May 6, 2017

Steamed Baby Geoduck on Vermicelli 蒸象拔蚌

Steamed, Baby, Geoduck, Vermicelli, recipe, elephant trunk clam, clam, seafood, chinese,  蒸象拔蚌

What luck for those of us in Hong Kong to live next the the sea!  The weather's been so nice lately that we have been making a point of making time to go the wet market more and searching out the fresh seafood specials that are just waiting to be discovered.  

Our latest find are these humble looking bivalves that, to be honest, we passed by many a time before discovering that they were a species of the fabulous geoduck or 象拔蚌, that weird and very expensive clam with the huge long protruding elephant trunk.  Have you ever tried the geoduck?  It's divinely yummilicious sliced thinly and served raw.


This is the magnificent geoduck in all it's glory.  Specially this is the Pacific Geoduck, or the Panopea generosa.  In Chinese it is called the 象拔蚌, or 北美大蛤, or the 女神蛤.   The last Chinese name, 女神蛤, translates as 'Goddess Clams'.  Totally awesome name!

Steamed, Baby, Geoduck, Vermicelli, recipe, elephant trunk clam, clam, seafood, chinese,  蒸象拔蚌

This it what we discovered at the wet market, the Deepwater Clam or New Zealand Geoduck, also know as the Panopea Zelandica.  I just like to call it Baby Geoduck.  As you can see its got the protruding elephant trunk but is much, much, much smaller than its cousin above whose trunk can grow to as long as 6 feet!  

We weren't sure how such a small geoduck would taste.  The large geoducks are best raw and eaten as sashimi or just barely cooked, otherwise they can become chewy in texture.  Well, either these baby clams would be fabulous or it would be a bust.  Just had to try it to find out...

Steamed, Baby, Geoduck, Vermicelli, recipe, elephant trunk clam, clam, seafood, chinese,  蒸象拔蚌

The nice lady at the wet market seafood counter cleaned the clams for us, stripping out the intestines and the skin covering the trunks with one deft flick of her knife.  At home we just rinsed them well under running water to remove any remaining grit.

Steamed, Baby, Geoduck, Vermicelli, recipe, elephant trunk clam, clam, seafood, chinese,  蒸象拔蚌

We decided to simply steam these Baby Geoducks in a traditional Chinese manner, nestled right in its own shell on a bed of vermicelli 粉絲 to soak up the cooking juices of the geoduck, and sprinkled with chopped garlic and spring onions to bring out the sea fresh flavors.  UMMM...I love this method of cooking seafood.  Easy and simple, calculated to bring out the best of the fresh flavor of the seafood itself.

A couple of steamy minutes later, the baby geoducks were ready to eat!  And, oh my gosh, these babies sure were tasty!   A lovely tender flesh, slightly chewy, a really fresh sea sweet taste!  The best clams I have ever had, bar the bigger cousin geoduck of course.  I'm so glad that we took a chance on these!  Way better, in my humble opinion, than most other clams.  

And it's super cheap compared to the big guys, so if you can find these baby geoducks, try 'em out, they're really, really superliciously tasty!

Steamed, Baby, Geoduck, Vermicelli, recipe, elephant trunk clam, clam, seafood, chinese,  蒸象拔蚌
Steamed Baby Geoduck on Vermicelli
蒸象拔蚌
Prep time: 15 mins   Cook time: 5 mins   

Ingredients:

  • 9-10 fresh baby geoducks, 象拔蚌
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1/4 cup spring onions, cut to rounds
  • 1 package Chinese vermicelli noodles 粉絲 (also know as green bean thread, glass noodles or mung bean threads)
  • 3 tbsp fresh oil

Directions:

Have your seafood vendor open the shells, remove the intestines and peel the skin off the trunk of the baby geoduck clams.

Soak the glass noodles in warm water to cover for 15 minutes in a large bowl until soft, then drain.

Clean the geoduck in running water, getting rid of any grit.  Detach the meat from the shell by using a spoon or knife to slide against the shell underneath the geoduck to slice through the side muscle that attaches the geoduck to the shell.  Arrange the open shells on the steaming plate.  

Twirl a small handful of the vermicelli onto each pair of shells.  Dribble 1 tbsp oil over the beds of vermicelli.  Replace geoducks on top.  Sprinkle each geoduck generously with chopped garlic.  

Steam in bamboo steamer over high heat for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and immediately sprinkle spring onion rounds over the geoduck.  

Heat remaining 2 tbsp oil over high heat until the oil smokes.  Carefully (the oil will spit and sizzle) dribble the hot oil over each geoduck to lightly cooking the spring onions and add a fragrant smoothness overall.  

Serve hot with a small dipping saucer of your finest soy sauce or just eat it plain without anything like we did.  Enjoy!

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