Help please!! Razor clams for clam chowder soup.

[Disneyland1084]

This will be the first time I've ever made clam chowder soup from scratch. I found a recipe that calls for 1 pound of frozen razor clams. If for some reason I can't find it at the store (I can go to an Asian market, I get it) can I use any clams, canned or fresh intead?

 

[TwoMisfits]

Yes, you can. Just remember, canned clams are fully cooked and usually salted, so watch the cook time and the salt level of your dish (ie - you probably want to add them no more than 5 minutes before you serve it)...

If you want clam flavor through the dish (and the soup doesn't already include it), you may want to add a bottle of clam broth/juice to replace some of the fluid in the dish...since your clam cook time will be so low...

 

[NYCgrrl]

This will be the first time I've ever made clam chowder soup from scratch. I found a recipe that calls for 1 pound of frozen razor clams. If for some reason I can't find it at the store (I can go to an Asian market, I get it) can I use any clams, canned or fresh intead?

I’ve never made clam chowder with anything but quahogs or cherrystones but dont think the taste of razorbacks are so different that subbing will change the flavor profile. I say go for it!

 

[easyas123]

Probably not what you want to hear, but my boys & husband use razor clams as bait and buy them in bulk from the bait places - I think they come frozen??? Not sure where you are located, but maybe you can find them there?

 

[tasha99]

Go for it! Depending on where you live, my Costco sells fresh razor clams in a 1 pound package in the summer. I think that might be a pacific northwest thing, though. The packaging is so cool--there's a sensor that turns from green to red to detect some sort of toxin that appears as fresh clams age.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Many stores have containers of fresh shelled clams in the seafood section.
I have used the canned kind for spaghetti and clam sauce to add more clams to the Rienzi clam sauce, but I think they are very very salty and a bit rubbery so I suspect they could ruin a soup like this. Might not, depends on your taste.

 

[tvguy]

I didn't think razor clams were legal to sell anymore due to their high level of domoic acid.

 

[RangerPooh]

We used to live on the WA coast and would go razor clam digging (on the listed dates by fish and wildlife). DH would make chowder from them. So it's doable.

 

[tasha99]

I didn't think razor clams were legal to sell anymore due to their high level of domoic acid.

That can't be true because they're available to buy online. Where I am, they'll issue warnings for clammers at the coast, but they're temporary. Or maybe there are regional bans, idk. I see them in stores here seasonally, and could buy them from a few places online for about $40/lb now (much higher than costco's typical $15/lb pre-inflation.)

 

[tvguy]

That can't be true because they're available to buy online. Where I am, they'll issue warnings for clammers at the coast, but they're temporary. Or maybe there are regional bans, idk. I see them in stores here seasonally, and could buy them from a few places online for about $40/lb now (much higher than costco's typical $15/lb pre-inflation.)

If you Google it you will find the information. Current advisor is not to eat more than 15 razor clams a month. It certainly could be just here on the west coast.

 

[tasha99]

If you Google it you will find the information. Current advisor is not to eat more than 15 razor clams a month. It certainly could be just here on the west coast.

Recommendations for no more than 15 clams per month is a lot different from not legal to sell at all, though. I used to buy a pound a year in the summer for chowder. Good to know to limit it, though. I have one adult kid who is a chowder fiend, so I could see him eating a lot of it unknowingly.

 

[BrianL]

Is this what you mean by Razor Clam?

 

[tvguy]

Recommendations for no more than 15 clams per month is a lot different from not legal to sell at all, though. I used to buy a pound a year in the summer for chowder. Good to know to limit it, though. I have one adult kid who is a chowder fiend, so I could see him eating a lot of it unknowingly.

I can't keep track of all the restrictions on when you're not supposed to eat certain shellfish here.