Moules à la Marinière (Steamed Mussels)

There’s no better way to cook extremely fresh mussels than à la marinière, which is simply mussels steamed open in white wine and a few aromatics. That or some similar preparation forms the first step of most other mussel recipes, which, you might argue, exist only for the sake of variety.

A truly fresh mussel, especially a young one, tastes sweet. Use o…