Tips

Tips for Choosing and Cleaning Clams, Mussels, and Oysters That Not Everyone Knows

Clams, mussels, and oysters have always been a favorite delicacy for many people. However, the process of selecting and cleaning these shellfish, removing all the sand and grit, can be quite daunting for many women.

Administrator

18 October, 2023

199

Buy:

Clams:

When buying clams, choose ones with hard and tightly closed shells. Use your hand to try separating the clams’ shells, if they easily come apart, it means the clams are dead. There are also live clams that have their mouths open. In this case, touch them with your hand, if you feel the clams moving or closing their mouths tightly, it means the clams are still fresh.

Snails:

Good snails have their mouths close to the outer edge, and when you touch them, their mouths close. Conversely, if their mouths retract deep inside, it means the snails are not good. Dead snails have a very unpleasant smell.

Cockles, mussels:

Avoid choosing shellfish with cracked, damaged, or broken shells because they are prone to bacterial contamination that is not good for health. Also, avoid buying frozen cockles or those packaged in plastic bags, as they may not be fresh or may have been treated with chemicals. The best way to check if cockles and mussels are still fresh is to touch their shells, if the shell is still alive, it will slowly close. Additionally, pay attention to the smell of cockles. Fresh cockles usually do not have a strong or fishy smell, while sea cockles may have more of a seawater smell.

Blood cockles:

Good blood cockles are medium-sized, not too big or too small. Small ones tend to shrink during cooking (especially when barbecued, small cockles can shrink into nothing), while large ones can be tough. To choose fresh cockles, pay attention to the baskets with many cockles sticking their tongues out. If you have time, you should choose each individual cockle. If the cockles close their mouths, you can still determine if they are alive or dead by smelling them. If there is a foul smell, definitely do not buy them.

Cleaning methods:

For clams and snails:

One simple way to clean clams thoroughly is to wash them with salt and chili. After buying clams, rinse them with cold water, then take a bowl of water with salt added, put 2 finely chopped chilies or chili powder into it. Then put the clams into the solution and soak them for about 1 – 2 hours, the clams will release all the sand and impurities. Then rinse them thoroughly and cook. The same method can be used for snails.

Mussels:

When buying mussels, you should soak them in rice-water or cold water with a few chopped chilies or vinegar for a few hours to let them release all the dirt in the shells before cooking (it’s best to soak them from the night before). You need to remove the “fecal sac” – where the dirt residue of the mussels is contained – to minimize the risk of toxicity for consumers.

For snails:

You can clean the mud by soaking the snails in a metal bowl with a little water, and at the same time put some metal objects such as a knife, a lip, chopsticks, spoons… into it for about 2-3 hours, when the snails smell the metal objects, they will quickly release the mud and become clean.

Alternatively, according to the habit of people in the river delta, they use rice-washing water to soak the snails bought from the market or caught from the river for about 1 – 2 hours, all the mud in the snails’ mouths will automatically come out and form into clusters of sticky substance, then you just need to rinse them with clean water and cook as usual.

To clean the blood cockles, just cut the tendon at the end of the blood cockle, then it will be easy to separate the mouth during the cooking process while keeping it closed. In fact, blood cockles need to be soaked overnight to ensure that the dirt in the shells is dissolved, then use an iron piece to scrub the cockles clean.

Taking care of your family and yourself is always the top priority for all women. Understanding this, aFamily.vn in collaboration with the brand Sharp is organizing the contest “Useful Tips for Women“. The contest aims to help women save time doing housework to have more time to fulfill their top desires.

You will have the opportunity to receive attractive and surprising gifts from the exclusive sponsor – Sharp brand.

Participate in sharing useful tips at //afamily.vn/meo-hay-cho-nang.htm