Ingredients
Clam
- 400 ggiant clam adductor muscle and mantle, from a farmed or legally harvested source
Raw dressing
- juice of 4 limes
- 1onion, finely sliced
- 1chilli, sliced
- salt
- 100 mlcoconut cream
Grilled
- 2 tbspsoy sauce
- 2 clovesgarlic, crushed
- 30 gbutter
Directions
- Rinse everything in clean seawater or well-salted water. For the raw preparation, slice the adductor across the grain into thin coins.
- Slice across the grain rather than along it. Dress the slices with lime juice, sliced onion, chilli and salt, and let them sit for 10 minutes.
- Fold in the coconut cream at the last moment and serve cold. For the grilled preparation, leave the muscle whole or halve it, brush it with the soy, garlic and butter, and grill over coals for 3 to 4 minutes a side.
- Grill it fast and hot. Giant clam muscle passes from tender to rubber inside about a minute of overcooking.
Technique
- Eating it raw depends entirely on clean water. Clams are filter feeders and concentrate whatever the lagoon holds, so raw preparation is for known clean sources only.
- Farmed clams are increasingly the norm and take pressure off wild beds that were badly depleted across the Pacific.
- On the reef it is often eaten within minutes of opening, with nothing but a squeeze of lime.
Substitutions
- Large scallop muscle, which behaves very similarly and takes the same treatment.
- Farmed Tridacna from a Pacific hatchery in place of wild-caught.
Variations
- With coconut cream and grated cucumber, closer to a Pacific kokoda.
- Chopped into a chowder with taro and coconut milk.
- Dried in strips in the sun and kept for the lean season.
History
Harvested from Marshallese lagoons for generations and now also farmed to relieve pressure on wild beds.
Frequently asked questions
What is Giant Clam?
Giant Clam is a main from Marshall Islands: sweet clam muscle eaten raw with lime or grilled in the shell. Harvested from Marshallese lagoons for generations and now also farmed to relieve pressure on wild beds.
How long does Giant Clam take to make?
Giant Clam takes 30 min of preparation and 10 min of cooking. The recipe makes 4 servings. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Giant Clam?
Yes, within limits. Large scallop muscle, which behaves very similarly and takes the same treatment. Farmed Tridacna from a Pacific hatchery in place of wild-caught.
What is the most important thing to get right in Giant Clam?
Slice across the grain rather than along it. Dress the slices with lime juice, sliced onion, chilli and salt, and let them sit for 10 minutes.
