Few seafoods bring to mind the taste of the sea as readily as mussels. These meaty mollusks are also a pleasure to cook -- a quick burst of heat will open them, releasing natural juices that form a ready-made sauce.

Mussels marry equally well with the classic French trinity of garlic, herbs and white wine, Iberian accents like tomato, bell pepper and chorizo and Asian flavors like lemon grass, ginger and coconut milk.

Nowadays, we buy cultivated mussels that are farmed by ''seeding'' them onto a rope or rack suspended into the sea. Inexpensive and easy to cook, most are raised in Maine and Prince Edward Island, Canada.

Here are tips:

• Allow ½ to ¾ pound mussels per person for a starter or 1 ½ pounds per person for an entree.

• Keep them covered in the refrigerator and use within one day of purchase.

• Mussels must be cleaned well before cooking. Scrub the shells under cold running water. Discard any with broken shells or that feel unusually light or heavy. (The former may be empty; the latter may contain mud.)

• To purge them of sand and other impurities, soak mussels for an hour or so in a large bowl of cold water. Rinse well, and pull off any ''beards'' (brownish seaweed fibers).

• Cook them over high heat in a wide, covered pot, stirring gently at least once. They'll open in 6 or 8 minutes.

Carole Kotkin is manager of the Ocean Reef Club cooking school and co-author of Mmmmiami: Tempting Tropical Tastes for Home Cooks Everywhere.

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