My Own Version of BAKED TAHONG

I was browsing through photos on file when I saw this one. I made this out of boredom and with my mom, we made hell of a great team in the kitchen! :)

Don’t think too much of it, I’m no expert in cooking or anything. But since food has always been an unwavering interest, I DID try to put up my own version of looks-complicated but actually easy to make cuisines!

Too bad, I was not able to take a picture of my own carbonara (that someone didn’t like when most of the world loved it—even my kitchen expert sister!! Guess he’s just bitter himself since he prides himself as a fry cook. WTF.)

So here’s a gist of how I made these delicious baked tahong, in case you’re curious. :)

1. Immerse fresh mussels from market in water with salt or fish sauce (patis) for 6-8 hours to let it release sand particles within.

2. Blanch mussels in boiling water with ginger flavor until the shells become partially separated. Cool for 30 minutes.

3. While cooling, melt butter in a pan at low heat. Add minced garlic. Do not wait til it turns brown. 

4. Grate cheese (can be mix of Quickmelt type of cheese and ordinary cheese) into melted butter with garlic. Then, add milk to soften mixture.

5. Continue stirring until grated cheese melts evenly. And until, cheese sauce becomes thicker.

6. Once thick, scoop cheese sauce to cooled mussel, removing the extra shell of the bivalve.

7. Do the same for every other mussel then bake even through your oven toaster!

Enjoy! :)