Fruit of the Sea

Having seen your Clam - digging threads in the past,  my belief is that you would already know all about Shellfish preparation.

But with the mussels,  I like to rinse them in a colander w/ cold water,  a few times,  and remove all the bistle thread.

That gets most of the grit out if there's any.  Then a brief steam and (maybe rinse) and Garlic,  Wine,  Marinara sauté and serve over Linguine.

Of course after the brief Steam you take them out of the Shells before the sautee step (or not).

https://www.marthastewart.com/312933/spicy-mussels-and-chorizo

One thing about the Mussels in OR that I recall --

They are Safe in " R " months...

So Maybe not in May,  June,  July,  August ???

That could be an 'Old Wive's Tale'. Something to do with a Bacteria that favors warm weather.

Personally I liked to always harvest them in underpopulated areas, far from possible  Township poop Ocean feeds.

Paella!

It really comes down to the triple Rinse in Ice-Cold freshwater.

That ain't  "Mud"  Mr. PK.

It is Mussel Poop.  

They live on cliffs at the Coast,  and you pick 'em at low tide.

THe mud is whatever they filter-fed.

Aside from making sure to avoid spoiled shellfish, there is a another danger in harvesting mussels to think of, Hunter adds. A certain kind of plankton creates a biotoxin that can build up in mussels and other shellfish, causing Paralytic Shellfish Poisoning (PSP).

"It doesn't hurt the shellfish, and once someone consumes it that's warm-blooded they get the issue of being contaminated and having the biotoxin in them," Hunter says.

PSP is typically most prevalent between late spring and fall when water temperatures are higher, Hunter says, but it can happen any time of the year. And PSP can be deadly, so The Oregon Department of Agriculture monitors the toxin and operates a hot line giving PSP warnings and other health advisories at 800-448-2474. 

Soak in cold water for 15 to 20 minutes and discard water. Take each mussell and pull out any "beard" , throwing away any mussells that are open and wont shut w quick soft tap on the counter. Do not use the pepper trick, it works w some clams but will not make the mussells "sneeze" out their sand. The water soak will do the trick. Take the time to clean each one, especially pulling out that "beard".

The problem is it seems w mussells, youll either have a bunch of great, fresh, clean, sand free mussells after soak, or you ll still have some that are gritty or sand filled. Most are farmed these days (for restaurants) and they all are mostly fine, but fresh mussells i may pull out of local waters all seem to be pretty dirty, its really a question of what they eat and what the water is like that you found them in.

Easy recipe: fill a pot or saute pan...add chopped garlic, onion, dice tomato, white wine, (not alot, you want to "steam" them, theyll release more of their own water also),  salt, scallions, whole basil sprig, and cover. Toast a few pieces of olive oiled bread points....uncover after just a cpl mins, add a tad of butter, cover....theyre ready to eat as soon as they all open-shouldnt take more than 3-5 minutes total...

Spoon them all into a big bowl and serve w the toast points, or a good bread..

My brother used those for bait and they took a lot of the skin off his hands.  Never wanted to eat them after that.