Photo essay on preparing Gaper clams

I was browsing for some instructions about gaper clam cleaning. I came across this photo essay on another site. Unfortunately the post in it's current form was missing img tages so the pics did not show up. So I am reposting it here with img tags ('cos then I can see it! I also figure it would be a useful resource for others)

Full credit goes to this website; http://www.ifish.net/board/archive/index.php/t-56351.html


Here is the way I clean my Gaper Clams.........im sure its by no means the best way but it works OK for me. Pretty similar to cleaning other types of clams, like razors and such but there are a few things unique to Gapers. If this post seems helpful, feel free to put it in the Tips section


First off, I let my Gapers soak 24-48 hours in a cooler with cold (ice added) water. This should be freshwater because you want them to die and thus their necks will stretch out. The soaking loosens up the brown skin that is on their necks, but I know some of you prefer to blanch them also. Either way is fine.



Here is your average Gaper ready to clean.......note the small crab that are inside. Almost all Gapers will have these crabs, they are harmless and just living inside the clam.


As far as knives, I like to use a short knife, either a small paring knive of boning knife like this one ($2 used at butcher shop, cant beat that!)

You will want to hold the clam with hinge side down and cut with your knife all around the inside of the shell. There is 2 adductor muscles on the clam, one at the top and one at the bottom of the clam........when you cut these the shell will open easily, showing all the clam parts (see pic)


Once you have these muscles cut, you can pretty much just grab the bulk of the clam opposite the neck end and pull, it will come off of the shell.



Here is what you have left....all the soft parts of the clam



Now its time to separate the neck--the part used for strips, from the rest of the meaty parts--ground for chowder or clam fritters. You can just cut down at the base of the neck.....the brown stringy stuff you see is the membrane that lines the outside edge of the clam on the shell. Peel this membrane off and discard if you havent already done so



Its hard to explain in pictures, but you will see meaty white parts and other parts that obviously are not edible. You want to remove the light brown colored gills (feathery in appearance).



You can separate the top part around the neck (not the neck itself) from the bottom part that has the insides and the digger. Also the 2 adductor muscles will look like small scallops. I usually cut the digger near the base and clean out the goop The rest in the bottom part I discard.

When finished you will have the neck, the 'collar' that was near the top of the neck and some meaty parts attached, the cleaned digger and the 2 adductor muscles. Everything but the neck itself I grind up.



Now to clean the neck, from the soaking you have done, the brown skin should just peel off. Sometimes the skin is dark, sometimes it is light colored. Usually there will be some sand on it around the end that went into the shell.
Peel the skin off, if some parts give you a hard time, use a knive and scrape off.



Your neck when cleaned, should look like this



Cut off the last 1/2-1" of the tip of the neck (siphon end), it is black-bluish in color and doesnt make good eats.
Now its time to get out your kitchen shears. As the neck has 2 chambers in it (bi-valves remember), you will need to cut on one side



and continue cutting, until you have 'butterflied' out your clam neck.



Your necks are ready to be pounded a few times and cut up and fried. Your body pieces are ready to be ground up and used for chowder of clam fritters. Hope this helps some people.....its not rocket science and after you do a few, you will be a master! :dance:

good job, phil.
one thing i might add for cleaning the neck is to use boiling water.  dipping the neck into boiling water for 2-4 second and then cooling it in the cold water makes the skin peeling a lot easier.  some people prefer freezing and thawing the neck for skin peeling, but for me that takes too long.  i prefer to eat as soon as possible while the meat is fresh.
also for those who like sashimi, you will love the neck portion of the clam!!!

one thing i might add for cleaning the neck is to use boiling water.  dipping the neck into boiling water for 2-4 second and then cool it in the cold water makes the skin peeling a lot easier. 

Same principle:
http://www.wimp.com/peelpotato/

Nice job Phil. Definitely some things I need to lear this year.

Nice job on the tutorial. I second the freezing technique. If you don't need to eat them right away, it works better than soaking, plus it loosens up the meat.

I'm usually too tired to eat them the same night anyway, so tossing them in the freezer for the night is fine by me.

bookmarking this one, many thanks for the tutorial!