Mussels substitutes

Scrub, soak in cold salted water for 20 minutes to purge grit, then start them 2 to 4 minutes before you would add mussels, since clam shells take longer to open.

Best for

moules frites, cioppino, paella, seafood pasta, Thai curries

The closest swap there is, and it does all three jobs including the open shells on the plate. Clam meat is firmer and chewier than mussel meat, and the liquor is saltier and more mineral, so a moules-style broth made with clams tastes sharper and cleaner and less sweetly savory. Taste before you salt, because clams are saltier.

Cook exactly as mussels, checking after 3 minutes since the small shells open fast. Soak first, because cockles carry more sand.

Best for

paella, seafood stews, steamed shellfish, pasta

Nearly interchangeable and often cheaper. Cockles are smaller and sweeter with a firmer bite, so you get more shells and less meat per pound, and the broth ends up delicate rather than deep. Very good in paella specifically, where the shells matter as much as the meat.

Leave the shells on for paella and cioppino so you keep the visual and the shell flavor, and add the shrimp in the last 3 minutes. Add the clam juice with the other liquid.

Best for

paella, cioppino, seafood stew, tomato-based broths

Shrimp handle the sweet chew and the presentation well. What they do not do is give up liquid, and since mussel liquor is a big part of why these dishes taste of the sea, the added stock is essential rather than optional. Without it the broth is oily and one-note. Flavor-wise the dish leans sweet and shrimpy rather than briny.

Fold them in during the last 2 minutes, or sear separately and add at the table. Never let them boil.

Best for

seafood stews, chowders, creamy pasta, gratins

Softer and much sweeter than mussels, so the dish gains a creamy delicacy and loses its briny edge. Season more assertively and add clam juice if you have it. Scallops go from tender to squeaky in about 90 seconds of hard heat, which is why they belong at the very end of a long-simmered stew rather than in it.

Add rings in the final 2 minutes for tenderness, or at the very start of a 40-minute braise. Anything in between and they turn rubbery.

Best for

cioppino, paella, tomato seafood stews, fideua

Chewy-tender and mild, and it keeps the dish feeling like a proper mixed seafood stew. Squid releases only a little liquid and no brine, so add clam juice or fish stock to make up the broth. The flavor is far more neutral than mussel, which means the tomato and saffron come forward.

Chop roughly and stir into the finished broth off the heat, using the oil too. A pantry answer when no fresh shellfish is available.

Best for

tomato broths, chowders, pasta sauces, dips

This delivers concentrated mussel flavor, which none of the other swaps can. The catch is the smoke, which is assertive and will dominate a delicate white wine broth, so use it in a tomato-based dish where it reads as depth. Start with half the tin and taste, and skip any additional salt until you have.

Slice the stems into ½-inch coins, score them lightly, brown hard in oil, and simmer the kombu in the wine or stock for 10 minutes before you build the dish.

Best for

vegan moules-style broth, shellfish allergy versions, vegetarian stews

Real chew and a savory depth, with the kombu doing the marine work. It genuinely tastes of the sea and it does not taste of mussels, and it is worth saying so plainly. Shellfish allergy is common and serious, so if that is why you are swapping, keep mussels, clams, oysters, shrimp, crab, lobster and squid all off the list and do not reuse a broth that held any of them.