Last time I made mussels there was a lot of white wine involved. Substituted wine for a bit of apple cider vinegar for cooking and water for drinking. Both worked fine. Don’t know why I didn’t have 'm for so long for I love 'm.
10 Likes
Looks great!! That cider vinegar substitutes well in a lot of recipes that call for booze. We use it our tuna dip instead of sherry.
3 Likes
Looks amazing!! I love shellfish! Haven’t had mussels in a while. Must make them soon. I miss living by the ocean out east; much cheaper than where I am now!
2 Likes
The season just started. Mussels aren’t expensive here. I just love shellfish too, now I’ve started again I’m going to continue. Next up will be pasta vongole. I use cockles instead of vongole, they’re almost the same and there’s a lot of 'm in the North Sea, although oddly enough most are exported and they are not cheap here.
1 Like
I see you went all out there for dinner tonight Eric. Hope you let Benson clean up. lol 
I also make something similar, so simple but yet so satisfying. 
1 Like
Is that 100% rye or do you have other flour mix in it too?
1 Like
Its almost half rye and half bread flour but there is more rye. The bread flour really helps to soften the final product.
Yep. I make my own bread too, but I like it 100% rye (a Finnish thing, hehe) and without yeast. I have a starter for it, of course.
4 Likes
Oooooh nice! I’d never thought of making my own starter for rye bread. It’s something I’ve only reserved for sour dough, but I bet it’s awesome for rye. Do you use a full flavored molasses too? I use a mild flavor. My SO is a white bread person so I try to make something he will eat 
Edit: the salmon soup in your post looks delicious.
I’ve used molasses sometimes in rye bread but it’s a special recipe - wouldn’t eat it every day. My rye bread’s ingredient list is very short: water, rye flour, salt and a starter. Making rye bread this way is a dying tradition. It’s so much easier just to get it from a shop. I’m practicing because if I ever spend more time out of Finland again there’s no way of getting it unless I make it myself. It’s not very soft, quite chewy, but that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
2 Likes
That’s interesting. I never had rye bread until 2010 when I started working in restaurants and it was not very good, in my opinion. I bought a recipe book for different breads in 2016 and it had a rye bread recipe in it. I wasn’t so keen to try it, but I was determined to make every recipe at least once.
The recipe in that book calls for making a starter / sponge with rye flour, yogurt (I now use a thick kefer), yeast, caraway seeds, and molasses. Let it sit over night or ~10 hours, then add a rye/bread flour combination and salt to the starter.
I really liked the recipe (probably because it was processed wannabe rye bread) and have made it several times, playing with the kinds or molasses and yogurt–and trying it with kefer instead, but I never really thought that there was a more traditional way to make rye bread that didn’t use the ingredients this book called for.
You have inspired me to expand my rye bread horizons. 
I think it’s great that you are practicing to make sure you can still have it if you spend time out of finland. You’re probably right that you wouldn’t be able to find it outside Finland very easily, if at all. Your bread sounds like it would be awesome with soup.
Wow, sounds like you’ve had an interesting journey in bread making! Wonderful! When you find something you like, it’s definitely worth making 
It gets even more interesting when you start looking into bread making in other cultures.
This type of rye bread is typical for Northern Europe and especially Finland. It’s dense, nutritious and doesn’t go off quickly. And yes, it’s great with soup 
although I eat it for breakfast and sometimes in the evening too.
I don’t make a new starter every time I bake bread, I dry some of the dough thoroughly and use that - a common practise with rye bread. There is a way of making the very first starter but I got mine from a friend Some small bakeries and home bakers might use a starter that is decades or a century old. That would be amazing stuff.
I’ve noticed foreigners in Finland tend not to be keen on dark bread and rye bread. It’s not soft and has a strong flavour so I don’t wonder
1 Like
Oh I love them too 
Next month mussel season begins, can’t wait to grab some 
1 Like
I made homemade donair seasoned hamburgers on the BBQ tonight. Added mushrooms & onions sautéed in cast iron pan with garlic & butter, and extra old white cheddar
14 Likes
I like mine medium rare. Do you deliver??
2 Likes