Marinière, provençale, curry, moutarde. Same mussels, four different dinners, and a strong opinion about the bread.
Four sauces, one pot, frites with all of them. The mussels do not change; everything around them does.
Which one is yours
- Marinière. White wine, leek, cream. The original and still the one to beat.
- Provençale. Tomato, pepper, red wine. The one for a cold night.
- Curry. Curry and cream, and far more French than that sounds. It has been on bistro menus in the north for fifty years.
- Moutarde. Mustard and cream, sharp enough to keep you going back.
The part that matters
What you do with the liquid at the bottom. Use the empty shell as a pair of tongs, the way it is done in Belgium, and then use the bread, and then use the frites. A pot returned with sauce still in it is a small failure on both sides.
Order a Muscadet with it if you want the traditional answer, or a chilled Beaujolais if you would rather have the interesting one.
Written at L'Étoile, the historic Snouder's Building, Oyster Bay.
