Hokkigai
北寄貝 hokkigai · surf clam · mactre

Videos: 9-5

Buying / identifying

Shucking

  1. Scrub the shells thoroughly with a brush. Assume bacteria are there.video 9-5
  2. Use a kaimuki (shucking knife). The shell looks fully closed but is always open at the suikan (siphon) — insert there.video 9-5
  3. Keep the knife pressed firmly along the shell and run it along one side to detach it.video 9-5
  4. Flip over and detach the himo (mantle frill).video 9-5
  5. There are two kaibashira (adductors). Run the knife along both shells at the adductors so they come out clean, unbroken.video 9-5

Separating meat, himo, adductors

  1. Siphon on the right. Cut free the part behind the siphon, go right around in a circle — two cuts divide meat from himo.video 9-5
  2. Meat: find the small protrusion; insert the knife there and work around the edge to open the meat in half. Open it — don't detach it.video 9-5
  3. Put the blade at the boundary between kimo (viscera) and meat and scrape off just the brown part, without shaving meat. Flip and remove the dirty part on the other side too.video 9-5
  4. Cut off the two adductors with the knife and clean them up.video 9-5
  5. Himo: open it left and right. There is a thin membrane on both sides — put the knife edge at its boundary with the himo and cut it away; it's slightly rounded, so cut in a curve. Same on the other side. The sac is not needed.video 9-5
  6. Cut off the siphon part in a rounded shape; finally insert the kissaki (knife tip) into the siphon opening and cut one side so it opens out flat.video 9-5

Blanching — shimofuri

  1. Opened meat: about 3 s through boiling water, then straight into ice water.video 9-5
  2. Adductors and himo likewise, about 3 s. Chill in ice water.video 9-5

Final cleaning

  1. Dry well. Paper towel is fine.video 9-5
  2. Meat: flip it and check no viscera is left. Dirt collects along the vertical groove and any remaining brown part — remove it.video 9-5
  3. Himo: slime around the siphon comes off more easily after blanching — pull downward from the slimy part and the string-like dirt comes away.video 9-5
  4. Sand collects in the siphon: always check.video 9-5
  5. Adductors: trim off any remaining dirt.video 9-5

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