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Razor Clam Recipes
I love razor clam. They are so delicious, sweet and one of my favorite clams ever!
They are many ways of cooking the clams. The clams can be steamed, baked, broiled in their shell.
The meat can be breaded and deep-fried or eaten raw in ceviche.
They are two types of razor clams: Pacific razor clam and Atlantic razor clam. The main difference is in the shape.
The Atlantic specie are oblong in shape, average 6 inches in length, resembling a straight razor and long rectangle in shape.
Pacific razor clams are rounder, shorter and egg-shaped. They are mostly found in Washington and Oregon.
They are increasing popular these days. You can often find them on the menu of fine dining restaurants whenever they are in season.
When Is Razor Clam Season?
In the west coast of the United States, these clams are mostly found in Washington state.
The clam digging season starts in end of October to end of December.
No digging is allowed before noon during digs in October, November and December where low tide occurs in the afternoon or evening.
If you live in Washington, you should try clamming this season. Check out this website for more information.
How to Clean Razor Clam?
To get rid of the sands, here are the step-by-step:
- Add salt to a big container of cold water.
- Soak the clams in the cold water. Make sure the water covers the clams.
- Set aside for 30 minutes.
- Drain the water and rinse the clams with cold running water.
- Transfer the clams to a colander and drain the excess water.
How to Cook Razor Clams?
In this recipe, I cooked the clams using a cast-iron skillet on the stove top. I made a garlic butter and pepper sauce, which is absolutely delicious!
For the best results, make sure that the cast-iron skillet is very hot so the clams sizzle and cooked in a flash on the stove top.
Just spoon over the garlic butter pepper sauce on the clams and you will have a restaurant quality recipe!
How Many Calories per Serving?
This recipe is only 134 calories per serving.
What to Serve with This Recipe?
Serve this dish with other seafood dishes. For a seafood dinner, I recommend the following recipes.
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Razor Clam
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs. razor clams or Manila clams
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)
- 3 cloves garlic (finely minced)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper corn (pounded and chopped coarsely)
- 2 stalks scallion (cut into small rounds)
- 1 tablespoons vegetable oil
Instructions
- Add salt to a big container of cold water. Soak the razor clams in the cold water. Make sure the water covers the clams. Set aside for 30 minutes. Drain the water and rinse the razor clams with cold running water. Transfer them to a colander and drain the excess water. Set aside.
- Heat up the butter in a microwave, for about 20-30 second, until completely melted. Add the garlic, black pepper and scallion. Stir to combine well.
- Heat up a cast-iron skillet on high heat on stove top. When the skillet is very hot, add the vegetable oil. Arrange the razor clams on the skillet, in one layer. Cook on high heat until the razor clamshells are open. You may cover the cast-iron skillet with a cover to help cooking the razor clams.
- Spoon the garlic butter mixture on each open razor clam. Turn off the heat and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
My clams all died shortly after getting soaked. Apparently you should never soak razor clams because they suffocate and die. Unfortunately, I had to throw them away. I’m so confused about all the contradicting information that I’ve been finding online about this.
Razor clams do not need to be alive before cooking.
I know with regular (little neck, cherrystone, etc) you just cook then or eat them raw. Can you really eat everything about a razor clam. I am just finishing cleaning them and thought never will i buy them again. Please tell me it’s better to eat the whole razor clam. Thank you.
Yes you eat the whole razor clams there is no need to clean. :)
Great recipe, thank you. Razor clams are absolutely delicious. I saw this how to video and just went and collected my own clams https://youtu.be/HDmFhWXFFaE
Will be clamming again next year and making this recipe again. Thanks for the recipe!
Rasa, I have a different way of cleaning the razor clams (I do this with steamers too). I put ice into a large bowl and add the clams. Then I shake some finely ground cornmeal (about 2 tbs ) over the ice and then add enough cold water to barely cover leaving them for 1 hour or more. In my mind the clams feast on the cornmeal and in doing so expel the excess sand and, as a bonus, plump up. I then drain the clams the same way you do and cook them in a very lightly oiled cast iron pan, covered. Garlicky butter with a touch of cayenne or red pepper flakes makes a great accompaniment.
I live on Cape Cod, in Massachusetts. Razor clams wash up on our beaches. They’re not as common on our plates as littleneck clams, or “steamers”, but they are just as candy sweet.
I made this recipe easily and quickly. Thank you! I soaked my clams in a bowl of cold, very salty water for a half hour, until most of the necks protruded from their shells by an inch.
One thing I changed was the oil. I don’t believe you need it. It will only smoke up the kitchen. Just heat the cast iron to very hot, place the clams in a single layer and cover. They will release their juices and create a steam bath. You’ll hear it sizzle in the pan. As soon as the pan goes silent, pick up the lid and the clams are opened and ready for the sauce.
By the way, some people recommend removing the stomachs. Don’t! That’s where the flavor and unami lie. Eat ’em up. You’ll be glad you did.
Thanks for your support!
Do you remove the gills etc? I am fixing razor clams for the first time for Father’s Day and don’t want to kill my husband! Lol!
There is nothing to remove.
In New England, we don’t remove anything but the shell.
Rasa, most people in the northwest remove the clams from the shells to clean and remove the lungs and stomach before cooking. It would be hard to make sure are the sand was out if you did not. I leave mine in a seawater in the cooler for 24 hours. The necks will stretch out incredibly and will not be nearly as tough. I think this recipe would be great with those also especially if the larger clams are cut into smaller pieces. The shells do make a great visual affect and I am definitely going to do this recipe. It looks very yummy !
Thanks for your information. For Asians, we eat everything with shell on.