So I was at the grocery store the other day and saw there was Geoduck for sale, I've never tasted one before so I decided to get one
So basically this thing is just a giant clam, and since it is still alive I want to taste it raw first before I do anything to it.
First I need to open it, so I just separated the shell from the clam
Then I separate the intestines from the meat. There is a layer of skin that needs to be removed from the syphon. This is done by blanching the syphon in salt water for a few seconds to remove the skin.
I sliced the syphon thin and tasted it, it was very sweet, crunchy and salty like the sea. Tastes much like most clams but once you get to the thicker part of the syphon and to the back of the clam it tastes of an oyster. A lot stronger more flavour, and less texture almost like soft abalone.
I decided I could make a simple ceviche with the raw syphon meat
It has avocado, red onion, red pepper, lemon zest and a little juice some pepper and just a little bit of salt.
I found the avocado brought nice richness to the sweet, salty and crunchy syphon meat and the lemon zest gives it good flavour. I didn't not want to add too much lemon juice because I want the geoduck to be as raw as possible.
I chopped up the mantle part into bigger chunks and decided to just lightly fry it.
The fried mantle pieces were done with a little eggs wash and flour, and seasoned with pepper and just a little salt, because the clam is already naturally salty. I just shallow fried the pieces until crispy and golden. The taste is a lot like a fried oyster very oceanic.
I also decided to fry the organs just out of curiosity. They were maybe the best part, in my opinion. Extremely strong in flavour raw, tastes briny, almost creamy alot like sea urchant. Very soft flesh, like the softest scallop. When they were fried the flavour was a little softened but still very good, again resembled oyster but with a more oceanic and umami taste.
In conclusion it was quite an amazing experience. I've never butchered an animal like this before, it was a great learning experience. I also don't think I've experienced an animal with so any different textures and flavours before; crush, soft, salty, sweet. The textural differences through the animal were very interesting. I will deffinantly be using this clam again.
