In this video, we show you how to harvest razor clams using a pump sprayer filled with a high-salinity solution. The video was filmed on Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in the winter of 2024.
We can find no written documentation of when the practice originated and who can claim credit for it, although we did find one article that stated the practice originated in Ireland. If this is indeed true, the technique was derived within the last 46 years since Atlantic razor clams are not native to Europe; the first documented find there was in 1978. In Massachusetts, commercial harvest grew from 137,000 pounds in 2008, to 728,000 pounds in 2018, which could suggest that the technique became common practice sometime within the past decade.
This video also shows you how prepare one of Andy’s favorite ways to prepare razor clams using the following recipe:
Pasta with Razor Clams and Mushrooms
(Serves 2-4)
- 20 razor clams (1 cup of chopped meat)
- 1 10-ounce package fresh pasta
- 1½ cups baby bella mushrooms, sliced
- 2 tablespoons garlic, diced
- 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Pinch of RPFs (red pepper flakes)
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/3 cup light cream
- 1/3 cup clam broth
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- Black pepper
- Fresh parsley, chopped
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Wash the clams thoroughly under cold water and then steam them for 1 minute, reserving the broth. Allow to cool and shuck out the meat—a clam knife comes in handy for this. (I removed the gnarly-looking black belly portions and discarded them.) Cut the clams into thin strips.
- Add two tablespoons olive oil to a large skillet and place it over medium heat. Add a pinch of red pepper flakes, then sauté the mushrooms for about five minutes until they release their liquid. Add the garlic and cook for one minute. Add the butter and wine, then cook for about five minutes until the wine is reduced. Turn the heat to low, and season with salt and pepper.
- Meanwhile, cook the pasta.
- Now, add the oregano and chopped clams, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about three minutes. Stir in the cream and clam broth, then toss in the cooked pasta. Give it a taste and season with more salt and/or pepper if needed.
- Plate and top it off with Parmesan, then garnish with fresh parsley. Bon Appétit!
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WATCH: Plunging for Steamer (Soft Shell) Clams | Living Off the Land and Sea – Ep. 1
They are good eaten raw. Just pull the foot out and rinse,not sandy at all and a little hot horseradish and some tequila
Will this work with soft shell clams too?
Charlie, that’s a great idea! Hot horseradish and tequila. I would add some lemon juice. Razors are sweet and delicious. The salt method for getting them works well as I have used it. It’s funny to look behind you and see a razor popping up out of the sand. I’m glad to use the salt method as the old way of digging them was dangerous to my fingers. They don’t call these clams “razors” for no reason. When threatened, these clams move fast down into their holes, not like the other local clams we have. And their holes are deep and curved. If you attack them with a normal steamer rake by forking straight down into their hole, you will probably miss them, or cut them in half. My old method was to find their hole, sink the steamer rake in as far as possible, then quickly pull up the sand. If lucky, the clam was taken by surprise and the top of it was exposed. Whereupon I would quick as lightning grab the top of the clam with one right hand to keep it from slipping down its hole. With my other hand I would dig out the sand around the clam until it was fully exposed, then pull it out. As you might imagine, the mixture of “hand” with “razor” could be a dangerous and bloody proposition. I don’t know how many times I’ve sliced my fingers or hand trying to catch razor clams, but its been plenty. OUCH! The razor clam has a big foot that is well suited to slithering down its hole quickly. Sometimes the clam, if its a big one, can put up quite a fight while you are trying to remove the sand from around it. Patience helped. I’ve pulled on the clam too early or too hard and pulled the shell right off the clam! Leaving the body in the hole covered with sand. So the salt water method has saved my fingers from clam cuts. And its quicker. Actually, the first razor clam I ever caught was with my mother when we were in Oregon. She really wanted to catch some clams; an animal that does not exist in Indiana, where we were from. To catch the low tide, we had to be on the beach at 6AM. We had absolutely no idea of what we were doing. A cold wind was ripping off the ocean and I was freezing. The only clamming “tool” we had was a shovel. So we spent hours freezing on the beach looking for holes. Every time we found a hole and used the shovel – nothing. Finally we struck pay sand and caught a clam – well, it was really half a clam. We had cut it in half with the shovel. That was it for me. After hours of this nonsense we quit “clamming”. Mom was OK – at least a half clam was better than no clam at all. I was frozen. She had her clamming experience and a story to tell when she went back to the office in Indiana. After the ridiculous clamming experience, I thought : “This clamming stuff is for the birds. I’ll just get clams at the grocery store.” Little did I know, 15 years later I would be living in Massachusetts, going to the Cape, and filling a clam basket with steamers and quahogs. But that’s another story.
Another great tool is a clam gun…. works like a charm, and requires no solutions, salt/water mixing, sprayers, flagging holes, or anything. the clam guns can work on steamers as well as razors. and it would be fine for quahogs and cherry stones well. you don’t need the real expensive kind either – like Murph’s. get a medium grade stainless one so it lasts a long time – and with a vent tube built in. I got one for about $150, and it saves my back, fingers, time, and cheaper in the long run than buying sprayers and salt and all that.
Don’t think clam guns are legal to use on cape. At least not recreationally.