What Are Clams, littleneck and How Can I Use Them?

Clams, littleneck is easier to cook with than it looks. Here's how to choose, use, and store them, what to substitute, and 14 recipes to get you started.

Key Points

The smallest hard-shell clams: young quahogs about 1½ to 2 inches, sweet, tender, and all-purpose.
Steam open in five to seven minutes; pull each clam the moment its shell gapes.
Overcooking turns the meat to rubber, so lift early openers out while stubborn ones catch up.
Purge in cold salted water 20 to 30 minutes to spit out sand before cooking.
Buy them alive and tightly shut; discard any that won't close raw or won't open cooked.

What is clams, littleneck?

Littleneck clams are the smallest of the East Coast hard-shell clams. They come from the same species, the quahog, that grows into the big, tough chowder clams, but they are harvested young.

At roughly 1½ to 2 inches across, they are sweet and tender, just briny enough to taste of the ocean without overpowering a sauce.

Their size is what makes them the all-purpose clam. A dozen fits in a single skillet, they steam open in minutes, and the meat stays bite-sized rather than turning to a leathery slab. That is why they anchor everything from a quick pasta to a pot of chowder.

Cooking With Littleneck Clams

The simplest preparation is steaming. Drop scrubbed clams into a hot pan with a splash of wine or stock, then cover and let the steam pop them open over high heat.

Most go in five to seven minutes. Pull each one the moment it gapes so it doesn't overcook.

From there they go almost anywhere. Tossed with garlic and oil and the pasta water they release, they become a clam sauce, the heart of Linguine with Roasted Garlic & Clam Sauce. Simmered with tomato, they turn into the red sauce of Clams Posilipo or a Pasta with Red Clam Sauce.

They also do well stuffed and baked, where the shell becomes a serving cup. Vongole Ripiene (Baked Stuffed Littleneck Clams) fills the half-shell with seasoned crumbs, the same idea behind clams casino.

For chowder, steam the clams and chop the meat, then build the soup on the strained liquor they gave up. That briny broth is the backbone of both Manhattan Island Clam Chowder and a Creamy Clam Chowder.

Pairing and Common Mistakes

Clams love garlic, white wine, olive oil, parsley, lemon, and chili, plus the cured-pork hit of bacon or chorizo. Their own liquor is a free seasoning, so taste before you add salt; you usually need none.

The cardinal mistake is overcooking. A clam is done the instant its shell opens, and every extra minute over the heat tightens the meat into rubber. Cook in batches if your pan is crowded, and lift out the early openers while the stubborn ones catch up.

The second mistake is grit. Clams burrow in sand, and an unpurged batch will ruin a sauce with crunch. Purge them before cooking, and steam in a wide pan so any grit settles instead of swirling back over the meat.

Substitutes

Other small hard-shell clams swap in directly. Cherrystones are the next size up from the same quahog and work fine if you give them an extra minute or two. Manila clams or cockles are smaller and even sweeter, common on the West Coast and in Asian dishes.

Mussels are the easiest stand-in when clams are scarce. They steam open the same way and suit the same garlic-and-wine treatment, though they bring a softer, slightly sweeter meat.

For chowder or pasta sauce only, canned clams with their juice will carry the dish. They lack the fresh snap, so add them late and lean on the bottled clam juice for the briny base.

Buying and Storing Clams

Buy clams alive. A fresh littleneck is tightly shut, or it closes when you tap or handle it. A shell that stays open and won't budge is dead, and you should throw it out.

The shells should feel heavy for their size and smell clean, like the sea and nothing more.

Keep them alive until you cook. Store them in the refrigerator in a bowl loosely covered with a damp cloth, never sealed in a bag or sitting in fresh water, both of which suffocate them. Cook within a day or two for the best flavor.

Purge sand before cooking. Soak the clams in cold salted water (about ⅓ cup salt per gallon) for 20 to 30 minutes so they spit out the grit, then lift them out rather than pouring, leaving the sand behind.

When you cook, watch the shells once more. Discard any clam that refuses to open after steaming, the same way you discarded the ones that wouldn't close. A clam that stays shut after cooking was likely dead before it hit the pan.