There are those who like them shucked, raw, on the half-shell.Ĭhowders: These are huge hard-shell clams perfect for soups, stews, and, of course, chowders-any dish in which they have some long, slow cooking time to make sure they're tender. A bit bigger than littlenecks, they are still tender and tasty raw on the half-shell or steamed, but also big enough to take to grilling nicely-top the grilled ones with a bit of herb butter.Ĭherrystones: They are bigger yet, perfect for pasta sauces or grilling (they grill up just like mussels if you want to give it a try). Middlenecks or topnecks: These measure about two inches across. Want to shuck them yourself? They're shucked just like oysters.
These are the clams most often seen raw, on the half-shell on seafood platters. Adding 1/4 to 1/2 cup of cornmeal helps expel the dark matter and sand from the clams' stomachs and can also whiten the meat. Let the clams sit in the water for several hours. Littlenecks: The smallest of the hard-shell clams ( Mercenaria mercenaria), measuring just over one inch across (measured at the hinge). To remove the sand before cooking, cover the clams with a saltwater solution of 1/3 cup salt to 1 gallon of water. Smaller ones are eaten raw, shucked and on the half-shell, whereas bigger ones are the basis of famed clam chowder. They are harvested by simply digging them up. and Canada in intertidal areas burrowed in the sand. They live in the Atlantic Ocean along the east coasts of the U.S. Littlenecks, topnecks, cherrystones, chowders-they are all the same clam, just different sizes (listed from smallest to biggest). Hard-shell clams ( Mercenaria mercenaria) go by many names.
