Geoduck
Photo: James St. John · CC BY 2.0

History

Geoduck is the world's largest burrowing clam, native to the tidal flats of Puget Sound, Hood Canal and British Columbia. The Coast Salish dug it at low tide for millennia. The first state commercial harvest opened in 1970, sold to Japan and Hong Kong where the siphon is prized for raw and hot-pot cookery; the Washington fishery is now worth 80 million dollars a year. The clam can live 165 years and weighs 1 to 3 kilograms. In Seattle, sushi bars like Maneki and Sushi Kashiba slice the siphon paper-thin for nigiri called mirugai.

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Common allergens: Shellfish

Make it at home

Yield 2Hands-on 20 minTotal 20 minDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 1 live geoduck, 1 to 1.5 kg, sourced from a Washington fishmonger
  • Boiling water
  • Iced water with sea salt
  • Light soy sauce
  • Wasabi paste
  • Fresh shiso leaves
  • Sushi rice and toasted nori, optional

Method

  1. Hold the geoduck siphon-up. Pour the boiling water over the siphon and shell for 10 seconds, then plunge into the iced salt water.
  2. Peel off the outer brown skin from the siphon; it slips off easily after the blanch. Discard.
  3. Slide a thin paring knife between the shell and the body. Lift the body free from both halves of the shell.
  4. Separate the siphon from the belly. The siphon is the sashimi cut; the belly meat is for chowder or stir-fry.
  5. Rinse the siphon under cold water. Slice on the bias as thin as you can manage, about 2mm.
  6. Arrange the slices on shiso leaves over crushed ice. Serve with soy, wasabi and rice if you want nigiri.

Tip from the editors. Geoduck flesh firms within two hours of being shucked. Buy it live, prep it in the next hour, eat it within four. The crunch is the entire point.

Where to eat geoduck

Geoduck in Seattle

Sushi Kashiba ★ 4.7

$$$$ Tasting $165 omakaseJapanese sushiChef Shiro Kashiba

Sushi Kashiba in Seattle's Pike Place is Shiro Kashiba's omakase counter: the chef who opened Seattle's first sushi bar in 1970, still running the pass at 86.

Book3 weeks for bar seats ahead

Directions Book

Maneki ★ 4.5

$$ JapaneseInternational District

Maneki in Seattle's International District is the oldest Japanese restaurant on the West Coast: opened in 1904, surviving wartime internment.

OrderThe geoduck sashimi if it is on the board, otherwise the chef's nigiri set with a tatami room.

TipReserve a tatami room four to six weeks ahead; the bar runs walk-in but the room shapes the meal.

Directions Book

Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar Pioneer Square ★ 4.5

$$ Oyster BarPioneer Square

Taylor Shellfish Oyster Bar in Seattle's Pioneer Square is the on-counter outpost of the 135-year Samish Bay farm: half-shells, geoduck crudo, manila clams.

OrderA dozen Olympias and Kumamotos from the farm, with a glass of grower's Champagne.

TipHappy hour 16:00-17:00 drops the oysters to $1.75 each; the Occidental location is the largest and quietest of the three.

Directions Book

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