Good Friday Mussels

The story

In Ireland, Good Friday was kept as a strict fast. In many homes it meant dry bread and water, and some Catholics took nothing but water. What people did eat came from the shore. Folklore collected from schoolchildren in the 1930s records the custom: a Ballydehob boy wrote in 1937 that "on Good Friday those who live by the sea go to the strand for mussels." Boats were not launched that day, so the rule was that only seafood gathered on the shore should be eaten. In Butlerstown, County Cork, the usual meal of fish and milk gave way to cnuasach trá, shellfish and seaweed picked from the strand. The Southern Star reports that West Cork families still went mussel picking on Good Friday into the early 1990s, and that some pickers stopped at the pub on the way home through the back door, curtains drawn, at a time when Irish pubs were closed on Good Friday. The pot here follows the moules marinière published by Bord Bia, the Irish food board, with cream added to the juices. Good Friday falls on March 26 in 2027. The dish takes about 20 minutes, so cook it just before serving, with brown bread for the juices.