black gunk inside clam (restaurant, substitute, healthy, Indian)
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I ate dinner at a fancy restaurant, bowl of clam chowder with real clams on top. One of them had all black gunky stuff inside. I pointed it out to the waiter, who brought it back to the kitchen and then brought the same bowl back and said it was a dirt clam and offered me a replacement clam, which I declined.
So am I going to get sick? There was no "off" flavor in the chowder, but seeing that put me off the rest of my dinner.
No, you won't get sick. I've encountered that quite a few times when I've ordered steamed clams. I just swished them around in the clam broth in the bottom of the bowl.
I think the proper way to prepare is to soak live clams in clean fresh water, that gets them filtering the clean dirtless water and they expel what's in their system, sea salt water and some silt/dirt. Maybe it wasn't soaked long enough or that clam just wasn't sucking in and expelling water for some reason. Maybe it's a sign it wasn't a healthy clam to begin with or a dead/dying one. That's how they eat, filtering water.
they live in mud and some in sand.....the grayer shelled clams are from clam flats....more mud consistency and the white shelled clams more in sandy consistency
we would purge them in water before we ate them for a day - salt water ….and they would clean themselves out..
ive also done it with fresh water in the sink.....but like lobsters they can only live in salt water (unless a fresh water clam)
there's no reason a restaurant cannot rinse /wash off these clams prior to cooking ...particularly for what they charge ..
they live in mud and some in sand.....the grayer shelled clams are from clam flats....more mud consistency and the white shelled clams more in sandy consistency
we would purge them in water before we ate them for a day - salt water ….and they would clean themselves out..
ive also done it with fresh water in the sink.....but like lobsters they can only live in salt water (unless a fresh water clam)
there's no reason a restaurant cannot rinse /wash off these clams prior to cooking ...particularly for what they charge ..
Not quite euryhaline, but like oysters they can live in brackish water. A lot of folks also purge clams using coarse corn meal as well. I know a commercial clammer that gets them from the Indian River and Banana river here in Florida.
As others said you will be fine.
An old trick I learned is before cooking the clams sprinkle them with breadcrumbs, Ritz or something similar. Cover with wet paper towels and place in the fridge for awhile. The clams will eat and then purge, leaving a much cleaner clam. Of course rinse off the clams before cooking.
I may stick to fried clams myself. Well, I didn't get sick although I slept fitfully wondering if I would get sick. This did not look in any way like a clam that was gritty. It looked like someone had removed the clam from the shell and substituted a teaspoon of black river mud. I did not go poking around, there may have been some class of a clam in there.
The chowder was not that good, and I had ordered it because they were supposed to be known for their chowder. It was too salty (and I like salt) and had way too much bacon or pork belly in and on it. That was the main flavor, bacon. I am a clam chowder snob, I believe it only needs onions, potatoes, clams and some cream. The liquid should NOT be thickened with anything that makes it come out like a white sauce. Maybe a little bacon fat to saute the onions in. I normally don't eat it in restaurants where I suspect it comes from a food service company because it is always gloppy.
The more I eat out, the more I appreciate my own home cooking. However, my sister, who is visiting, loves to eat out.
Last edited by VTsnowbird; 07-14-2018 at 12:17 PM..
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