of mind. He was the first inventor
of those special nets, called allourets, which
are employed for taking the focks of
sea-birds whose habit it is of dark even
ings to skim the sea inshore in the Bay of
Biscay. To set his nets he made sort of
raft, locally called an aeon, which is from
seven TO ten feet long and two feet wide
A man kneels on it with one knee while he
propels and steers with the other leg,
which, well shod in high waterproof boot,
hangs in the water. While attending in
| this manner to his nets Walton observed
| first, that the stakes to which he attached
| them became covered with mussei spawn
and further, that the mussels thus grown
were larger and better than those found in
the shore mud. He then planned the bou-
chot-a word which comes from bouche, a
mouth, apparently; but the other two
words, aliouret and aeon, are not yet 20 be
found IN any dictionary, even of patois. A
bouchot Is great triangular Enclosure made
Of posts and wattles, the base of which is
formed by the coast, while the apex runs
out seaward for as much as l, leo yards At
this apex is narrow opening, which can
be closed with nets or otherwise to prevent
large fsh from escaping st the ebb of the
tide. The bouchot is thus weir for catch
ing fish as well as mussel-reserve. Wal
toms discovery rapidly got abroad he had
taken out no patent, the bouchoss soon
multiplied, and the population who work
them have even come TO be called bouchol.
eurs. 1t is curious instance of the great
effects of small causes that the coasting
navigators of the West have from time to
time made vigorous representations of the
dangers of the bouchots, which are in some
places seven rows deep and extend as far
as six miles out to the sea, taking up much
good anohoring- ground of refuge on diff
cult coast
The mussel.spat, says Quatrefages, ap.
pears in the spring, and the young reach
the size Of lentlls about the first OF May.
They then grow more rapidly, and in July
are as big as a kidney bean. They are then
fit for the " transplantiRg, which is effected
by removing them from those stakes which
are furthest out in the sea, putting them
into bags made out of old nets, and fixing
these bags on wattles nearer to the shore.
The young mussels spread themselves all
round the bags, clingiDg on to the wattles
by those filaments which naturalists have
called byssus. According as they grow,
and crowd each other too much, they are
thinned out and "replanted" on other
posts still nearer and nearer to the land,
until finally those which have reached their
full size and are marketable are "' planted"
quite at the margin of the water, where
the daily "harvest" takes place The enor.
nous quantities of these mussels, freshly
gathered, which are every day dispatched
into the interior may be judged from the
official returns, which give the annual yield
of this fishery on all the French coasts at
l., $50 900 bushels.
Having caught, reared and harvested the
muasels, the next question is how they
ought to be eaten. Grimod de la Rey-
Mere has called them the oysters of the
poor but this is a very cavalier way of
| disposing of an excellent and delicious ar.
ticle of food which forms an important in.
gredient in such classic dishes as sole nor.
mande and 6ouilldbaisse.
Green herbs. red peppers, mussels, safern,
Seles onions, garlic, roach and dace;
All these you eat at Torres tavern
In that enc dish OF botiEld5aiSse.
lie Menagier de Paris" says that in his
| fourteenth century "moules soient cuites
en- grant feu ct hastivement. en- tres petit
d'eaue ct de vim sans sell" In the time Of
Beauvilliers the finest of these shellfish
came from Flanders; and he makes the Gu
rious statement that those which contain
small crabs are indigestible. Now, great
, numbers of the mussels which come from
| the west coast of France contain these
tiny young crabs which, with the witness
of their kind, pop, while yet their own
shells are soft, inside the shells of mussels
when they are open for feeding, and thus
get both board and lodging, for they liter
ally devour the substance of their host.
The Flemish way of cooking mussels is to
put them on the fire in pan, with chopped
parsley, and shake them from time to time
until they open, when the top shells should
be removed and this is the time for pick.
ing out the young crab fry. Then they are
put back on the fire to stew for brief
time in the water that has come from the
shells, with some whole pepper and lemon
Juice. Beauvilliers adds butter, -four and
egg yolk but the best way of all is to
throw away the water, and, when the up.
per shells and crabs have been suppressed,
to put the fish back into the pan with but.
ter, parsley and little fnely-chopped
garlic. The fire must be clear and brisk.
1.-THE Menagier" was quite right in saying
that they should be hastily cooked, and
they should be eaten quite not. Mussels
make an excellent sauce treated IN the
same way as oysters And there need be
no nervousness about eating them mussel
poisoning is extremely rare accidents from
mushrooms are much more common. All
the same, it is well to avoid them, as we
do oysters, in those months which have no
in their names.- Pail Mall Gazette.
Investigation has developed that the
fascinating game of draw poker was in
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