Razor Clams.. for breakfast?

[lutzzz]

Follow-up to "What's for Dinner Sunday"

.. the fog lifted enough to sail Sunday and we dropped two commercial size crab pots at my "secret spot" and caught over our limit and tossed the undersize, females, and extras back While waiting, we sailed over to my friend's Penn Cove mussel beds (much smaller, succulent sweet, mussels not found on the East Coast), picked up about 6 dozen mussels.. by that time, the weather turned unfriendly so we moored in a little "port" town for the night.

Monday morning we wandered down the dock and not far up the hill to a little "Mom & Pop" shack/restaurant for breakfast. I grew up in little logging/fishing town in Oregon and we ALWAYS had half a plate full of hashbrowns fried in bacon or duck grease with any breakfast.. the "continental breakfast" just isn't "breakfast".. it's a "snack"... So these small town restaurants always have a great greasy breakfast with plenty of hash browns.

On the menu were RAZOR CLAMS and Eggs... I had to read it twice.. one of my most favorite seafood is fried razor clams... but for breakfast???? That was a new one to me.. but I had to try it...

Razor Clams are kinda like Calamari... you either cook them 2 minutes or 2 hours,, in between that they are shoe leather.. but the cook had made the clams "holy" (he pounded the hell out of them), were very slightly seasoned floured before frying, and not overcooked.. it was delicious... the most unusual breakfast I've had in a long time... or ever

The Crab and mussels are still alive and ready for dinner tonight.

 

[buckytom]

mmmmmmm, sounds good lutzzz, that's my kinda brekkie.

how are you gonna make the crabs and mussels?

 

[lutzzz]

bucky... I practice the KISS principle re seafood to be sure I only "enhance" and never "cover-up" the inherent flavors they have... ya know "keep it simple .... in Oregon where I grew up, we had a TON of Dungeness Crab too.. so I've cooked/eaten my share of the "tons" of them...

The ONE thing I've noticed over the years, is that most commercial cookers cut way back on the salt they use to boil the crabs... someone said it was a cost-cutting measure, but salt it CHEAP.. so I doubt that...

The jury is still out as to whether the Dungeness Crab should be cooked "uncleaned" or "cleaned"... I've tried them both ways and I'm not sure which I prefer, even now. It's easier to cook them, then clean them... and many claim the flavor is better that way.

They must be boiled in their shell in boiling salt water.. period, nothing else added...between 10-15 minutes depending on the size of your crab, but never over 15 minutes... then cleaned and eaten warm with perhaps melted lemon butter.. or whatever "gourmet" additions some may prefer.. I keep it simple and just use clarified butter as a dip.

If the crab are allowed to cool, they can be "steamed" to heat them up, and then eaten the same as if they just came out of the pot.

For mussels, typically we'll saute in olive oil some diced onion, celery, and plenty of fresh garlic in the pot, then add about a cup of a decent drinkable white wine, toss in the mussels and steam JUST until the shells open,, very important.. they overcook rapidly and can become tough too.

Strain your broth and serve it as a dipping sauce on the side.. some add heavy cream and reduce the sauce (that's good too)... I sometimes thicken the sauce with a chunk of butter... and also serve a maelted "clarified" butter as a second dipping option.

But there are hundreds of preferences... that's just kinda how I usually do it.

 

[GB]

I am of the school of thought that anything can be eaten for breakfast. Why should there be rules that say what is a breakfast food and what is a dinner food. Food is food and if your stomach can handle it then go for it. Your breakfast sounds delicious to me

 

[Psiguyy]

For breakfast, I like my seafood smoked. If it's not smoked, the only seafood I enjoy for breakfast is caviar.

 

[kitchenelf]

I eat sushi for breakfast so this looks pretty good for me - LOL psiguy - good call on your breakfast preferences!!!!!

 

[norgeskog]

Well lutzzz, guess with a breakfast like this it is two things in one - eat and shave at the same time

 

[kitchenelf]

:roll: :P

 

[Psiguyy]

I eat sushi for breakfast so this looks pretty good for me - LOL psiguy - good call on your breakfast preferences!!!!!

Caviar is especially good on egg dishes.