Do this over a bowl so you catch all the briny-sweet juices (aka liquor), which you can add to your recipe right along with the clam meat. If you’re steaming them or having a clambake, you don’t need to remove the clams from their shells, but for things like clam chowder and pasta, you may want to shuck them first. Finally, scrub each clam with a stiff-bristle brush to remove any grit or debris on the shells. However, if you still see a lot of sand in the bottom of the bowl, you may want to repeat the process, once or even twice.ĥ. Soak them in the fridge for a final 20 minutes. When the second soak is done, set up a third bowl full of cold, salted water, and again, lift the clams from their current bowl and transfer them to the new one. Let them soak in the second bowl of clean, cold, salty water in the fridge for another 20 minutes.Ĥ. You don’t want to dump them from one bowl into another, even if you use a strainer, because you’ll just be pouring the gritty water back over the clams, negating step #1.ģ. Lift the clams out of the first bowl and place them into the second soaking vessel. Set up a second bowl full of cold, salted water. You can add enough salt to make the water mimic ocean salinity, then put the bowl back in the fridge and let the clams soak for 20 minutes.Ģ. Some people add cornmeal to the water to help purge the clams, but all that should be necessary is salt (if even that). Fill the first bowl with cold water-never warm or hot, since that will kill the clams-and submerge all the live bivalves.

To do this, all you need are three bowls (each big enough to hold all your clams), cold water, and a scrub brush.ġ. Once you’ve gotten rid of any dead clams, which easily and rapidly breed bacteria, you’ll need to clean the live ones, both outside and in. As mentioned above, soft shell clams won’t close completely, but when you give the shell a tap, the neck of the clam should retract to some degree. Tap the top shell of any open clams, and if any of them don’t close themselves back up, discard them, as they’re dead. © 2023 Detroit Lions, Ltd.First, check for any bad apples-er, clams.

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Clams casino from canned clams