Éclade de moules

A person asked me if I had tried Éclade de Moules. A very classic and, these days, special Charentais dish in which mussels cook under a pile of local pine tree needles creating an unforgettable taste and texture. One must know where to get this dish, and on a warm July day, we arrived at the l'Huître de la Pointe and sat by the ocean, eating oysters and shrimp, waiting for the éclade to be prepared.

Thomas placed a board with neatly circled, vertically arranged mussels on the bottom hidden under a pile of pine needles from l’île d'Oléron. Éclade, also known as églade, is a tradition in that region. It comes from the word ‘aiguillade’ (from 'aiguilles de pin' or 'pine needles' that are used for preparation) and transformed into éguiade. To complicate it a bit, éclade is due to the word 'éclat' since the mussels ‘éclater' or 'burst' under the heat from pine needles. 

He added fire to the needles, and we stood there watching the pine needles flame up in a vigorous fire that was later regulated by a piece of cardboard (traditional) to distribute the heat evenly. A few minutes later, the ashes were dusted off, and mussels served. Soft and plump, as nothing I'd ever tasted before. Those mussels were twice as big as usual and fluffier than the lightest marshmallows. And that taste of pine needles, fire, and mussels was something I still remember many months later.