Clam Recipes

Have you ever wondered how clam recipes came to be? Who first discovered that clams were edible? Was it some sharp-eyed ancestor who noticed sea otters swimming on their backs and opening clamshells with a rock? Whoever it was, they did the world a favor.

There are a wide variety of clam recipes since these shellfish are wonderful steamed, cooked in soups and chowders, baked, chopped and casseroled, and even eaten raw with a dash of lemon juice or cocktail sauce.

On the East Coast, you can get a hard-shelled variety, often called Quahogs or littlenecks, or so-called soft-shelled clams (the shell is actually hard, but thin and brittle) often called steamers.

'Clamming' is a fun pastime that can occupy a sunny afternoon and yield a pot of treats for dinner as well. If trying your hand at clamming, take note of the legal size limits and don't take clams smaller than allowed, or you might face a stiff fine.

When buying these shellfish from the market, make sure they are still alive - dead clams go 'bad' quickly. Closed shells indicate dead ones. Once you get them home, put them in a bucket of salt water for a day or so. Some people add corn meal to the water. Leaving live clams in salt water for a period will flush the sand and grit out of their bodies, making them that much better eating.

On the West Coast, the specialty is a giant clam called the geoduck (pronounced 'GOO-ee-duck'). When fully grown, geoducks weigh from one to three pounds, and they grow as long as they live, which can be decades or even a century or older. Use geoducks clam recipes such as chowders or stews; a geoduck on the half-shell would intimidate the most robust appetite.

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