James Beard's New Fish Cookery (37 page)

Abalone

This univalve, native to the waters of California, has been popular for many years among the Chinese-Americans of the Far West, who dried and canned it in large quantities. Now that other Americans have learned to appreciate it, the supply is very small. No fresh abalone can be purchased outside California, but small amounts of canned abalone, including some imported from Mexico, are available in certain Eastern shops.

The fresh abalone meat needs tenderizing before cooking. Most of that bought in California markets is ready to use; if it has not been tenderized, you must soften the meat by pounding with a mallet. Never overcook abalone. It will be tough and disappointing.

ABALONE SAUTÉ

Have the abalone sliced thin and tenderized. Melt butter in a skillet and cook the fish for 45 to 55 seconds, turning once. Salt and pepper to taste.

NOTE
: Please remember that the Canadian cooking theory does not apply when cooking shellfish, mollusks, or crustaceans.

BREADED ABALONE

Bread slices of abalone in flour, then dip them in eggs beaten with water, and roll them in crumbs. Sauté in butter as in the recipe above.

FRIED ABALONE

Slice and tenderize abalone and cut into thin strips. Heat fat or oil in a deep fryer to 375°. Dip the pieces of abalone into beer batter for frying (page 99) and fry until delicately browned. Salt and pepper to taste.

ABALONE CHOWDER

This is made in the same way you make clam chowder (pages 55–57) except that the abalone is cooked in chicken broth until tender and then ground. The ground abalone is added to the potatoes while they are cooking.

STUFFED ABALONE

From Helen Evans Brown’s
West Coast Cook Book.

For each serving:

1 lobster tail, sliced

2 tablespoons crabmeat

3 or 4 shrimp

Butter

1 abalone steak

Sauce béchamel (page 23)

Sauté the lobster tail, crabmeat, and shrimp in butter for 2 or 3 minutes. Sauté the abalone steaks lightly for about 45 seconds, or even less. Brush the cooked steak with sauce béchamel flavored with sherry. Dip the shellfish in the sauce and place on top of the abalone. Roll each steak and fasten with a toothpick. Brush with more sauce and run under the broiler to brown lightly.

CANNED ABALONE, CHINESE STYLE

4 or 5 large Chinese black mushrooms

1 cup chicken stock

1-pound can of abalone

5 water chestnuts, sliced

4 green onions, split and cut into 1-inch lengths

1/2 cup sliced celery

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon sherry

2 tablespoons cornstarch

Soak the mushrooms in water for 2 or 3 hours, then cut them into strips. In a cup of chicken stock with the juice from the canned abalone, simmer the water chestnuts, the onions, and the celery. After 5 minutes, add the sliced abalone, soy sauce, and sherry. Mix the cornstarch with 2 tablespoons of water and stir it in. Stir until the sauce is thickened. Serve with rice.

This will serve 4 to 10 people, depending on whether it’s a Chinese or American meal.

Clams

We in America are fonder of clams than are the people of other nations. And fortunately for us, our shoreline is well supplied with them.

Clams come in a variety that is often confusing to the inlander. Two main species make up the bulk of East Coast clamming — the soft or long-necked clam (
Mya arenaria
) and the hard or little-necked clam (
Venus mercenaria
). Many New Englanders will assure you that the soft clam is the only “real” or “true” clam. The exclusiveness of this claim may possibly be attributed to the fact that
Mya
is abundant north of Cape Cod but scarce to the south. New Englanders refer to the hard clam by its Indian name, quahog, while other Easterners more often call it the “littleneck” or “round clam.” The species begins to be abundant south of the Cape, is especially plentiful on the North Carolina and Florida shores, and occurs all the way to Texas.

The Pacific Coast has some thirty varieties of clams, dominated by the razor clam, the famous Pismo clam, and the large mud clam. There is also that odd, gargantuan member of the clam family called the geoduck, goeduck, or gweduc (pronounced
gooey-duck
). It has an excellent flavor but, sad to say, is not generally obtainable in the markets.

Like the razor clam, New England’s soft clam is a tide-flat dweller with a long tubelike siphon. It is a deep burrower and is taken by digging. The hard or littlenecked variety generally lives in deeper water, is not so active in its burrowing, and is taken by long-handled rakes or tongs and by dredging.

In my opinion, the razor clam — correctly prepared — is unsurpassed in flavor and texture. When I was a child and living near the Oregon coast, I used to dig them by the bucketful in the early morning when the tide was out. My mother sautéed them in butter, cooked them as delicately light fritters, or made them into magnificent chowder. You may now buy the Pacific Coast razor clam, minced, in cans. The canned variety is fine for soups and soufflés and for the clam appetizer that is so widely popular these days.

In the East, the distinct flavor of the hard clam or quahog makes it the preferred ingredient in Boston clam chowder and in that entirely dissimilar soup — not so highly regarded by connoisseurs — Manhattan clam chowder. Several regional varieties of clams are popular on the half shell, but perhaps the best known is the “cherrystone,” which is actually a small quahog. Clams served on the half shell must be very cold. Care should be taken when they are opened that no drop of the wonderful juice is lost, and anyone who does not drink the juice from the shells is losing half the enjoyment of eating clams. Raw clams are usually served with cocktail sauce, which in my opinion really ruins their delicate flavor. I prefer lemon juice and a little freshly ground pepper or horseradish. Others insist that lime juice is far better with clams than lemon.

CLAM APPETIZERS

1 clove garlic, mashed

7-ounce can minced clams

1/4 pound cream cheese

Sour cream

Parsley

Mix the garlic with the clams, cream cheese, and enough sour cream to thin it down for dunking. Taste for seasoning and add chopped parsley.

This makes an excellent dunk for crisp raw vegetables. It is also good with bread sticks or very small corn sticks.

VARIATIONS

1. Try a spread instead of a dunk. Drain the clams and work them into the cream cheese. Then add just enough of the clam juice to make a smooth spread. Flavor with a little grated onion, salt, and pepper.

2. Drain the clams and mix with cottage cheese and a dash of Worcestershire sauce.

3. Drain the clams, mix with sour cream, a tablespoon of chopped fresh dill, a tablespoon of chopped parsley, a little onion juice, and salt and pepper. You may add some cream cheese to this to make a stiffer paste, if you prefer.

4. Mince tiny white pickled onions and combine with cream cheese and minced clams, drained. Salt and pepper to taste.

CLAM CHOWDER

See pages 55–57.

CLAM SOUP

This may be made with any type of clam. It is best, to my taste, with either littlenecks (known as quahogs in New England) or razor clams.

2 cups milk

1 cup minced clams

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons butter

Paprika

Scald the milk. Grind the clams and save their liquor. Beat the egg yolks with the cream, stir them into the clams and clam juice, and add to the hot milk. Continue stirring over low heat until the clams are just heated through and the cream and egg yolks well blended in. Correct the seasoning and serve in small bowls with a lump of butter and a dash of paprika added at the last minute.

STEAMED CLAMS

For this popular dish, figure an average of 20 clams per person. You may increase or decrease this amount according to the appetites of the diners. Place the clams, which have been thoroughly scrubbed, in a large kettle with 1/2 inch of salt water at the bottom. Cover the kettle tightly and steam just until the clams open. This should take from 6 to 10 minutes. Discard any clams that do not open. Serve at once with large bowls of melted butter and cups of the broth. (Taste the broth for seasoning.)

STEAMED CLAMS À LA MARINIÉRE

This recipe is usually used for preparing mussels, but clams may be prepared in any way that you cook mussels.

6 to 7 dozen clams

1 large onion, chopped

Parsley

Thyme

Bay leaf

1 cup (approximatey) white wine

6 tablespoons butter

Freshly ground black pepper

Scrub the clams well and put them in a large kettle with the onion, parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. Add the wine and 4 tablespoons of the butter; grind a little pepper over all. Cover tightly and steam until the clams open. Discard any that do not open. Remove the clams to a large serving dish or to individual serving dishes. Put the sauce through a fine sieve, taste it for seasoning, and reheat, adding the remaining 2 tablespoons butter and a little chopped parsley. Pour this sauce over the clams.

VARIATIONS

1. Some people like 2 or 3 cloves of garlic chopped and added to the mixture in the pan.

2. If you like a thicker sauce, stir a half cup of sauce velouté (page 21) into the broth after it has been strained.

STEAMED CLAMS ON TOAST

2 dozen steamed clams (page 358)

4 slices bread

1/2 cup butter

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

4 tablespoons chopped parsley

Lemon wedges

Remove the steamed clams from their shells. Check the broth for salt. Toast the bread and trim the crusts. Melt the butter with the garlic and parsley, and proceed as in the recipe for steamed clams à la marinière. Arrange the clams on the hot toast, pour some of the sauce over them, and serve at once with additional sauce and lemon wedges.

STUFFED CLAMS

24 steamed clams (page 358)

1 tablespoon each chopped onion, parsley, tarragon

1/2 cup buttered crumbs

1/4 cup thick béchamel (page 23)

1 tablespoon sherry

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Cayenne pepper

Remove the steamed clams from their shells. Chop very fine and combine with the seasonings, crumbs, and just enough béchamel sauce to bind them. Add the sherry, salt, pepper, and a few grains of cayenne. Fill the clam shells with this mixture, dot with butter and crumbs, and brown very quickly under the broiler.

NOTE
: For certain clam, oyster, and other seafood dishes in the shell, it is a good idea to have some inexpensive pie plates or cake pans which you can fill with rock salt. Heat the pan filled with salt, and place the clams in their shells on the hot salt. Then return the pans to the oven or under the broiler. Serve the food right in the salt-filled pans. The salt retains the heat and keeps the seafood hot.

VARIATIONS

1. Steam clams as for clams marinière. Reduce the liquid to 1/3 cup. Add 1/3 cup heavy sauce velouté (page 21). Season with cayenne and chopped parsley. Add chopped clams and stuff the mixture into the shells. Top with buttered crumbs and small cubes of bacon. Bake at 400° until the bacon is crisp.

2. Use 24 clams on the half shell. Sprinkle with chopped chives, parsley, and garlic. Top with bacon. Bake in a 425° oven until the bacon is crisp.

3. Top 24 clams on the half shell with a lump of anchovy butter, made by creaming together 1/2 cup butter with 2 or 3 teaspoons finely chopped anchovies and 1 teaspoon finely chopped onion. Sprinkle with buttered crumbs and broil for 3 or 4 minutes.

4. Use 24 clams on the half shell. Combine 1 cup bread crumbs with the clam liquor, 1/3 cup white wine, 1 tablespoon each chopped onion, parsley, and green pepper. Salt and pepper to taste. Cover the clams with this mixture, pour melted butter over it, and sprinkle with grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 400° until nicely browned.

CLAM HASH

During the summer months when we lived at the shore near the mouth of the Columbia River, we used to feast almost daily on clams, and we ate them in many different ways. Clam hash was one of the favorites, and although it was never made the same way twice, it always tasted ambrosial. This is an approximation of it:

6 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon finely minced onion

11/2 cups finely diced cooked potatoes

11/2 to 2 cups minced clams

Salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Nutmeg

4 egg yolks

4 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

6 tablespoons heavy cream

Melt the butter in a heavy skillet and cook the onion until it is just transparent. Add the finely diced potatoes and the clams and press them down with a spatula. Salt and pepper lightly and add a few flecks of nutmeg. Let the hash cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat and stir with a fork or spatula, mixing in some of the crust which forms on the bottom. Press down again. Beat the egg yolks well; combine with the grated cheese and cream. Pour this over the hash very gently, and cover tightly for a few minutes until the egg is set.

CLAM FRITTERS

2 eggs, separated

1 cup minced clams (fresh
or
canned

1 cup cracker crumbs
or
toasted bread crumbs

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Few grains cayenne pepper

Milk
or
clam juice

Butter
or
oil

Beat the egg yolks until light and lemon-colored. Gradually add the clams, crumbs, and seasonings. Add enough liquid — clam juice or milk — to make a rather heavy batter. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites. Drop the batter by spoonfuls into hot butter or oil and sauté 3 or 4 minutes, turning once.

VARIATIONS

1. Beat 2 eggs until light. Add 1 cup mixed milk and clam juice, and 3/4 cup flour sifted with 1 teaspoon baking powder. Stir in 1 cup minced clams and season with salt and pepper. Drop by spoonfuls into hot butter or oil and sauté for 4 or 5 minutes, turning once.