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Thank you thank you how are you welcome again today we’re going to continue talking about American food and we’re going to deal with if we can the clam and why would I call that an American food it was commonly eaten in China up to 4 000 years ago
But in the Pacific Northwest in my country we’ve found big piles of clam shells that go back even farther the Northwest Indian lives on clams long before the white man appeared and of course when the white men did appear in 1620 in New England the Indians gave him
Clams and corn and that’s what kept Him alive so clams are terribly American in terms of our diet and terribly American in terms of our affection most people really love clams if you don’t like clams Dear Heart turn off the television now and go make yourself a Frozen TV
Tray right otherwise stick with me because we’re gonna eat very very well today the clam itself is is terribly exciting and uh the Americans were using clam shells for Wampum the Quahog clam had a nice polish in it that still does and they were using for Wampum with the
Indians you know for bartering it was just money so it goes way back now the types that I want to show you first of all my favorite one comes from the Pacific Northwest and this is a butter clam these are rather hard to find now but uh because we’ve eaten them
All but when I was a child oh they were easy to find instead in most areas on the west coast we’re now growing a clam that is called a Japanese or a manila clam that is to say the seed came in from the Orient and they thrive on the
West Coast beaches they’re beautiful I flew in all of these clams from from the west coast today I’m not being nasty about the East Coast clams they’re wonderful but I just happen to be a West Coast Clan man and Saul at the Pure Food fish market in the Seattle Public Market
Shipped all of these to me they all came in and we’re very happy to see them so thanks all you’re a good man now the other clan that I doubt that any of you have seen unless you live in the west coast is a clam called a razor
So-called because the shell is just razor sharp isn’t that an interesting shape and you can cut yourself severely my mother and I used to go climbing when I was a little kid and I always came home with cuts in my fingers from the razor clam I’ll show you how to clean
Those in a minute and now the biggie are you ready this is the largest clam in America and it is indigenous only to the the West Coast particularly the Pacific Northwest ouch oh good Heavens three clams weigh a tongue you see this is called a gooey
Duck you can see the length of my hand I’m six foot four you guess how long this stays that’s got to be an eight inch neck on it this is the largest clam and you see he cannot close his shell up nor can he withdraw his neck the only
Bivalve that I know of that cannot pull into the neck he’s just too gigantic normally what you do with this clam well I’ll show you later on but you cut the neck off and that is ground up for chowder your skin at first and the inside you remove the stomach and you
Can make a wonderful chowder with this gigantic clam in the old days I’m 48 don’t ask in the old days when I was a kid these were these were never sold in the markets they were cheap and you’d go down to the beach and just help yourself
Now of course uh they’re they’re peddled for a small fortune when you cut the neck off and clean it you wind up with something like this you see once the neck is cleaned uh it’s just you just blanch it throw it in boiling water and then pull off the skin
And let me show you what it’s done with this you can grind them up for chowder or this is what they do in Japan these are very popular in Japan you send them to Japan and they slice them up for sushi and sashimi and you eat the neck raw now if you’re
Into that sort of thing there I think that’s enough I want to put these on a plate for you here so our first dish is a raw gooey duck neck you sit down in your chair stop yelling for the neighbors they can see this later it’s all right they’re
Delicious and this would be served on a bit of rice perhaps in China or in Japan in the Northwest what we generally do is to cut the neck open and pound it as a steak and it works beautifully for a very tender lovely piece of meat I’ll
Show you that one later on if we have time but they’re very good now the last one excuse me the last one is for my wife my wife Patty was born in Brooklyn now I would not do this but uh so the those of you in the west or the East
Coast know that I really do love you I have a whole plate of Cherrystone clams now these Cherry stones are from the Pacific from the north uh the northeastern portion of the country New England and all and they are very very tender and you can eat them raw now we
Would never do such a thing in the Pacific Northwest I swear that no one eats raw clams we do eat these are very beautiful ones too we do eat plant or oysters raw that’s not unusual but never a clam raw I’m sorry I just don’t see anybody do that in the Northwest it
Isn’t because our clams are too tough though most of them are it’s because we’re just not used to that sort of thing so we have raw gooey duck we’ll also cook the duck and chowder and we have some Cherry Stone clams from the East and now let’s get started with my
Method of eating clams which is the butter clam and I want to put him in a pot and simply steam him with some garlic and olive oil so we’ll get the the burner going here there he is and I want to put some olive
Oil in the pot not an awful lot and if you close with garlic I’m putting in what am I putting in all right four and a half tablespoons I’m teasing you put in enough to make the clams happy after all if you’re going to cook clams you should you should treat them well
I happen to know that the king of the universe is very pleased with clams or he wouldn’t have made so many there little garlic and olive oil my brother Greg does this with simply wine and parsley he’s a purist and he’ll frown at me when he sees this concoction
But I like garlic in mine quite a bit of garlic and then we’ll throw in the clams I’m using my butter clams you see and you can tell a butter clam because the of the the design on the shell it’s spherical see it spherical and very beautiful all right
In they go no water not a wonderful sound and we’ll add to that there we go There that’s about a quart and a half maybe two quarts of clams I think the uh the number of clams that you eat simply depends on how many clams you can get your hands on that’s our Rule and there’ll be a big fight on the house Jason won’t eat clams
Uh and for this uh this way but Channing and I love them of course Patty enjoys them too I need some chopped parsley just throw in a handful of chopped parsley and then we’ll put a slosh of wine over that and of course A good white will do best
Good white chief White don’t use don’t use good wine here’s wine that is uh there I want to stir that once and uh just give it a quick Shake here so that there we are would you like some pepper all right all right all right I agree I agree
A little Pepper would be just great so we’ll put in just a smidge in here and then put the lid on this Rascal and oh isn’t that great nice going Smith your pepper Mill’s empty let’s try another one I showed you my old Greek or Turkish coffee grinder which I bought in
Greece and this is this really puts in the pepper that’s plenty you don’t want to overpower this clams have a very delicate flavor and uh they don’t want to be you don’t want to spice them up too much okay on with that one let that cook until they
Come to a simmer and then give them oh about five or ten minutes and the shells will open right away and and you’ll be ready to go did you get that wine garlic olive oil a little bit of parsley maybe a shot of pepper very light I’ve not put any herbs
In these the French would put some thyme in them the Italians would put some oregano in the Northwest we eat them this way all right let’s go on to another one uh thirdly I want to show you how to make a fried razor clam now this this clam here’s the
Here are the basic devices that you need if you’re going to be a serious uh shell fish eater this is a clam knife this one with a guard on it is an oyster knife you see that so that you don’t you don’t hurt yourself on the shell the clam knife
However is a little bit longer because you need to to grab the clam and once you get the knife inside you see you need to cut off the meat from both sides so that when you and then you do it on the bottom see on the top first then on
The bottom so when you open them up the meat is free of the shell this works great if you know what you’re doing I’m not even close a good clam shucker can can have these out in the Shell will be absolutely clean inside you see now that’s how you’re going to do it
With a little clamp when you use a big clam such as this razor clamp well of course it’s very it’s it’s very very simple to Simply cut the meat from the shell now I must tell you that the reason that these clams look so tired is because they’ve been frozen nothing else
On the counter today is frozen but this clamp has been this razor clam is very very rare now in the Northwest due to a an enormous parasite that has hit the West Coast beaches and it breaks everybody’s heart it’s not we have over clammed I know we have dug too many but
This particular clam is in trouble not because of our over climbing but because of a parasite and they began to die out we thought it was the end of them wouldn’t it be awful to tell your grandchildren about something that you loved as a child and say I’m sorry but
We don’t see it anymore in the world that’s happening with a lot of food and this clam is going to be one of those but the parasite has pooped out somehow and the clams are coming back so I have just a few to show you I have some that
I’ve I’ve already cleaned and I’m going to Simply put them in flour and the egg wash this is what my mother used to do when I was a kid oh those were good times we still cook together I’ll do something that you’ve always wanted to do on television right you
Also if I ever get on hi Mom she’s the one who taught me to enjoy clams my younger sister Judy hated clams and I used to tease her I’d make clam pancakes you ever done that clam packed under the flower now clam pancakes and then I would
I’d put them on the table and tell her they were regular pancakes and she’d love them then later on I tease her I was terrible when I was a little kid and I tell her they were really clam pancakes she’d oh she’d tell me she didn’t like them of course she liked them
They have clams and throw them into your pancake batter fry them up very good all right flour let’s do one more here of these beautiful razor clams this is a great treat in the Pacific Northwest you find a plate of these on a menu in a restaurant
And and you know it’s better to just simply buy the restaurant it’s cheaper much cheaper these are just so expensive all right let me get my hands cleaned off here and we’ll put some butter in the pan I’m gonna fry these in butter egg and flour and a tiny bit of
Seasoning a little bit of salt and pepper will be plenty we may need to add some olive oil to the pan too because I don’t want to burn the butter do you remember that when you when you use butter one you’re you’re eating a lot of cholesterol you want to
Try and cut down on that but the flavor of butter cannot be equaled by any kind of phony margarine so just forget about it but you can raise the temperature of the of the butter in terms of its its ability to take Heat by adding a little
Bit of peanut oil or olive oil you’ve heard me talk about that before all right the clams going to the pan we certainly don’t want to cook these very long they’ll be very tender if we just don’t overdo sit down there you come on friend okay you’ll get your way
Enough with the razor clams and then I’ll show you how to fry the small butter clam or vanilla clam oh I want to put some salt and pepper in that too there we are stuff’s all over my hands it’s great fun to oh that’s great they’re smelling so good
For just a tiny bit of salt on these and of course a bit no I don’t use a salt Shake I never have it confuses me because I never quite sure what I have in my hands and I don’t want to uh I don’t want to bother
There I don’t want to bother measuring so I just measure with my fingers you can’t do that in a Shaker you can’t tell what’s in there okay enough of that one we’ll turn those in just a moment in the meantime let’s go on to the regular butter clam or you can use a
Manila clam the Japanese clam and we’re going to bread those in cracker crumbs you can use these old Vermont crackers are wonderful I don’t know if you’re going to find them anywhere in the country except Vermont they’re from the old Vermont baking what does he call himself excuse me let me
Look the Vermont Vermont something here it’s the Vermont store the old Vermont store and the place has been there for years and years and years the Vermont Country Store delicious crackers but they don’t have quite so much salt however today I’m going to use a batch of regular cracker
Meal that you can find in your supermarket and I’m going to do nothing with these whoops come here you do nothing with the clams except to bread them and cracker and then fry them in butter doesn’t that sound great it’s going to be let me get a burner going here
I found a new stick the other day you know for lighting my stove and you know what it barely works the old one that uh we dropped in the sink was much better uh alas alas see how my clams are doing huh oh they’re coming up they’re beginning
To open don’t don’t eat clams that were open when you bought them and that means they were dead and don’t eat clams that don’t open after you cook them that means that they were sick or they were full of mud you see so I hope you understand let me turn my razor clams
Frying and simply and an egg wash an egg wash means two eggs and uh and uh several tablespoons of water there we go those will be done in just a second Smith don’t don’t overdo the egg clams I mean the fried clams that’s terrible all right now in our other pan
I’m gonna bread where did I put my clams here we are I’m going to bread some of these beautiful little butter cleansers very small you’ll see butter clams or of course you can use the vanilla clam I think these are manilas we’ll just lightly dread them with cracker crumb
That should be enough and then we’re going to fry them excuse me losing my towel here I need that you see I’m not wiping my hands on my apron would you stop writing those letters I actually do love your letters you know that but the letter about the don’t wipe
Your hands on your apron really cracks me up and I’m still getting them I’ve told you several times I can’t stop because that’s the way I cook all right these are these will melt down again I’m going to put a a tiny bit of olive oil or peanut oil
In the butter to keep it from burning you see olive oil burns at a much higher temperature as a matter of fact you ask it very hot so you really don’t have to worry about it I’m going to change look at the clams they’re done the big the
Big ones are done I’ll get them off the burner aren’t they going just look at them they’re done now let me serve these quickly quickly quickly before we lose out I don’t want to burn them there we are if you overcook these they have a tendency to be a little bit tough you
Can understand that some of you tell me that you don’t like squid and you know I love squid so the problem is that you’re cooking the squid too long you don’t want to do that let me get a lemon wedge on these that’s how you would serve them oh these are terrific
One of my favorite memories from my childhood and you understand that in this series what we’re trying to talk about is uh remembering those dishes that you that you enjoyed so much as a kid and this is really one of the classics fried razor clams and don’t even ask me
To ship you some or talk to you about it because it’s not going to happen you’re not going to get any I’m afraid all right the fried clams now and simply put them in Cracker meal this is how they’re cooked at a place in Tacoma Washington
Called The Harbor Lights it’s run by a wonderful woman a crazy friend of many many years she’s just one of those friends that you you’d tell anything to because you know you’re going to get a laugh even if it’s a bad joke she’s just wonderful and she’s a fine cook and runs
A place called Harbor Lights and I called Lemoine this morning and I said Lemoine please I’m in Chicago I’m cooking like mad give me the secret to your fried clams and she laughed and she said nothing but cracker meal and butter I go in there and have these for lunch
With a glass of wine on the side there we go I’ll turn those in just a minute just let them barely Brown we don’t overdo this I go into lemoines or Harbor Lights and have a plate of these with my lunch and a glass of wine and because that’s it I
Don’t go work anymore I go back home and sit around and stare at the computer and read cookbooks and I don’t work much more it’s too delicious all right let’s try um let’s see what else we have going here oh I have another one for you that I
Think you’ll really enjoy let me uh there we are there we are let me show you the let me show you what happens if you cut up one of these necks one of these big necks this is the this is the razor the um the gooey duck this one isn’t particularly
Large so let’s let’s use it what I’m going to do is to Slit it down the side so that we can open it up mom used to do this she didn’t have much money in those days for a budget and we always ate very well
There just open it up you see there are two valves in this thing matter of fact it’s called a bivalve I think that’s the reason they’re two two holes in this neck I think one is marked entrance and one is marked exit I’m not sure what it is
All right now we’re going to pound that with a meat pounder wooden meat pounder quiet clams and tenderize it I can make more noise if you’re interested I have a band in the back here all right pound that out easy pound that out and then flour it
And then fry just as I’ve done the clams let me turn those now fried in butter let me turn these Rascals oh boy gorgeous wow I better turn down the heat here they’re going to be I think they’re about finished I think gorgeous look at that you see
That’s almost enough for lunch for Me Maybe enough for two other people I don’t know now back to the gooey duck you pound out a steak of the neck you see and then flower him and pan fry him let me show them to you I’ve got them in the oven
Here I’ve already done a couple of these I don’t have enough room to cook all these things where’d he go I swear I was in here a while back well maybe he’s not in the oven uh here here he is wait there he is here he is
Here is the fried gooey duck neck I cut the neck in half the long way and it makes wonderful eating very delicious and it’s very sweet this particular meat is very very sweet so you can enjoy it I know it’s a little bit tough then the
Neck that big it’s got to be tough some neck huh but it’s very sweet and very delicious the clams are finished let me find a platter for them here there we are this is one of my very dear favorites wonderful fried clams please don’t overcook these it’s very important that
You remember that because otherwise they’re going to be they’re going to be very tough and you don’t want that you don’t want that at all there we go I have many more dishes with clams many more and we’ll uh see where’s some chopped parsley for the top Just for kicks huh
You know if you serve fried clams in in the East you know what you would do you’d toast up a batch let me see clams out here for you let me rearrange you so that we can see what we’ve got going tell you they’re all over the place all right they’re the
Fried Pacific Northwest clams or Japanese clams and if you were doing this in Vermont you would crack open some of those little biscuits that I showed you you see split them in half and broil them with butter and put those on the table and that it makes a wonderful wonderful
Lunch move some clams into you know the big problem here are these gooey ducks are not paying their rent they’re taking up the whole Comet let me get them out of the way all right now then let me show what else I have in the oven
Here’s a quick trick for you for making another dish that’s common in the East remember I told you come on pothole let’s hear this told you that the Indians kept us alive us meaning the bad guys The Outsiders I know the Indian tribe has got to be sorry now all tribes
Are sorry they were Nomads and they were good to us they gave everything they could and we continue to take advantage of them one of the things that we got from of course was a was was corn and clam and if you want to make a soup that’ll knock them dead
Put a couple cans of of cream of corn in a bowl or in a pot rather and to that you want to add a bit of cream or milk and then you want to add a handful of chopped clams there oh all right add some cayenne or some
Tabasco if you if you insist as a matter of fact I think I would like to do that myself it’s very good okay I don’t see my Tabasco well that’s all right put some Tabasco or Cayenne in this if you care or just black pepper would be wonderful
Let that cook for just a minute because those clams are cut up you’ll see and you don’t want them you don’t want them to be tough there I think that’s enough little pepper I’ve already tasted the the um the soup for salt because it’s a the canned
Product already has salt in it if you want to use frozen corn that’s fine with me I think you’d enjoy that even more let’s put that on the counter so we now have a clam and corn chowder which is very simple and terribly terribly American terribly American in the sense that uh
That uh it’s two basic products from the very beginning of our culture there we go all right now one more is coming up here if you fry grated potatoes and onions with a few clams you’re going to come up with well dare I call it a clam locky hardly
Orthodox I know Jews don’t eat a shellfish because of an ancient uh an ancient rule where do they go oh they’re back here I’ve got so many things in so many spots today my dad used to make this for me when I was a kid clam pancakes which were
Really simply corn stop that scratch all right it was potato grated potato and onion along with a little egg salt and pepper got that and then of course some clams and you fried those in a little oil wonderful eating just wonderful let’s see what else I have in the oven all
Right I’m I’m waiting to see too I don’t know what’s left in here it’s beginning to surprise me oh of course we’re talking about we’re talking about Boston chowder this was from Turner’s can I find a spot here yes this is from Turner’s a wonderful Eating House in
Boston good old clam chowder you just can’t beat chowder there it is and this is New England style you see no tomato oh there’s a long um thread of of pain if you put tomatoes in in clams in in New England they’ll kill you I swear they just won’t let you
Live through it all right one more coming up they’re ready let’s get the clams off here we go this is simply too much let me find a big dipper here ah where is my Big Dipper here it is I want to save the nectar that’s what
You that’s what you kill for not for the not for the clams themselves but for the nectar there it is and we’ll dish these off and listen to them come screaming at least everyone will come screaming with Jason Patty will come screaming Channing will come screaming I will come screaming but
Jason will not do well on clams but when he was a child he went down to lemoines with me to the Harbor Lights and he ate clams just like this it’s very dish and then he he insisted on taking all the shells home all of these shells and I said Jason
Why do you want all the shells he was spot four maybe three what about three what do you want all the shells for and he said dad they’re for my clamshell collection well all right I thought that was kind of cute you see so he kept them
A month and a half later the basement where his room is smelled oh it was awful he saved all of the clam shells in a bucket in his closet we’re still airing off those clothes but he has a clamshell collection finally one more quickie for you I’m going to
To put a bit of I’ll find a burner here I’m going to put a bit of cream and olive oil and garlic in a pan and heat it up and then put in a few clams and we’re gonna make a clam cream sauce which will go over pasta
This dish is very very simple and it’s very dramatic I’ll show you right now heat up the pasta here and it’s it’s um it’s the kind of thing that brings them to their knees while that’s cooking one more I don’t have time for the recipe for this one
But this is another Northwest favorite these are stuffed clams and something like this is served at a joint called ivor’s Acres of clams and ivor’s an old friend of mine the old boy died a few months ago and I really lament his death he was a wonderful fellow and he had a
Restaurant called Acres of clams it’s still there and his staff are so devoted to him that they’re still selling clams like mad and this is one of the real wonderful things in the menu called stuffed clams I’ll give you the recipe one of these days please if you find
That that you’re watching the show and the recipes aren’t in the cookbook please don’t be frustrated with me because eventually I’ll get those recipes to you in a cookbook you see but I can only cook so fast and only write so fast all right the pasta will go on
This platter and today we have celebrated The Wonder of the clam an old old food product that’s been with us since the very very beginning of our culture get in there you sit down okay and we’ll put some clam sauce on this a white clam you see a little garnish
Certainly wouldn’t hurt a bit of parsley and you’re set I have prepared for you today old American food perhaps with a new twist in the front that doesn’t matter but there’s wonderful stuff I have a clam sauce on pasta I have Cherry Stone clams for Patty and clams and wine for
Jeff and the rest of the crowd and fried gooey duck necks and fried clams and stuffed clams and biscuits and clam chowder all from the good old clam until I see you again eat well this is The Frugal Gourmet I bid you piece bye-bye foreign