This dish, known in Southern France as éclade de moules, is a showstopper. It originated with fishermen cooking mussels on a beach surrounded by pine forests. It’s a no-recipe dish perfect for camping by the sea. You will need a large nail, a thick plank or round of wood, rinsed and debearded mussels, and a quantity of dry pine needles.
First, pound the nail into center of the wood. Place the wood on sand away from any foliage or objects that could catch fire. Begin standing mussels hinge side up against the nail to keep the ash from getting inside the mussels. Keep stacking the mussels, hinge side up, in concentric circles. Cover the mussels completely with a pile of pine needles and light the needles on fire. Let burn for about 5 minutes; the mussels should be opened and infused with the piney smoke from the needles.