Using a Clam Shucker Knife – Top 5 Pro Tips

Jennifer Donohue, a head chef working at a restaurant in Dublin back in 2014, was awarded a €75,000 for an accident that occurred while she was shucking clams.

The chef said that the “accident was absolutely avoidable and wouldn’t have occurred had she been given the right tools for the job“.

Because she didn’t have the right tool, she, unfortunately, sustained a deep laceration on her hand which required surgery and weeks of wearing a cast.

In her claim, she said that the restaurant failed to provide her with the right tools for clam shucking and failed to provide her and other staff members with the proper training in the art of shucking clams.

This goes to show you that there is a lot that could go wrong if you attempt to shuck clams without:

• The proper clam shucking knife
• The right clam shucking skills

That is why this article is extremely important for people who delve in the art of preparing seafood from time to time. If you are going to shuck clams, you need to have the right clam shucker knife and the right skills for the job.

Also Read: How to Sharpen Butcher Knives – The Best Ways to Sharpen a Knife

Tips on How to Use a Clam Shucker Knife

Most of us indeed like to improvise every so often. You know, like when you can’t find that clam knife, for some reason but the oyster knife is staring you right in the face. You would be forgiven for thinking, “they are almost the same thing; why not?”

Unfortunately, opening a clam with an oyster knife or even a Perry knife is often a recipe for disaster. You are more likely to injure yourself than you are to successfully shuck the clam.

Here is a video telling you exactly the same thing and showing you how to shuck a clam using a clam shucker knife:

However, the thing is just because you happened to find that clam shucker knife without too much of a fuss doesn’t necessarily mean that you can now successfully shuck a clam. You still need the requisite skills to do so successfully and without slicing your hand off.

That being said, here are some practical tips on how to properly use a clam shucker knife as well as how to open a clam:

Tip 1: Clamp Down on the Clam

If you have any chance of successfully shucking clams, you need to learn how to hold it properly while getting the job done. One of the biggest mistakes most people make is that they start by holding the clam in a rather timid manner.

Don’t use just your fingers or only hold a small part of the clam – use your entire hand and tightly hold most of the clam before you begin shucking.

The idea is to hold the clam so that it won’t move or slide out of place while you are shucking. This puts you in the best position to create the right amount of leverage to pop it open.

What this means is that the majority of your hand should be covering most of the clam’s surface, and the only thing that should be moving should be the tip of your clam shucker knife.

Granted, this creates a bit of a conundrum since you could very easily cut yourself by presenting most of your hand to the knife. Here are a few tricks to help minimize that risk:

Don’t ever take your eyes off the clam, the knife, your hand and the surface on which you are running the knife.

Gradually apply force to the cutting process as opposed to using all your might at one go.

Find a way to protect your hand, you know, just in case the knife does slip despite all your precautions.

Which brings us to the next tip.

Tip 2: Invest in High-Quality Gloves for Hand Protection

Did you know that you could buy clam shucking gloves? Yes, if you intend to be shucking clams more often than the regular person then you might consider actually investing in a pair of high-quality clam shucking gloves.

However, if you aren’t going to be doing nearly as much clam shucking, then you can just use a towel in place of the gloves to protect your hands.

Here is a video showing you how to use a towel when shucking clams:

It’s always a good idea to invest in the best tool for the job, which calls for a good pair of protective clam shucking gloves. One of the best pairs is the cut-resistant “Anself Stainless Steel Mesh Gloves” and here are a few good reasons why they are worth the investment:

• These gloves are made out of 304L stainless steel which makes them both tough and extremely durable.
• Thanks to the high-grade steel used, these gloves are cut-resistant which means that you can confidently believe that you won’t be slicing through any of your fingers while wearing them.
• While the fact that they are made out steel would make you think that they are rather uncomfortable to wear and that you only have to suffer them for the duration through which you will occasionally be shucking clams, the truth is that they are rather soft and quite comfortable to wear, which makes them a joy to use.
• They have a steel strap which allows for an easy fit.

Also, they look really cool.

Tip 3: Use the Right Tool

Yes, there are instances where you might be forced to use something other than a clam knife to shuck clams. Although this is highly frowned upon and as already mentioned, a recipe for disaster, if you have no other choice, then you might want to use a table knife. Provides that it’s not too pointed and that it’s sturdy enough.

What should inform your decision on which other type of knife to use should be the design of your preferred clam shucker knife. Take a look at this 3″ Dexter-Russell S127PCP Dexter Clam Knife. Not only is it short (3″) but it’s also sturdy, and it isn’t pointed.

It has a good grip handle and is made out of high-quality carbon material. This is the kind of knife that can easily cut through the clamshell and wedge itself in there to pry it open.

Tip 4: Get Good Clams

While they might look very much alike, not all clams are created equal. The type of clams you get will determine how easy or how difficult they are to open. Your best bet is to go shopping for the best possible clams. We are talking fresh, cold water clams that have well-rounded shells.

Even so, chilled clams are much easier to shuck in general. Start by buying the best clams you can find and then chilling them just before you shuck them.

When looking for the best clams to buy, keep an eye out for:

• Clams that have tightly closed shells. It should be noted that soft-shell clams tend not to be completely closed.
• Clams that don’t have any obvious hints of chips or cracks in their shells.
• The clams should smell clean and fresh. If you pick up any hints of ammonia or a fishy smell take that as a sign that the clam in question is well on its way to spoilage.
• Do not pack them in a plastic bag or any container that is tightly closed when transporting them. It’s best to keep your clams next to something cold.

You want to shuck your clams over a bowl so that you don’t waste any of the briny goodness that comes out as you pry the shell open. The idea is to slide your clam shucker knife into the open and run it around the entire length of the clamshell.

Once you have wedged that knife in there, be sure to focus on the adductor muscles located at either side of the shell. These bind the clam to the shell and could create a mess if not severed completely before you open the shell and try to scoop the meat out.

Remember that, even though fresh clams are the best, they can be rather stubborn. Most people make the mistake of tapping on the clams before shucking them. Unfortunately, this ends up tightening the shell even further and making your work that much harder.

Tip 5: Clean Them Properly

This really should have been the first point since it’s what you will do before you even struggle with opening up the shell but here we are. What you want to do is start by looking for any bad clams within your selection.

Unfortunately, clams can go bad in the duration it takes you to get from the market to your home. That is why you are advised to transport them next to something cold and avoid putting them in plastic bags or tightly closed containers.

The first thing you should do is “tap the top of any open clams.” I know we said not to tap clams because they close up even more tightly, but for health and safety, you should tap the top shell of any open clams. If they don’t immediately close themselves back up, you should discard them because they are dead.

As mentioned earlier, soft shell clams won’t close up entirely, but there should be some reaction when you tap the top shell. If there isn’t any reaction, discard those as well.

Once you have gotten rid of the dead clams (these can quickly spread bacteria among the remaining clams), your next task is to wash the remaining good clams; both inside and out. For that, you will need:

• Three bowls
• Cold water
• Scrub brush

Once you have all the necessary cleaning apparatus, here is what you need to do:

• Cleaning Clams Step 1: Fill one of the three bowls with cold water. Don’t use warm, lukewarm or freezing…just cold water. Warm or hot water will not only kill the clam but also submerge the live bivalves. You could add cornmeal if you like. This helps purge the clams. However, it’s often best just to use cold water mixed with a bit of salt. Don’t use too much salt, just enough for the water to reach the ocean’s salinity levels. Once that is done, simply put the clams in the bowl and put the bowl in your fridge for about 20 minutes.
• Cleaning Clams Step 2: Put cold salty water in the second bowl and then lift the clams (one by one) out of the first bowl and place them in the second bowl. Don’t use a strainer or just dump them from one bowl to the other. The idea here is to get them out of the first bowl, which will be full of gritty water now, without transferring any of that grit. Once done, put this bowl back in the fridge and let the clams soak in it for another 20 minutes.
• Cleaning Clams Step 3: Put more cold, salted water in the third bowl and lift the clams from the second bowl, placing them in the third bowl of cold salted water. Put this bowl in the fridge and let the clams soak for another 20 minutes.

Typically, that third time should be the charm. However, in some cases, you might still see quite a bit of sand at the bottom of the third bowl after the third soaking.

If that is the case, you should repeat the same process one more time or even twice. Do it until there is no significant amount of sand at the bottom of the soaking bowl.

Once all this is done, go through step 1 through to 4 and shuck those clams like a pro!