// Leaf Group Lifestyle. I’m Michele, and this is Bacon Fatte.

I owe much of the success of my first-ever clam feast to my husband’s Uncle Tom. They’re never eaten raw.

Oh, and the meal I would be preparing was for several members of my husband’s extended family – whom I had only just met for the first time the day before. Clams will often expel liquid during storage, and the paper towels will help keep that liquid from pooling at the bottom of the bowl and potentially drowning some of your clams. Freshness is absolutely key when it comes to clams (and mussels, oysters, etc. Place a couple of sheets of clean, damp (not dripping wet) paper towels at the bottom of the bowl. Crisps, chocolate and cheese are 'worst offenders' for recycling, Bao opens all-day cafe and bakery serving 'pizza bao' and bubble tea, You can now buy a personal cheese board and wine holder for your solo snacking needs. Typically, fish mongers will put clams into a mesh bag (similar to an onion bag), and then into a plastic bag so you don’t have ice water and clam juice dripping everywhere on your way home. How to Make Sure Cooked Clams Have No Sand. After reading dozens of websites suggesting countless crazy ways to prepare clams, I did my own […], […] effort to encourage others to enjoy clams more often as well, I wrote an informational post about storing and preparing fresh clams. You can also order clams online (see Resources), but there's never any guarantee of what you will get. NOTE: If you want the “short story” about How To Store and Prepare Fresh Clams, please scroll down to Preparation – Part B at the end of the page. Here in Minnesota, these are the kind we see most often at local markets. They come from all over the world, and they all have unique characteristics, flavors, cooking times, etc. Apparently, when you’re as passionate and knowledgeable about seafood as he is, you travel with your own tools. If you’ve ever eaten raw oysters lying open on a bed of ice with a fresh wedge of lemon, or Tabasco or vinegar to drizzle over them, those oysters will have been alive. Clean cockles as you would a hard-shell clam, and sauté them with olive oil, shallots and a cup of white wine over medium heat. […] really hope you’ll give this recipe a try. If your recipe calls for “two pounds of clams,” make sure to note about how many clams are suggested for the recipe as well.

), but it’s also really important that the mollusks are handled well before arriving in your kitchen. Here’s hoping knowing a little more about clams will inspire you to prepare them at home more often as well! Whether eating them raw, in a stew or as an addition to a pasta sauce, clams are an interesting addition to any meal. We’ve always loved seafood, but we enjoy it even more when we prepare it at home. You will almost never need to purge your clams if you bought them at a [reputable] market. These bivalves can be highly toxic and potentially deadly in the worst case scenario. My husband and I are now madly in love with a number of clam dishes that we’ve prepared at home. ‘They were classically paired with meat dishes due to the strong iron flavour and used to be cheaper than most meat.’. . He effortlessly whipped up scratch-made sauces and showed me the right way to open clams – with his own well-seasoned clam knife, of course.

Never eat clams you find on a beach.