Tim typically absconds to the opposite end of our kitchen/dining/living room on weeknights, lest he be squired to peel or dice. Weekends, he’s more easily greased with a glass of wine and happier to engage. That was the case a month or two ago when I was working on a story about mussels for the Washington Post, and we decided to steam a bunch of the bivalves one Saturday night. I grabbed the freshest-smelling bag I could find and figured I would just drop it in the crisper when I got home, like a couple of the chefs I’d consulted had advised.

Foiled!

Move over, wife, said my husband, who proceeded to prepare a bed for the mussels in a baking dish sheeted with damp paper towels. He made sure every little guy got a spot and then blanketed the batch with another wet paper towel, gently as he might have tucked his niece in for the night.

The mussels are alive, after all.

Yes, I knew that.

You want them to be comfortable until they hit the pan, he explained.

Um… OK.

When it was time to get dinner going, I stepped aside and watched Tim rinse and debeard each of the bivalves, dropping them into a big bowl of water so they’d expel any dirt they might have been hiding in their shells. Almost immediately, little bubbles popped on the surface of the water.

See, that’s the little guys breathing! he blurted.

Tim had never made mussels before, but they were always a favorite of his dad’s, and he apparently mastered the prep by watching his mom over the years.

As for the cooking? My job.

New York Times columnist Melissa Clark had just sent me a copy of her new book, “In the Kitchen With A Good Appetite,” and I was eager to try her Garlicky Steamed Mussels with Corn and Sherry. We loved it so much that a couple weeks later we decided to make her Ale-Steamed Mussels with Garlic and Mustard (both recipes are online exclusively on Plummelo.com).

I brought home that second bag, and because Tim wasn’t home, I babied the bivalves just as he’d done. A couple hours later, I learned my second lesson in less than a month.

Husband, I said as I pulled the mussels from the fridge, Time to debeard and separate the dead guys!

From the couch, Tim tossed me a look of confusion, as if, well, you know, what could I possibly need his help for, now that I knew the drill?

Note: For some basic tips about prepping and preparing mussels–an all-around cinch–this tip sheet I wrote for the Post will get you started. As for other mussels recipes, I’ve already got three more in my Plummelo recipe box for upcoming dinners. Help yourself to Mussels Steamed in Beer with Creme Fraiche, Herbs and Parmesan Croutons; Mussels in Saffron and White Wine Broth; Mussels with Saffron Cream.

Read more by Kristen Hinman

Kristen Hinman writes the column Swine Dining: A City Girl Cooks Country. She used to think the perfect weeknight dinner consisted of an omelette and a glass of wine. OK, she still does. Her husband, on the other hand? Not so much. Luckily, three years of recreational cooking school in Paris and a vast cookbook collection mean she’s never at a loss for ideas. Kristen is a journalist who has lingered in celebrity chefs’ kitchens, nosed over midwestern caviar houses and taken pigs to slaughter–all on the clock. She lives in St. Louis and Washington D.C. and is the winner of two James Beard Foundation Awards for newspaper writing. One day she will wallpaper her pantry with Gourmet magazine covers. Visit Kristen’s website. Photo by Michelle Hudgins.

See below for photo credits

But chopping or mincing garlic by hand is slow and tedious. You could always do that thing where you whack the flat side of a knife over the garlic, but that gets a bit messy. Getting the mini food processor out for such a small job is a hassle (and more to clean). That slamming food chopper thingy that you saw on TV is tough to clean too. My solution: the NexTrend Garlic Twist (Amazon, $16.99).

I use mine almost every time I cook, and it is really easy to clean. It’s plastic, and dishwasher safe, but I like to just leave it soaking in the sink for a bit, then use a soapy sponge. It’s much easier to clean than all the other garlic gadgets.

The great thing is the texture of the minced garlic after just a few twists. It’s not too coarse or too fine. And because it kind of smashes the garlic, you get better flavor out of the garlic than just chopping. It has 2 pieces (first photo) that when fitted together sort of looks like a yo-yo (second photo). To make the twisting easier, I cut larger garlic cloves in half and place each half on each side of the row of teeth.

Go ahead and start cooking (and sneak in some garlic even when it’s not in the recipe!). The more garlic the better. And don’t be ashamed to say “aaahhh” when you’re all done eating.

Top photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sackton/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Other photos by Paul Jin