Frederick
unread,Jan 6, 2012, 3:39:23 PM1/6/12You do not have permission to delete messages in this group
Sign in to report message
Either email addresses are anonymous for this group or you need the view member email addresses permission to view the original message
to
I really love soft-shell clams from Maine - I believe they are called
'Ipswich' and/or 'Manoe'.
Anyway, I would like to fry some. I have tried it, and have gone
through the exercise of shucking some - then breading and frying them.
They were great, despite the presence of this lousy cook.
But - I found the shucking process to be so tedious that I must be
doing something wrong, or unnecessarily hard. Or at least I hope so,
for I want to do this.
These clams have a black membranous material stuck to their snouts and
part of their body. I believe that it is called 'the beard' and maybe
the 'byssys', and that removing is called 'de-bearding'. Google shows
someone removing this stuff from mussels, but I don't think one would
do clams thataway. After all, the clam and his beard are hiding
inside his shell.
I find the clam's beard is pretty well stuck to him, and it took me
some few minutes per clam to get the clam to give it up. IOW, I
really found it hard to peel off the beard. It was so hard for me,
that I gave it up, and fried what I had - which were really great, as
I said earlier.
Anyone have a suggestion?
Thanks
Frederick