mollusc with the heavy and bone-colored
s h e l l . Scallop, with its unusually
symmetrical and patterned valves, comes
via the Middle French escalope, from a
Germanic word for “shell.” And squid? To
date, the linguists are stumped. It appeared
out of nowhere in the 17th century.
Their burrowing and siphoning
musculature makes clams fairly chewy
creatures. The tenderer portions of large
clams (mantle, quick muscle) may be cut out
and prepared separately. The large geoduck
neck is usually scalded and the tough
protective skin removed before the meat is
sliced and/or pounded very thin for eating raw
or either gentle or prolonged cooking.
Mussels The handful of mussel species we
usually eat have become cosmopolitan: they
have hitched rides or been intentionally
introduced to various parts of the world,
where they both grow naturally and are