Razor Clam, before Dinner

Thanks.

Very eye catching photo . The tones are excellent

I like the DOF, which focuses on the more organic part and leaves intentionally OOF the sharper, namesake, part of the beast.

 

The black area at the top is distracting, though. It resonanates a bit too much with the shadow of the clam.

 

Do you cook them as well as you photograph them?

Dr. Mele, I hope I cook (and clean) them better than I photograph them. After cleaning, I usually dip them in egg and then in bread crumbs, then fry in olive oil for about 2 minutes on each side. Scraps from cleaning go into clam chowder a few days later. Razor clams are the best tasting clams in the world and fairly exciting to catch. I usually dig for them in the surf and they are often a foot of more down in the sand. There's nothing like getting knocked over by a wave while you're trying to reach down deep in a hole to grab an elusive clam.

Wonder what they should taste if treated as a Mediterranean clams. Lured out of their shell by freshwater bathing, suddenly killed in garlic-flavoured olive oil, graced by a handful of cherry tomatoes before eventually climaxing their sacrifice on religiously "al-dente" vermicelli!

Salvatore, I'd love to eat the clams you've described, sipping a nice stoney white Burgundy or even Pinot Grigio, but you're not talking about razor clams. In Oregon, they are typically 3-5 inches long (6-12 cm.) and must be ripped from their shells. They are not like other clams and really need to be removed from their shells for cooking. Also, they taste so much better than any clam you've ever eaten (and I've eaten a lot of clams!)

On Mediterranean clams, a Pinot Grigio is a good idea, and I'd tolerate a Bourgogne Aligote`, I found the latter to have a very good quality/price ration. However the day you'll try a Falanghina dei Campi Flegrei on seafood you'll not look back anymore. Once I started taking picture of food in various phases of preparation for a cookbook I never wrote. Might think of a PN folder with those a day or the other.