How to Cook, Clean and Eat a New England Steamer Clam

For a few years, I would go to the Town Hall in Essex, get a clamming license and spend some back-breaking, buggy, low-tide hours with my clamming fork and dig up some of these soft-shelled clams. I eventually found the lower-yield spots where I could glide past in my kayak and pluck them out more easily, then drag the mesh bag of them behind the kayak to clean them off. I could then steam them quickly over a small compact portable gas burner on a beach……..and truthfully they are at their best when freshly dug. But to say clam digging is A LOT of work would be putting it too mildly. I now let the Ipswich Shellfish Company do the digging and I just enjoy them.

My efforts did teach me a thing or two about the clams though and since I had unusually large quantites of them, I was able to test all the general theories about the cleaning of the notoriously sandy clams. Actually, they are either sandy or muddy, depending on where they were living…….and guess what? The ones living in sand-only are the lighter shelled ones, while the ones in the mucky-mud have the darker shells. Both taste about the same, though the darker shelled ones are a bit more minerally, but the cooking and cleaning is the same. I must say I was quite fascinated by my little discovery of this!

I also figured out that the process of soaking the clams in water with a sprinkling of cornmeal on top is not the key to removing the sand. The theory is that the clams will ingest the cornmeal and pass the sand through their system and voila…clean clam. Not so much. Just wash the clams in cool water to get all surface sand off, and rely on rinsing the clam in broth for the real purge. Discard any clams that won’t close when they are tapped.

To steam the rinsed clams:

If cooking seperately from other shellfish, add enough water to a pan to just cover the bottom 1/4 inch and bring to a boil. Add the clams, cover the pot and cook for 5-10 minutes, or until the clams have opened up. They will have released some of their briny liquid while cooking, and this along with the water is what makes the clam broth. Don’t throw it away, it should be served in little bowls so people can rinse the clams in it before eating them! Some people like to steam them in beer or wine, but I hate to miss the fresh ocean flavor that takes away. If steaming with other shellfish, such as lobster, simply put on top for the last several minutes of cooking.

To clean the cooked clams:   

 There are actually restaurants here in the land of the “Ipswich Clam” that won’t serve steamed clams. Why? Because the uninitiated have a difficult time eating them. Why? Only because they don’t know the right way to go about it, and end up eating nasty bits or sand. Such a shame, because the soft shell ’steamer clam’ is a culinary joy. Having spent my life eating them, I wasn’t always aware that the process is not as apparent as I thought…..

It was when I as in graduate school at Babson College, which has a significant percentage of out-of-country students, that I became acutely aware of the situation. At the request of a half dozen or so of my fellow students, I went with them to Boston’s Union Oyster House where besides oysters, a must-have is steamers. Countries represented at the table included Spain, Argentina, Brazil, the Philllipines (land of the Manila clam) and Western Canada……..some of whom had encountered the soft-shelled clam, but it had remained a mystery. Especially the ‘getting the sand out’ part. Indeed, when first opened, it looks rather a mess…….

 

Just pluck the clam from it’s shell, trying to keep it’s belly intact (the belly is why some fried clams are called ‘whole belly’ vs. fried clam ’strips’).  The ‘neck’, or siphon of the clam has an inedible membrane covering that has to be removed. The fresher the clam the easier this is to peel off I’ve found, but it generally pulls right away.

 

Once the covering is removed, the whole key to cleaning the sand away is there. The two siphon ducts have to be checked…….a bit graphic I know, but that’s where the sand and muck lurks. Spread it open, and rinse thoroughly in a bowl of broth. Sometimes there is a lot of sand, sometimes hardly anything at all.

 

Also, rinse the belly portion off in the broth. The clam should be all clean, any sand settling at the bottom of the broth bowl.

 One last step – dip the clam in some melted butter, and add a squirt of lemon if you like.

Clams are often served with ‘drawn butter’ in restaurants……and the interpretation seems to be that the solids are removed, as in clarified butter. Which is why it arrives at the table looking like cooking oil. I like the solids left in – just melted butter!