: How can I save my mussels? For the record this is my first post here, so hopefully it is on topic I do mean the fishy kind, not the strongman kind: I bought a kg of mussels but I have never cooked them before so I asked

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I am wondering if it will be ok to cook them till they are cooked and then drain them, clean them and put them in some fresh water with some garlic and butter to cook again...

Yes that should be fine, just make sure you discard any shells that have not opened by the end of cooking as those are dead ones.

Here's a nice recipe for moules marinières, mussels cooked with butter, white wine, shallots, cream and herbs which also explains how to de-beard them.

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Short answer: It is safe, although by far the predominant practice is to remove them before cooking.

This is, of course, assuming the "bits of stuff" you refer to are the beards of the mussels, which they use to attach themselves to their growth substrate.

According to ISSC, International Shellfish Safety Conference, you can leave the beards attached if you wish (emphasis added):

HOW SHOULD FRESH MUSSELS BE HANDLED STORED AND COOKED?

Mussels
should be scrubbed with a stiff brush or coarse sponge and rinsed with
cold water to remove any debris. Beards can be removed or left
attached.

Lesser quality sources concur:

According to Blue Ocean Mussels, you can remove the beards after cooking--assuming the bits of stuff you refer to are the beards.

According to Yahoo answers, its safe but I give them little credence.

Here is one article at The Kitchn describing how to prepare mussels and clean them, with photos, in case it helps in the future. They also note, by the way:

The beard isn't harmful or inedible (just not particularly desirable
to our taste buds), so don't fret if there are a few little threads
left that you can't grasp.