ingredients in seafood soups and stews.
Choosing and Handling Molluscs Unless
they’ve already been removed from their
shell, fresh bivalves should be alive and
healthy: otherwise they are likely to have
begun spoiling. A healthy bivalve has an
intact shell, and its adductor muscle is active
and holds the shells tightly together,
especially when sharply tapped. Molluscs
keep best on ice covered with a damp cloth,
and should not be allowed to sit in a puddle of
meltwater, which is saltless and therefore
fatal to sea creatures. Clams and relatives
often benefit from several hours’ immersion
in a bucket of cold salt water (^1 / 3 cup salt per
gallon, or 20 gm/l) to clean themselves of
residual sand and grit.
When the cook wants to “shuck” an oyster
or clam, or open the shell and remove the raw
meat, it’s the hinge ligament and adductor
muscles that must be dealt with. The usual