STUFFED MUSSELS OR SQUID STUFFED WITH AZAÏS-POLITO

Stuffed mussels and squid à la sétoise from Azaïs-Polito have the flavour of courage and faithfulness to Granny Finet’s recipe. Of all the specialities prepared by Azaïs-Polito, the mussels and squid stuffed à la sétoise occupy a very special place. Along with fish soup and rouille, they have contributed to the house’s reputation.

These were the very first dishes that the company canned. At the time, nobody believed in it. Those close to him would say to Jean-Claude Polito, “But who’s going to want to buy tinned stuffed squid or tinned stuffed mussels? With his perseverance and sense of family marketing, he replied: “We’ll see”. And he was right. His intuition paved the way for a real growth market, that of tinned specialities from Sète.

In France in the early 1690s, the only nationally-known canned dishes available were cassoulet and sauerkraut. In other words, canning a typical Sète recipe was quite a gamble. But Azaiz Polito won the bet by innovating, by imposing its Sétois know-how, and by keeping a firm grip on this innovation for 25 years. Azaïs-Polito was the only French cannery to handle distribution, until others came along, sometimes with more resources and a more industrial version, to copy its range.

What sets Azaïs-Polito mussels and stuffed squid apart is their absolute fidelity to the original recipe. For more than 60 years, nothing has changed: neither the ingredients nor the production process. Each mould or squid is opened and stuffed by hand, one by one, just as you would do at home.

The stuffing is prepared here in the workshop from lean pork supplied by the small, traditional charcuterie businesses in the Monts de Lacaune region. The hinterland is in the Hérault region, as regional sourcing is always a priority. Fresh eggs, garlic, parsley and bread are added to this delicate meat to bring out the simple, straightforward and generous taste of Sète cuisine. A cuisine without artifice, without gratuitous complications, as Jean-Claude Polito likes to say.

The traditional method for stuffing mussels is a special one. You need to give the two shells a quarter turn, holding one in each hand, in order to break the muscle, but above all not to break the hinge. It is the hinge that will keep the mussels closed during cooking, even though they have been stuffed. This requires real skill and dexterity on the part of the cook. Once stuffed, the dehorned mussels simmer slowly in a tomato sauce, until the flavours blend and come together.

The sauce will naturally take on the flavour of de-oiled mussels. The result is a unique, spicy flavour. Its texture is reminiscent of a dish cooked in the old-fashioned way by a grandmother from Sète, on Sundays, for the family table, as Jean-Claude’s grandmother and aunt, Finette and Lisette Polito, used to do. They inspired her, guided her and helped her to perfect all the original recipes.