Conch. Steam the conch or crack its shell. Open the shell and pull out the meat. Cut away
and discard the stomach (it’s right in the middle) and the dark tail. Peel off the skin, slice the
meat thin, and pound it to tenderize the meat. Rinse, pat dry, and cook.
Crabs. To clean hard-shell crabs, cook them first. Then plunge the hot crabs into cold water to
firm up the meat. Remove the tail, snap off the claws, and pull off the shell. Cut away the gills
and the digestive organs in the middle of the body and pull the meat away from the skeleton.
Soft-shell crabs should be washed in cold water. They are ready to cook when you buy them.
Lobsters and crayfish (live). If you plan to boil the lobsters, you can cook them just as they
come from the store. If you plan to broil a lobster, kill it first by inserting a knife into the space
between the head and the body and slicing through the crustacean’s spinal cord. Then split the
lobster and remove the internal organs. Live crayfish that have been stored in fresh running
water do not have to be eviscerated before you boil them. If you wish to eviscerate the crayfish,
grasp the middle fin on the tail, twist, and pull hard to pull out the stomach and intestine.
Mussels. In the shell, mussels, like clams, are apt to be sandy. To get rid of the grit, scrub the
mussels under cold running water, then put them in a pot of cold water and let them stand for
an hour or two. Discard any that float to the top. Rinse the rest once more under cold running
water, trim the “beard” with scissors, and prepare as your recipe directs.
Oysters. Unlike clams and mussels, oysters in the shell are free of sand when you buy them.
To prepare them, just wash the oysters thoroughly under cold running water. Discard any
that don’t close tight when you touch them or that float in water. Cook them in the shell or
pry open the shell, strain the liquid for any stray grit, and use the oysters with or without
the shell, as you recipe directs.
Scallops. Shelled scallops in bulk should be relatively free of liquid. Rinse them in cold run-
ning water and use as your recipe directs.
Shrimp and prawns. Wash the shrimp or prawns in cold running water. Then cook them in
the shell to enhance the flavor of a soup or stew, or peel off the shell and remove the black
“vein” (actually the digestive tract) running down the back, and prepare the shellfish as your
recipe directs. (The orange line sometimes found running alongside the “vein” is edible roe.)
Snails (canned). Prepare as your recipe directs.
When you are done, clean all utensils thoroughly with soap and hot water. Wash your
cutting board, wood or plastic, with hot water, soap, and a bleach-and-water solution. For
ultimate safety in preventing the transfer of microorganisms from the shellfish to other
foods, keep one cutting board exclusively for fish, meat, or poultry, and a second one for
everything else.
What Happens When You Cook This Food
When you cook shellfish, heat changes the structure of its proteins. The protein molecules
are “denatured,” which means they may break apart into smaller fragments, change shape, or
clump together. All these changes force moisture out of protein tissues, making the shellfish
Shellfish