Tips:
The biggest problem with cooking clams is the sand in the shell. If you do not clean it throughout, eating clams would be so disappointed. There are many ways to remove sand. Some people even say that put rusty kitchen knife and clams into the water, can remove the sand. I tried, but it is not good. And every family use stainless steel kitchen utensils, finding a rusty one is more difficult nowadays.
There are three methods I tested personally and they are effective:
- Immerse in sesame oil: Add sesame oil and salt to the water, then immerse clams in the water for 2-3 hours. The best temperature for the water is 20 degree. Using 20-degree water can make clams cleaner. It would be faster as well since clams would likely to spit out more sands in this temperature. Make sure you have enough time to do this.
- Shake clams: Use a large pot, cover with the lid. Add a little water and put the clam in, it. Keep shaking it for 2 minutes. Pour out the water. In this way, the clams will spit out the sand as well. Wash it and repeat 2 more times until it is clean.
- Blanching: For fried clams dishes, simply blanch clams for 1 minute, then remove clams from hot water. Rinse with cold water until clean. This method is a fast and effective method. It can remove the sand throughout. But it is not recommended for making clams soup since the fresh taste would be lost when blanching.