Here it is guys and gals. It took a bit of time, but replicating this mussel soup dish was a totally satisfying and tasty challenge.
In today’s post, you’ll see me taking on the challenge. I’ll be putting together all the components that make up the dish. You can have a quick read or take in all the drop-down boxes that will provide the step-by-step guides for making the dish. So come on along and we’ll make the requested soup.
You say, “what challenge?”. Remember the recurring image (above) that we first shared in our post back in May. Well, in that May post, David from Cocoa & Lavender asked in his comment if I was planning to post a recipe for this dish. Two posts back, I gladly accepted David’s challenge to replicate the “Mussel soup with smoked fresh cheese and sautéed fennel” dish pictured above. So, I went to work and after a few misses, I finally feel I’ve honored the original soup dish.
And, with a small drum roll, above is my take on the “Mussel soup with smoked fresh cheese and sautéed fennel” dish. What you think, do they resemble each other visually?
I like to place a tad of smoked cheese, some veg, and mussel on the spoon with the bisque. Then, pop it in your mouth and let the flavor and textures explode. It has a magnificently rich, slightly smokey, and comforting taste. Did I replicate the Skanörs Gästgifvaregård soup? Who knows, as it’s been months since we tasted the dish, but I think it’s close to the dish we enjoyed. In my humble opinion, the key ingredient in the dish is the smoked fresh cheese. But more on that in a bit.
I hope you’ll read on, as I’ll first be steaming up some mussels and making the stock for the soup. I’ll also guide you on how to smoke the cream cheese at home (I have a hack or two there). Then I’ll be making and assembling the rest of the dish, step by step.
Timing is everything, almost…
When planning for the “Mussel soup with smoked fresh cheese and sautéed fennel” dish keep in mind a few things need to come together at a similar temperature, all at the same time. It not a complicated dish at all, but timing is important on this one. One could plan to make all the components just prior to service, but I don’t recommend it. I tried it on my first cook and there was way too much going on for this old guy. So, I say, plan ahead. Below I’ll be making timing suggestions for preparing ahead some of the ingredients for the dish. Of course, you can do it all in one cook, but I find making parts of the dish ahead simplifies the preparation.
Please note, after some points, you’ll see my famous CLICK HERE button that will provide you with a step-by-step guide for that part of the recipe.
Steaming the mussels and making the stock…
- A week or so ahead of serving make the stock and reserve the mussels.
For a step-by-step tutorial on preparing the stock (recipe included) click the “CLICK HERE” button below.
CLICK HERE
For this mussel soup, I adapted my favorite mussel steaming/stock recipe from the Le Bernardin Cookbook by Eric Ripert and Maguy Le Coze.
The stock is made with a bag of fresh mussels, garlic, shallots, thyme, flat-leaf parsley, whole pepper (under the bay leaf), white wine (I used chardonnay), and water (not shown).
Prior to steaming the mussels and making the stock, remove the mussel’s beard and scrub them. Heat your neutral-tasting oil in a large bottomed pot over medium heat until shimmering. Then toss in the peppercorns and stir for a minute or so. Next, add your shallots, and saute for a minute or two, then add the garlic and continue to saute until the shallots are softened. Watch so the shallots and garlic don’t brown. Now, add your bay leaf, parsley, thyme, and stir. Next, add the wine and water and increase the temperature under the pot to medium-high. Now give it all a stir. Gently put the mussels in the pot and give them a light stir, cover. Cook until steam is lifting the lid off (about 4 to 5 minutes). After cooking when you open the lid, the mussels should be opened. If not, cover and cook another minute.
Take your pan off the heat and strain the lot using a colander reserving the stock.
Examine the mussels and discard any that didn’t open. Then remove the mussel meat from their shells and vacuum pack. As soon as vacuum packaging is complete, place your mussels in an ice bath to totally chill. Remove and go directly into the fridge or freezer. If making the stock prior to service, remove the mussel meat, and keep it warm until plating your soup.
Alternatively, you can supplement the mussel stock with a commercial clam juice.
Mussel Stock
This makes a lovely French style mussel stock and is also a very good steamed mussel recipe. It's adapted from Eric Ripert and Maguy Le Coze recipe in the Le Bernardin Cookbook.
Ingredients
Ingredients
- 2.2 pounds (1 kg) Fresh live mussels, beards pulled off and scrubbed.
- 2 large Shallots skin off and thinly sliced.
- 1 large Clove of garlic, skin removed and thinly sliced.
- 10 whole Peppercorns, white
- 1 stem Fresh thyme.
- 1 stem Fresh Italian parsley
- 1 small Bay leaf.
- ½ cup White wine, chardonnay or similar.
- 1/2 cup Water.
- 1 tablespoon Neutral oil, such as canola oil.
Instructions
-
Heat your neutral-tasting oil in a large bottomed pot over medium heat until shimmering. Then toss in the peppercorns and stir for a minute or so.
-
Next, add your shallots, and saute for a minute or two then add the garlic and continue to saute until the shallots are softened.
-
Now, add your bay leaf, parsley, thyme, and stir.
-
Then add the wine and water and increase the temperature under the pot to medium-high. Now give it all a stir. The mussels go in now, stir them gently and cover. Cook until steam is lifting the lid off about 4 to 5 minutes. During the steaming stir the mussels gently once.
-
Open the lid and the mussels should be opened, if not cover, and cook another minute.
-
Take your pan off the heat and strain the lot using a colander reserving the stock.
-
Examine the mussels and discard any that didn’t open and then remove the mussels and reserve for another use.
-
Lastly, strain the broth once more through a coffee filter to remove all the fine particles in the stock.
Recipe Notes
The stock and mussels keep for a few days (3) in your fridge or you can freeze them.
The final smoke…
- 4-5 days before serving, smoke the cream cheese and stored it in an airtight container in the fridge.
For a step-by-step tutorial on smoking the cheese, plus alternative simple smoking methods, click the CLICK HERE button below.
CLICK HERE
I’m sure you guys remember the Smoked Cheese Update… post from last month where we decided on the cheese we’ll be using in the soup. Well, that cheese went away (it was so good), so I needed to smoke some more. For this smoke, I decided to try the cold smoking attachment for the Bradley which alleviated the need to use ice when smoking. It also gave me a chance to try out a new outdoor kitchen tool.
I used a 300g (10.5 oz) tub of Philidelphia’s original cream cheese (above left). I also tossed in some homemade farm cheese just for fun.
The cream cheese was smoked for two hours and forty minutes, flipping the cheeses over at the halfway mark. Applewood was used for smoking. The cold smoking attachment kept the smoking chamber at a constant 83° F (28.3°C). The cream cheese came out great with a wonderful smokey taste. It was wrapped and placed in a zip-lock bag and tossed in the fridge to mellow for a few days.
I know, you’re saying I don’t have a smoker to smoke the cheese in. Not to worry.
Alternate cream cheese smoking methods…
Here’s a great smoker hack that anyone can do. All you need is a 6 to 7 inch (15-18 cm) kitchen sieve (IKEA has a cheap one), wood smoking dust (Amazon has a large variety), and an old pan with a lid. The video above shows how easy it is to cold smoke.
Or, how about cold smoking in your Weber, Green Egg, or such. You’ll just need to buy a cold smoke generator.
Or, a pellet smoker tube. Amazon has a ton of those or just Google to find your source of choice.
A smoke gun or a stovetop smoker should work as well. According to Cameron, their stovetop smoker can be used for smoking cheese. In all cases try to keep the smoking chamber no hotter than 100°F (38°C), preferably at 85 to 90°F (29 to 32°C). I’ve not tried any of the alternate methods, but I think any would work.
In the end, if you don’t want to or don’t have the tools, just use plain cream cheese. I tried it and it still adds a layer of flavor.
Preparing the celeriac and carrots…
- About 3-4 days prior to the day of serving prep the carrots and celeriac and poached them al dente and then cool them. After cooling, vacuum pack and tossed in the freezer.
For a step-by-step tutorial on preparing the veggies click the “CLICK HERE” button below.
CLICK HERE
The celeriac and carrot form the base upon which you build your plating, as well as adding some yummy veg to the soup. Dice your veggie as uniform as possible into 1/4″ (.64 cm) pieces.
While you’re prepping the veggies (or after) heat up your fish stock (veggie or chicken can be substituted) to a medium boil.
Once your stock is boiling add your veggies (I did the celeriac and carrots separate) and poach them until they are al dente. However, the veg should have a light crunch and not be mushy.
Once the veggies are poached and cooled, bag and freeze them.
Making bacon dust…
- 2-3 days prior to the day of service make your bacon dust for garnishing the dish. Make this ahead of the soup as you’ll need two tablespoons of bacon fat for the bisque (optional, but it adds additional flavor). To make the dust, fry your chopped bacon crisp, drain on paper towels and cool. Once cooled blitz the bacon to a fine crumble. Alternately, you can omit the bacon dirt, but it was sooooo good…
Ready set go…
- 1 day prior to making the soup, remove the frozen veggies, stock and mussels to the fridge so they will thaw.
This way on the day the soup is made, you just have to make the bisque, warm the veggies, mussels and sauté the fennel. Then comes plating, the fun part. So, let’s get cooking.
The day of service…
Making the mussel bisque for the soup…
- This is where things start to come together. That fantastic mussel stock will blend with the roux and cream to make a rich and flavorful bisque that will be the binder that brings all of the flavors together.
To see how I make my roux, click the “CLICK HERE” button below.
CLICK HERE
Cooks Note: For making the bisque I used my go-to seafood bisque recipe. The images in this section show my dark-colored seafood broth instead of the mussel stock. So, that’s why the images show a darker bisque.
You only need five ingredients to make the roux for the mussel bisque. The first ingredient is your fat of choice, I chose to use 50% butter and bacon fat. You’ll also need some wheat (AP) flour and most importantly that mussel stock you’ve made previously. Making this bisque is similar to making a béchamel sauce or white sauce, except you toast/roast the roux to a deeper almond color.
In a heated stock-pan melt the butter and fat of choice until the butter begins to bubble. At this point, add you flour and begin whisking it in, stirring constantly. To cook and toast it will take about five minutes. Stay with it and let it cook until it takes on an almond color, but don’t let it burn. If it does get too brown and burns, discard and start over.
Slowly pour in your mussel stock*, whisking constantly until you have a smooth creamy texture. This will take a vigorous stir for a few minutes.
*A word of caution here. Be very careful when ladling the stock into the roux, as live steam can be created, causing burns. To be safe, remove the roux from the heat and let it cool for a minute or two. Then gently ladle in the stock to the side of the pan stirring once steam abates, then back on the heat. Wearing a long oven mitt is also wise.
Once the bisque base has thickened and well blended, add your cream. When the cream is thoroughly mixed into the roux, taste for seasoning (be careful with the salt as the mussels and veggies will add some saltiness). Reduce the heat under the bisque to a simmer and hold until serving, stirring occasionally. At the time of service, bring the bisque back up to a serving temperature of 190°F (88°C) to 200°F (93°C), stirring every few minutes. Bringing the bisque up to temperature took about 15 minutes on our induction stove-top. A note here, I tried thickening the bisque by adding beurre manié instead of the roux, but the roux tasted much better. I say, do the roux.
Cooks Note: Should you wish to make this bisque without using a mussel stock you can substitute clam juice for the mussel stock.
Setting up to reheat veggies and mussel meat…
- The veggies and mussels will need reheating for service.
For instruction on how I reheated the veggies and mussel meat, click the “CLICK HERE” button below.
CLICK HERE
Reheat option 1 (sous vide): Preheat your sous vide so it’s at 165°F (74°C) to 175°F (79°C) an hour prior to plating. Then place the thawed veggies in your sous vide water and a half-hour on pop in your vacuum packet of mussel meat. I used 165°F (74°C) for the reheat and the veggie was firm and the mussels meat was tender and juicy.
Reheat option 2 (stovetop): If you’re not using a sous vid for reheating the veggies and mussel meat, you can reheat it by placing the veggies in simmering clam or fish stock for a few minutes. Then warm the mussel meat in the stock for only a minute or so. I’ve tried this and it works fine, just don’t leave them in too long or the veggies will mush out and the mussel meat will get chewy.
Reheat option 3 (microwave): Cover the veggies and nuke them to your desired temp on low power. For the mussel meat, place them in a shallow container and cover with a damp paper towel and zap it for 15-second at a time at 30 percent power. This worked, but it is very easy to overheat them.
Sautéeing the fennel…
- Dice your fennel into 1/4″ (.64 cm) pieces and reserve.
This is a simple sauté, so the fennel should be made last, just prior to plating. Heat a tablespoon or two of butter until bubbling. Then, toss in your diced fennel and sauté until al dente. You want them to be just cooked but not mushy. Deglaze your pan with a splash of Sambuca (or similar anise liqueur), but just a splash or it will overpower the flavor. This is optional but very yummy.
The plating and the recipe…
The plating of the dish is not only the fun part, but it also builds the layers of flavors. All of the items going on the warmed bowl should also be at service temp. That includes your bisque, veggies, mussels, and sautéed fennel. You see, it is all about timing.
To see the steps of plating and to get the recipe, click the “CLICK HERE” button below.
CLICK HERE
First, quenelle two tablespoons of your smoked cream cheese and place them next to each other and to one side on your warm (not hot) soup bowl. Then sprinkle some bacon dust on top of the smoked cream cheese.
Next, place a quarter (or half if serving as a main) of the veggie mix next to the cheese.
Now, place a quarter of your warm mussel meat (or half for a main) on top and around your veggies.
Then, place a quarter (or half if serving as a main) of your freshly sautéed diced fennel bulb on top of the mussels.
Garnish with the reserved fennel fronds or flat-leaf parsley. Now, take your plates directly to the table for service.
At the table, and with a lot of pride, slowly pour your hot soup into the bowl, but not over the plated veggies and mussels.
Cooks Note: Getting your temps together is likely the most challenging part of this dish. Be sure and heat your soup to between 190°F to 200°F (88°C to 93°C), not boiling. I served at 200°F (93°C) and it was perfect. Serve with your favorite bread (crusty sourdough is nice) and a nice bottle of white wine.
Mussel soup with smoked fresh cheese and sautéed fennel
Mussel soup with smoked fresh cheese and sautéed fennel is our replication of a dish from Skanörs Gästgifvaregård in Skanör, Sweden. It's rich and full of wonderful creamy mussel flavor. It pairs well with a crusty loaf of sourdough bread and a crisp chilled white wine.
Ingredients
Bisque ingredients
- 2 tbsp (2 msk) bacon fat or fat of choice.
- 2 tbsp (2 msk) Unsalted butter.
- ¼ cup (30g) All-purpose flour.
- 2 cups (473 ml) Mussel stock, see note 1.
- 1 cup (237 ml) Heavy cream, see note 2.
Mussel soup (additional) ingredients
- 2 cup Diced celeriac (celery root), outer skin removed and diced to 1/4" (.64 cm) pieces.
- 1 cup Carrots, peeled and diced to 1/4" (.64 cm) pieces.
- 3-4 cups Seafood broth or veggie stock, for poaching veggies.
- 2 tbsp (2 msk) Unsalted butter.
- 1½ cup Diced fennel bulb, outer skin removed and diced to 1/4" (.64 cm) pieces.
- 1 tsp Sambucca (or similar anise liqueur), optional.
- Mussel meat from 2.2 (1 kg) of fresh mussels or 200g of frozen mussel meat. see note 3.
- 4-8 tbsp Smoked cream cheese, see note 4.
- Fennel frond for garnishing, parsley can also be used.
- 4 tbsp Bacon dust, (optional), See note 5.
Instructions
Mussel Bisque
-
Place your mussel stock in a pot and bring to a simmer. This will be used in making the bisque.
-
In a heated stock-pan melt the butter and bacon (or fat of choice). Continue heating until the butter begins to bubble, whisk in your flour stirring continuously. Cook until the roux mixture is almond colored and has a slightly nutty smell. This should take about five minutes or so. Stay with it and don’t let it burn. If it does burn, discard it and start over.
-
Slowly pour in your mussel stock into the roux, whisking constantly until you have a smooth creamy texture.
Be very careful when ladling the stock into the roux, as live steam can be created causing burns. To be safe, remove the roux from the heat and let it cool for a minute or two. Then gently ladle in the stock to the side of the pan stirring once steam abates, then back on the heat. Wearing a long oven mitt is also wise.
-
Once the bisque base has thickened and is well blended, add your cream. When the cream is thoroughly mixed into the roux, taste for seasoning (be careful with the salt as the mussels and veggies will add saltiness). Reduce heat under the bisque to simmer and hold until serving, stirring occasionally. At the time of service, bring the bisque back up to a serving temperature (190°F (88°C) to 200°F (93°C), stirring every few minutes. Bringing the bisque up to temperature took about 15 minutes on our induction stove-top.
-
This would also be a good time to warm your severing bowls with hot water or in a warm oven.
Veggies and mussel
-
Reheat option 1 (sous vide): Preheat your sous vide so it's at 165°F (74°C) to 175°F (79°C) an hour prior to plating. Then place the thawed veggies in your sous vide water and a half-hour on pop in your vacuum packet of mussel meat. I used 165°F (74°C) for the reheat and the veggie was firm and the mussels meat was tender and juicy.
-
Reheat option 2 (stovetop): If you’re not using sous vide for reheating the veggies and mussel meat, you can reheat it by placing the veggies in simmering clam or fish stock for a few minutes. Then warm the mussel meat in the stock for only a minute or so. I’ve tried this and it works fine, just don’t leave them in too long or the veggies will mush out and the mussel meat will get chewy.
-
Reheat option 3 (microwave): Cover the veggies and nuke them to your desired temp on low power. For the mussel meat, place them in a shallow container and cover with a damp paper towel and zap it for 15-second at a time at 30 percent power. This worked, but it is very easy to overheat them.
-
Just prior to plating, heat two tablespoons of butter until bubbling. Then, toss in your diced fennel and sauté until al dente. You want them to be just cooked not mushy. Deglaze your pan with a splash of Sambuca (or similar anise liqueur), but just a splash or it will overpower the flavor of the fennel. This is optional but very yummy.
The plating
-
Cooks Note: Getting your temps together is likely the most challenging part of this dish. Be sure and heat your soup to between 190°F to 200°F (88°C to 93°C), not boiling. I served at 200°F (93°C) and it was perfect.
-
First, quenelle two tablespoons of your smoked cream cheese and place them next to each other and to one side of your warm (not hot) plates. Then sprinkle your bacon dirt on top of the smoked cream cheese.
-
Next, place a quarter (or half if serving as a main) of the veggie mix next to the cheese.
-
Now, place a quarter of your warm shelled mussels (or half for a main) on top and around your veggies.
-
Then, place a quarter (or half if serving as a main) of your freshly sautéed diced fennel bulb on top of the mussels.
-
Garnish with the reserved fennel fronds or flat-leaf parsley. Now, take your plates directly to the table for service.
-
At the table and with a lot of pride, slowly pour your hot soup into the bowl but not over the plated veggies and mussels.
-
Serve with your favorite bread (crusty sourdough is nice) and a nice bottle of white wine.
Recipe Notes
Recipe Notes
Please note that the servings can be changed by entering the amount you wish in the quantity indicator. However, the metric will not change.
- If preferred, clam juice or seafood broth of a rich quality can be substituted for the mussel stock.
- Full fat milk can be substituted for the cream. However, it will not taste as rich and creamy.
- We've made this dish from both fresh steamed mussels and precooked frozen commercial mussels. Fresh is the best, but our precooked frozen commercial mussels were good as well. You can vary the amount of mussel meat to your pleasure.
- In the end, if you don’t want to or don’t have the tools to smoke the cream cheese, you can use plain cream cheese. It still adds a layer of flavor and is better than leaving it out.
- To make bacon dust, fry chopped bacon crisp and drain on paper tools to cool. Once cooled blitz the bacon to a fine crumble. Alternately, you can omit the bacon dirt, but it was sooooo good…
Enjoy…
If you read this through with the CLICK HERE dropdown details, you’re a dedicated foodie. It was a bit detailed and long, but I wanted to share the details of my recipe replication of the “Musselsoppa med rökt färskost och fänkål” (Mussel soup with smoked fresh cheese and sautéed fennel) dish in detail. I hope you enjoyed the adventure. I sure did!
And, a big thank you to David of Cocoa & Lavender for tossing down the gauntlet. It was truly a pleasure to cook this for you guys.
Chloe says, “Sorry Dad, I fell asleep after the second paragraph, so no rating on this one…”.
Wow. that’s really all I can say. This is impressive! I need to start smoking cheese! Great job.
Thanks, Mimi! If you do smoke some cheese in your stovetop smoker can you let us know how it went?
Take care…
This is something I think I could order in a fine gourmet restaurant! You have outdone yourself, Ron. I love the combo of flavours and that beautiful bowl too.
Thanks so much Angie. The flavor of the dish is wonderful and a dish I’ll be making again. The porcelain bowl is part of a complete set by Rörstrand. Rörstrand of Sweden has a history dating back hundreds of years. This pattern is still current and very popular here. We’ve got more than one of their patterns in our china cabinet. If you interested you can see the set here http://www.rorstrand.se/produkter/ostindia-floris.
Where has bacon dust been all my life??!!! Haven’t heard of it, but it looks wonderful. I’m going to be making and using that all the time now. And let me echo Mimi’s “wow! about this soup — it’s terrific. Fennel sounds wonderful with the mussels. Really excellent dish — glad you followed up on David’s challenge. 🙂 Thanks!
It’s a pleasure to have introduced you to bacon dust, although it’s more of a sand or dirt consistency. I’m thinking dust plays better on the ear than dirt. I love fennel and love pairing it with seafood and I’m glad David requested the recipe or I might not have gone on this fun and tasty journey. Thanks for stopping by…
Absolutely amazing… and now the gauntlet has been put down in front of me… I cannot wait to make this. Assembling all the ingredients in COVID will have its challenges, but your preparatory steps of prepping the veggies, steaming and freezing them will help so much. And I love having a vacuum packing gadget now… Maybe I will make this for Christmas or the New Year – it is such a celebratory dish! Thank you, my friend, for all the work you did for this. And for all the experimentation – a true labor of love.
David, it was my pleasure as I truly enjoyed the process and flavors along the way. Knowing that really fresh mussel might be a bit of a challenge for you to find, I included the info on using the frozen mussels. They were actually very good in the dish and at about half the cost of the fresh ones.
We use our FoodSaver a lot. I vacuum package all of our freezer reheat meals in vac bags. Then, I just toss the frozen bag of soup or stew into my sou vide. Makes for a quick meal. I believe the mussel soup would be a very festive and tasty first offering for a holiday meal. Thanks for the challenge…
You’ve outdone yourself, Ron! I seriously thought your presentation was from the restaurant and vise versa. They should be paying you to plate their dishes. Fantastic! My husband loves seafood bisques, so I might make it for him as a late birthday treat. Who needs fairy dust when there is bacon dust? That sealed the deal for me. Bacon makes everything better. 😀
Thanks so much, Jas. I don’t think I have the patience anymore to do much large scale plating, but it was fun for this. Let us know if you try the dish as I’d love to hear what hubby thinks. Also, if he’s not into mussels, the recipe works with about any seafood. We made it first with shrimp as our fresh mussel season hadn’t started and it was very good. Take care over your way…
The soup looks amazing, with all the layers of flavors and textures.
Having worked for many years in professional kitchens, I know how complicated it is to cook such dishes at home. You’ve done great job!
Thanks, Ronit as it maens a lot coming from a pro chef like you. Last evening my son (he’s a trained chef) and I discussed how he would stage and prepare this in a commercial kitchen . It was fascinating to hear the way they would do it. But if you have a big commercial kitchen things go different. Take care…
That looks amazing! I had some great mussels last week, but nowhere near as good as yours. It’s getting close to supper time and you’ve got me feeling very hungry.
Mad Dog it was amazing, if I do say so myself. We’re getting wonderful local mussels just now. Lucky for us, we live very close to where they are harvest, so they’re wonderfully fresh. Thanks for taking the time to have a read…
OMG Ron! This is probably one of the most detailed and helpful posts ever written. Everything from scratch and such beautiful photography. Probably 6 posts in one with all the information here to absorb. Wish we were sitting at your dinner table right now as this soup looks morish! This is something that would be served in a Michelin starred restaurant.
Wow, thanks, Bobbi! You know I toyed with doing the post in two parts, but in the end, it just didn’t feel right. So, you guys got the full meal deal. Be safe over your way…
You are very welcome. If we could rate this recipe with 10 stars we would!!! Wishing you a super week ahead and please take care.
Ron, bowing down right now. Im so impressed with your creative and diligent approach to this! With each description I can almost taste this wonderful bisque! An awesome creation, and now I totally want a smoker!👏👏👏
Laura, thanks so much for the kind words. I think you should get a smoker. I love my Bradley and with the cold smoking attachment, I’m ready to cold smoke salmon, sausages and bacon…
I’m impressed. This sounds amazing.
Thank you, Francesca. It sure was fun to make…
Ron: my sincere congratulations on a stellar effort ! A monumental amount of work and teaching beautifully detailed and presented ! I use mussels whenever they are available to me but usually do not get past serving them in their shells prepared very much the way you do at the start here . . . no water, all wine 🙂 ! Very much like your use of vegetables but would personally try cook the mussels just ere serving the dish. That it would be unsmoked cheese . . . well, you know . . . Am saving the priceless Chloe photo and reposting all of this to a few friends around . . .
Eha, we both enjoy fresh mussels and most often eat them in the simple fashion you described. I also remember eating huge steamed green mussels down your way. They were incredible.
I’m not telling Chloe you forwarded her photo as she already has a big head over her global notoriety. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to have a read…
As far as fresh mussels are concerned I do believe I prefer the Australian blue and black ones and allow the Kiwis to have their green-lipped ones ! The latter are certainly available . . . but not home-grown !!
I somehow must have missed the mussels in my visits to Australia. I’m sure they’re wonderful.
Wow that looks time consuming but utterly worth it Ron!
It was definitely time-consuming but absolutely worth it. Thanks for stopping by…
oh my word! what a masterpiece Ron. sooooo much work but worth it i bet. and wow smoking your cream cheese, and making stock, and and and … I love that soup bowl by the way. the blue one. it’s gorgeous. thanks for all your instructions tho as hubby doesn’t eat shellfish, i may not get to making this one:) Chloe is a gorgeous gal! keep well and safe
cheers
sherry
I sure was fun and worth it Sherry. If hubby eats fish, I think it would be a great dish with monkfish and using fish stock.
The porcelain bowl is part of a complete set by Rörstrand. Rörstrand of Sweden has a history dating back hundreds of years. This pattern is still current and very popular here. We’ve got more than one of their patterns in our china cabinet. If you interested you can see the set here http://www.rorstrand.se/produkter/ostindia-floris.
An epic post that’s left me drooling; and pairing the soup with an Alsatian Riesling…heaven.
I sure felt epic at times, but I totally enjoyed putting the dish together. We always have an Alsatian chilling. We usually buy Biecher as it’s reasonably priced and very tasty with fish and seafood…
Beautiful festival of flavours ! Hoping to get all the ingredients for holidays to come ! Thank you Ron and be safe !
I too think it’s a festive dish. Hopefully you’ll find the ingredients as it would make a lovely soup for the holidays. Thanks for stopping by…
Unlike Chloe, I stayed awake to read through the entire post ;). This is really my kind of dish. I am looking forward to your knäckebröd recipe. I have a few and would love to see how authentic mine are 🙂
Thanks for sticking with it and reading it through. The crispbread post should be up in a couple of weeks if all goes well. Take care down your way.
This is definitely restaurant quality Ron. I thought it was from the restaurant! What an amazing looking soup and so lovingly prepared too. This post must have taken you an age to write. But just like your recipe, you can tell its done from the heart.
Thanks, Neil, it did indeed take a while to figure out and to write. I think replication and writing about a cook is great fun, so yes from the heart it was. Take care over your way…
Wow! You deserve a round of applause for not only taking on this challenge, but succeeding at it, too! This soup looks insanely good. However, I can see your point about trying to make all of the components at the same time – that would make my brain melt down, too. Hah! As usual, I learned so much from your post. First of all, bacon dirt. Mind blown! Second, the cold smoke generator. I’ve never seen these, but I already have one in my Amazon cart. I’ve been toying with the idea of how to run a tube off the top of my Green Egg to an old cooler on the other side of the porch – now I can just use a simple cold smoke generator instead. I can’t wait to play around with that one! (I’ll order it now, but I suspect the playing around might not happen til next May as it’s getting pretty darned cold here.) Either way, excellent recipe and notes, my friend!
Thanks, David! Applause excepted and appreciated. I have a neighbor who has both a Weber cold smoke generator and a pellet smoking tube. He likes both but says the pellet tube generates more smoke. I love cold smoking in the winter as the colder temps help keep the smoker cool. I wait until we have snow on the ground before doing my cold smoked salmon. Let me know what you think of the generator. As always thanks for taking the time to have a read…
Ron, that’s been quite a long journey (Definitely, I wouldn’t had so much patience recreating things for one recipe), but the result is impeccable. So many beautiful elements have been combined in one stunning dish with a splendid texture and flavour profile. And again, excellent job on cheese smoking! Do you deliver? 🙂
Ben, retirement has made me appreciate patients. But, it was a journey indeed. Thanks for your kind words and sorry, I only deliver within a 50-kilometer radius. Take care over your way…
I feel like I wanna do this challenge, specially that I love all the elements on that dish. Got to try that
Raymond, I say give it a try. It is mighty tasty. Thanks for having a read…
Wow! This dish so incredibly impressive, Ron. Both the flavors and the beautiful combination. Such a stellar blend of wonderful ingredients. I love fennel bulb and haven’t cooked with it in far too long. Your excellent recipe is a great reminder. Just lovely. All of it! 🙂 ~Valentina
Thanks so much, Valintina. Coming from a veteran chef such as yourself means a lot to me. We enjoy fennel often as it goes so well with fish and seafood or just shaved and in a salad. Thanks for stopping by and stay safe over your way…
Wow Ron there is so much I could say about your dish, your presentation, and your dedication to the cause of presenting an exceptional dish of food.This is my type of food, but I will need to wait until Winter now here to aspire to anything like this. However I picked up a few tips from you about preparing in advance, I do that all of the time, I can’t deal with complex last minute preparation either. I love my freezer as well. We can only often get frozen mussels here so I should challenge myself to make a dish with those. When I have lots of time I will immerse myself and read your whole post with all of the steps involved. Love the presentation dish, and how you have photographed all of it. And last but not least, how amazing to have a son who is a trained chef. Well done my friend.
Hi Pauline and thanks for your kind words. I used frozen mussels for the recipe research as they are much cheaper here. I think they tasted fine in the dish and will certainly use frozen again. We actually have two freezers, one is freestanding, and the one smaller freezer outside in our storage/shop. Do come back and enjoy a slow reread. I am proud of my son, he’s a trained sushi chef. He studied while going to uni for five years. He gave up cooking about 10 years ago to work the other end of the business, supplying high-quality fish, seafood, and other restaurant needs. Thanks for stopping by…
A very creative soup and quite different from anything I’ve ever made. Mussels are hard to find here but I do love them and can find them sometimes. This richness and flavors of these soup are so inviting.
Thanks, MJ. It was a fun dish to put together and eat as well. It is indeed a very comforting and inviting soup. Thanks for taking the time to have a read…
You worked so hard on this post… it’s substantive enough to be a cookbook! Masterful as usual, and my mouth is watering!
Thanks, Angela. It was fun to detail the reconstruction of the dish. Take care…
This sounds so delicious! I love the smoked cheese and soup both, but I have no idea of where to find mussels around here. I’m all for bacon dust, it’s new to me but is definitely an awesome addition. It was well worth the time and effort to figure it all out and then to cook and write about it.
Chloe is the best, she’s adorable and I’m jealous! Bill’s not wanting another pet in the house now after our cats died recently, This is the first time I’ve been without cats or dogs since my childhood, seems like something is missing big time. So here’s to Chloe!
Hi Pam, as mussels are a bit tricky for you, feel free to make the dish with any seafood. It’s also very good with shrimp. It was a fun dish to work on and the bacon dust was a bonus for sure.
Chloe is a doll, although she’s getting older (9 in January) and set in her ways. We discussed getting a puppy about a year ago, but Chloe insisted she wants to be an only child. I’m sure they’ll always be a pup around here. Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment…
So many delicious flavours packed into this dish Ron! I am really entrigued by the way you have prepared this dish. This is perfect for an elagant and refined restaurant. Well done indeed. I love seafood!
Thanks, Alida. Your compliment is well taken as I was endeavoring to make it as we remembered it at the restaurant. Although this dish has mussels it’s very good with a variety of seafood. Take cake over your way…
I was enjoying your post, absorbing it all in, but then my mind exploded with bacon dust and I had to start over again. Why I never thought to process bacon bits is beyond me. Anyway, eventually the rest of your post did sink in. I swear, I’d probably wind up eating the delicious mussel stock instead of saving it! It sounds fantastic! But I’d have to muster the discipline to go forward, because this soup looks like something that would come out of one of my favorite restaurants. Brilliant ideas, first of spreading out the work – I’m always big on that, but then of reheating the components sous vide! (My husband bought me that exact same container, btw, for Christmas last year, and I’ve gotten tons of use out of it.) This is an amazing recipe, Ron! Bravo!
Thanks, Jeff. The bacon dust was one of the bonuses of the cook. I now keep some frozen, as I found you can scrape off what you need for a dish right old of the freezer.
We use our sous vide all the time and found not only is it fantastic to cook with, that it’s also great for reheating and thawing things. I used it for warming sake the other day and it worked so well. I just set it at 104F and ended up with my sake tasting just as it should. We reheat leftover stews, soups, and proteins in it all the time. Thanks for taking the time to absorb the post and sharing your thoughts…
BRAVO! If we were all in the same room together, you would be getting a standing ovation. David threw down the gauntlet and you picked up it and ran with it. What a fantastic job and your post is so detailed…amazing.
Thanks, Karen, it was a fun project and also educational for this old guy at the same time. Take care over your way…
It’s been fun to read through the many steps you had to make to achieve this masterpiece. Quite a job to make and write up for your blog. It looks pretty good compared to the restaurant but your bowl is prettier. I’m not into mussels but the cheese, veggies are right on the spot with me. Well done Roon 🙂
Oops Ron!
Oh, Judi, it’s not the first time I’ve been called Roon so no worries. If mussels aren’t your thing, feel free to use any fish or seafood for the dish. I like it made with shrimp and andouille sausage, but that’s a whole different animal. Thanks for taking the time to have a read…
Shrimp and andouille – I would enjoy that 🙂
This looks seriously luxurious! What an event pouring the soup into the bowls. It sounds delicious and looks great too.
Thanks, Caroline, it was seriously luxurious indeed. I’m still trying to walk off the extra kilo I gained from the dish. Take care…
You’ve really created a masterpiece, Chef Ron! Congratulations on taking the challenge and doing such a beautiful job. It looks so beautiful and must taste amazing! Bravo!
Thanks so much Susan. It is a very rich and tasty dish, perfect for the holidays.
I commend you on recreating that beautiful soup. It takes a determined man to go through all those steps, but it looks like you succeeded in spades. Has the writer of Cocoa and Lavender seen this post yet? Oh, and bacon dust — where have you been all my life?
Hi Linda, yep David over at Cocoa & Lavender commented the day I posted. It was a fun endeavor and tasty as well. That bacon dust was a bonus. I remembered the taste of finely crumbled bacon on the smoked cheese, so I went searching. I found a recipe for “bacon Dirt”, but it was a no go. Then, I thought why not blitz the heck out of some crisp bacon and there ya go. Thanks for stopping by…
It looks delightful. I particularly like mussels, so I bet it tastes wonderful with the smoked cheese.
Thanks! If you like mussels and smoked cheese, I think you’d love the dish. Thanks for taking the time to have a read…
Wow this looks like such an impressive recipe! Can’t wait to give this soup a try!
Hi Kelly and welcome to Lost in a Pot. Thanks, it was fun to recreate and even more fun to eat. Let us know what you thought of the soup once you’ve enjoyed a bowl. Thanks for taking the time to have a read and for commenting…
Hi Ron, I’m here from Angie’s blog, Taste of Home. I see your wife’s name is Eva, my name is Éva too (but im from Hungarian descent, born Canadian). What a recipe, when there are so many components, I too like to divvy it up over several days. The culmination sounds divine. I am looking forward to a day when I can make this for friends again, here in Toronto we are in a second lockdown.
Hi Eva and welcome! I’m so glad you found us. So Eva in Swedish is pronounced “Ava”, is your Hungarian Eva pronounced different for Eva? You know as I worked through this dish I knew it would be the appetizer for our COVID 19 liberation party whenever that happens. Take care over your way and thanks for taking the time to have a read and making a comment…
What a beautiful dish, Ron! And what a lovely combination of flavors. Seems like quite the project, but the end result is so very elegant, fit for an important dinner.
I’m telling you Ron, that smoked cheese just calls my name! What an elegant dish, I am drooling over here. You re-created everything so beautifully, I am seriously in awe. And can I just say how fresh and beautiful each ingredient looks? This is certainly a meal to look forward to!
Me and my wife love sea food. Would love to cook this dish for her on a date night. Ron the dish is definitely worth all the appreciations. It has layers of hard work and flavors. You are like a scientist who loves to play with his gadgets and food. Thank you for sharing this recipe
Puikus receptas. Ačiū.