Pippis

[Narmnaleg]

Anyone that like me is a big fan of pippis might like to know that Costco is now selling live, gorgeous, Australian pippis (de-sanded) for $13 per Kg. They are in sealed bags and the use by date is more than a week away.

[Mixin]

I bought their live mussels last week (they source them from Tasmania) 2kg for $10.
They were awesome. 3 of them had baby crabs inside when they opened up.

[Narmnaleg]

I bought their live mussels last week (they source them from Tasmania) 2kg for $10.
They were awesome. 3 of them had baby crabs inside when they opened up.

Apparently that's a pretty common thing to find in mussels apparently. They tend to put me off, but I know people that love to eat the little crabs.

[Groovy Gorilla]

I like the little crabs

[Narmnaleg]

I like the little crabs

They should sell them separately

[Mixin]

See if the little crab pics work via tapatalk:




Sent from my iRecliner

[Narmnaleg]

What's the orange stuff under one of the crabs? Eggs?

Apparently every now and then a cloud of little crab eggs will be in the same water with the mussels. As the mussels filter the water there's a good chance of an egg remaining inside the mussel shell. From that point on they live together happily ever after, with the crab growing side by side with the mussel. I've had more than one occasion where every single mussel of a 2kg batch were with crab...

[Smokey]

Good buying Fab, Love pipis
Yep that's eggs.
Strainge re the mussels, I only buy black mussels as I prefer the flavour over green NZ and in all my life I've never found a crab.
The things you learn. I do a pot o Mussles regularly too.

[Narmnaleg]

Strainge re the mussels, I only buy black mussels as I prefer the flavour over green NZ and in all my life I've never found a crab.
The things you learn. I do a pot o Mussles regularly too.

I'm pretty sure I've only ever found the crabs in green mussels. Like you I also prefer black or blue mussels usually. My experience is that they also need less debearding than green mussels (is that a word?)

[2browndogs]

There's a whole lot of the general public that needs some de-bearding these days, however i digress.

I've never seen crabs in mussels. But have a cracking Thai style mussel recipe i'll post when i can find it.

[Narmnaleg]

Seems like pippis are nowhere near as popular mussels, personally I much prefer pippis on most occasions, especially with pasta. Sorry for the non BBQ OT.

Pippis, garlic and chilly:
- Wash the pippis and make sure they are desanded. If you have to desand them yourself, leave them in a bucket of sea water for 24-36 hours before cooking.
- Get a large pan going (one that has a lid) to a sizzle with EVOO, chopped garlic (lots) and chilly.
- When the garlic has cooked, add some (around one cup) white wine and some salt.
- Throw in the pippis, stir them around and close the lid.
- Wait for some steam to come out from the lid, then stir them and close the lid again. Some should be open by now.
- Wait for some steam to come out, make sure they've all opened, otherwise stir and cook a bit longer.
At this point it can go two ways:
1) Eat pippis as they are.
2) Cook some pasta (spaghetti works best) and mix them with the pippis and sauce. Add some more chilly or a bit of cracked pepper on top (no cheese).

If you want to make the pasta even more scrumptious, remove it from the boiling water 2 minutes early and finish cooking it in the pippi sauce for 1 minute. Serve the pasta directly from the pan.

[Smokey]

Now that is a caravan park recipe if ever I've seen one Fab, That just took me back to Merry Beach caravan park that The family had an onsite van for over thirty years. Pipis bring back good memories

[Narmnaleg]

Now that is a caravan park recipe if ever I've seen one Fab, That just took me back to Merry Beach caravan park that The family had an onsite van for over thirty years. Pipis bring back good memories

Very true. Shame that we can't hunt for pippis at the beach anymore. It was always one of my favourite ways to spend the time at the beach.

I've also have some kick arse pippis in XO chilly sauce at a few asian restaurants, but the recipe above I've been eating as far back as I can remember

[Mixin]

I've only ever had them as part of a pasta marina dish, done traditionally, where you have to pull the shells out as you go. Always tasted great, and was a regular dish at a friends house, where Nonna always cooked.

the effort VS reward ratio isn't anywhere near as good as mussels for cooking them up in a pot though!

Unfortunately my holiday memories of pippis aren't so good. 30+ years ago we used to have regular holidays down the south coast. 2 or 3 families would pack into a 3 bedroom house that was part owned by all of our parents. After several days, pippis hidden in a 4 year old cousin's shell collection, that were caught fresh, weren't so fresh anymore. I'll never forget that smell! It gets brought up every year at Christmas!

[Narmnaleg]

I've only ever had them as part of a pasta marina dish

If that was a tomato based marinara dish then I'd say that most of the pippi flavour would have become disguised by stronger flavours. I find pippis to be quite mild, which is why I prefer them as above (I always leave the shells on for the pasta sauce as well).
As for the pot of mussels, I love that with tomato as they have a stronger flavour.
Sometimes I make prawns the same way as pot mussels. With some crusty bread they're scrumptious and go a very long way.

I'm hungry now!