Cooking With Clams

One of the nice things about cooking with clams is that it’s easy to quickly conjure-up a tasty treat. I’ve long enjoyed a simple appetizer of baked clams served with a delicious dipping sauce.

Baking clams is as simple as cleaning them, setting them on a baking tray with rock salt to keep them from tipping over and baking until they open. Two things to remember is not to over-cook the clams as the meat with become rubbery and as always discard any unopened clams.

Generally, smaller clams will be more tender so I prefer to use these.

Now for the interesting part – the sauce.

Ingredients:

• 1 cube of chicken bouillon
• 1/3 cup of butter
  
• 1 clove of garlic (minced)
  
• 1 tsp of fresh thyme leaves
  
• 2 bay leaves
  
• 1 tsp of lemon juice
  
• black pepper
  
• pinch of Hon Dashi (optional)
  

Serves 4.

Cooking Instructions:

1. Dissolve the 1 cube of chicken bouillon in half a cup of hot water. This should produce a double-concentration chicken broth.
   
2. In a small pot, combine the chicken broth, butter, thyme and bay leaves.
   
3. Slightly reduce the mixture to thicken it.
   
4. Add the teaspoon of lemon juice and black pepper to taste, cook for a few more minutes.
   
5. Remove from heat and mix in the garlic.
   
6. Optionally you can add a pinch of Hon Dashi pellets. This will give your sauce a more fishy taste; you can experiment by making two batches and seeing which you prefer.
   
7. Serve hot with lemon wedges and bread. Remember not to let your clams dry out prior to serving them.
   

If you’re like most people, you don’t enjoy the feeling of sand and grit on your teeth. This problem is easily remedied by purging your clams prior to cooking time. Even though most commercially available clams have been pre-purged, I find that doing this yourself makes a difference.

1. Briefly rinse your clams with cold water.
2. Place the clams in a large bowl with cold water.
3. Dissolve about 1/3 cup of sea salt per gallon of water in the bowl.
4. Stir in a small amount of cornmeal.
5. Leave the setup in a cold place for about two hours.
6. Drain the clams and rinse in cold water.

At this point you’re set to clean and cook the clams.

As is with all mollusks, good handling practices are critical to ensure food safety. Just follow a few simple rules:

1. When you purchase live calms, their shells should be tightly closed.
2. Live clams need to breathe. Do not store them in plastic bags.
3. Ideally, you should prepare live calms within 24 hours of purchase.
4. Live calms should be refrigerated in an open container covered with a damp cloth or paper towel.
5. Persons with shellfish allergies should not consume clams.