The Oregon Department of Agriculture has a great online resource for finding out the status of recreational shellfish harvesting being allowed on the coast. You can find it here. Keep in mind though that the website is not updated as often or as rapidly as the hotline.
I'm so glad to see that toxin levels are back down to normal levels! Now to find a bucket and my waders...
Showing posts with label outdoor. Show all posts
Showing posts with label outdoor. Show all posts
Monday, February 2, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Flex your Mussels! and other shellfish stuff
One of the things I find most enjoyable about living in the Willamette Valley is being so close to the Oregon coast. It only takes an hour in the car before you can hear sea gulls and breathe in the salty sea air. Growing up, trips to the coast usually entailed exploring tide pools and munching on clam chowder and garlic toast at Mo's. Picking out various kinds of saltwater taffy to bring home as a tasty treat was another favorite activity. However, these days the thing that gets me most excited about the Oregon coast isn't sweets or chowder, but the vast amount of easily accessible wild foods.
Since late 2007, I've been really excited by the idea of digging clams. The word "clam" can refer to any kind of bivalve mollusk, but usually in the United States it refers specifically to those that burrow in mud and sand. Lucky for us Oregonians, there are six kinds of delicious clams that can be found on our coast! The Oregon clams are:
Clam beds, the areas where a bunch of clams are hanging out, can be found up and down the Oregon coast. If you find yourself at the coast and are interested in digging clams, probably the easiest and best way to find out where the clam beds are is to ask a local. Ask around and someone will be able to point you in the direction of the biggest and tastiest clams. I would recommend going after softshell clams, as they are relatively easy to dig and can be found near most of Oregon's main coastal towns.
Acquired your gear and located a clam bed and now wondering what to do? Tromp down to the bed an hour before a minus low tide. On the exposed mud you should see some small holes, about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. These are likely clam shows, or the hole the clam sticks its neck through to feed. To make sure that this is a clam show, stick your finger in the hole. This will disturb the clam if there is one, and you will feel its neck retract.
Now start digging! Start approximately 6 inches from the clam show. You may have to dig down as much as twenty inches, but eventually you should see the clam shell. Try not to break the shell with your shovel, as sharp shell edges can cut fingers. When you are able, pull the clam out of the mud and place it in your bucket.
Be sure to grab the clam by the shell and not by a protruding neck, as this might damage the clam. In Oregon, the softshell clam limit is the first 36 dug up per person. When digging softshells, you must take every clam you dig up, as softshell clams are not able to rebury themselves.
Once you've dug all your clams, fill the bucket with sea water until they are covered. If you don't plan on eating them right away, you can add a handful of corn meal to the water and the clams will pump out any silt themselves. After a day, use them in your favorite clam recipe; softshell clams are great for steaming and frying, or can be used in clam chowder!
This weekend, Nate and I had been hoping to head to the coast to get some mussels. Mussels are similar to clams, only they aren't buried in mud. Instead, they attach themselves to tidal rocks with threads called a "beard" or "byssus". This makes them far easier to collect, and just a few twists with your hands will free the shell from their rocks. Mussels are filter feeders, which means they can possess small particles including deadly toxins and organisms. Usually this is only found during the summer months, which leads to the saying, "only eat mussels in months with an R". Fortunately, Nate decided to call the state shellfish hotline anyway. This winter there are unusually high levels of toxins in the mussels here in Oregon and collecting them is restricted. Hopefully the toxin levels will decrease before May so that we can enjoy some mussels this season!
The Oregon state shellfish hotline number is (503) 986-4728.
I want to wrap this post up with a link. Here is a really cool tutorial on how to make a homemade camping stove with soda bottles. Maybe you could even use this to cook your shellfish in the field?
Note: I referenced an awesome book for much of this post, Clam Digging & Crabbing in Oregon by John A. Johnson. I would highly recommend it if you are interested in clamming. It can be purchased at Englund Marine Supply stores, or by sending a check or money order for $12.95 + $1.00 shipping and handling to:
Since late 2007, I've been really excited by the idea of digging clams. The word "clam" can refer to any kind of bivalve mollusk, but usually in the United States it refers specifically to those that burrow in mud and sand. Lucky for us Oregonians, there are six kinds of delicious clams that can be found on our coast! The Oregon clams are:
- The Razor, the most delicious and most difficult to catch
- The Gaper, also called the Empire clam, which can grow to weigh up to five pounds
- The Softshell, a non-native clam that was transplanted to the Pacific coast in the late 1800s
- The Cockle, a large clam known for its ridged shell
- The Littleneck, a small clam that is also known as a Steamer
- The Butter, the most scarce of the clams found in Oregon
Clam beds, the areas where a bunch of clams are hanging out, can be found up and down the Oregon coast. If you find yourself at the coast and are interested in digging clams, probably the easiest and best way to find out where the clam beds are is to ask a local. Ask around and someone will be able to point you in the direction of the biggest and tastiest clams. I would recommend going after softshell clams, as they are relatively easy to dig and can be found near most of Oregon's main coastal towns.Acquired your gear and located a clam bed and now wondering what to do? Tromp down to the bed an hour before a minus low tide. On the exposed mud you should see some small holes, about 3/4 of an inch in diameter. These are likely clam shows, or the hole the clam sticks its neck through to feed. To make sure that this is a clam show, stick your finger in the hole. This will disturb the clam if there is one, and you will feel its neck retract.
Now start digging! Start approximately 6 inches from the clam show. You may have to dig down as much as twenty inches, but eventually you should see the clam shell. Try not to break the shell with your shovel, as sharp shell edges can cut fingers. When you are able, pull the clam out of the mud and place it in your bucket.
Be sure to grab the clam by the shell and not by a protruding neck, as this might damage the clam. In Oregon, the softshell clam limit is the first 36 dug up per person. When digging softshells, you must take every clam you dig up, as softshell clams are not able to rebury themselves.Once you've dug all your clams, fill the bucket with sea water until they are covered. If you don't plan on eating them right away, you can add a handful of corn meal to the water and the clams will pump out any silt themselves. After a day, use them in your favorite clam recipe; softshell clams are great for steaming and frying, or can be used in clam chowder!
This weekend, Nate and I had been hoping to head to the coast to get some mussels. Mussels are similar to clams, only they aren't buried in mud. Instead, they attach themselves to tidal rocks with threads called a "beard" or "byssus". This makes them far easier to collect, and just a few twists with your hands will free the shell from their rocks. Mussels are filter feeders, which means they can possess small particles including deadly toxins and organisms. Usually this is only found during the summer months, which leads to the saying, "only eat mussels in months with an R". Fortunately, Nate decided to call the state shellfish hotline anyway. This winter there are unusually high levels of toxins in the mussels here in Oregon and collecting them is restricted. Hopefully the toxin levels will decrease before May so that we can enjoy some mussels this season!
The Oregon state shellfish hotline number is (503) 986-4728.
I want to wrap this post up with a link. Here is a really cool tutorial on how to make a homemade camping stove with soda bottles. Maybe you could even use this to cook your shellfish in the field?
Note: I referenced an awesome book for much of this post, Clam Digging & Crabbing in Oregon by John A. Johnson. I would highly recommend it if you are interested in clamming. It can be purchased at Englund Marine Supply stores, or by sending a check or money order for $12.95 + $1.00 shipping and handling to:
Adventure North Publishing, Co.
P.O. Box 1601
Waldport, OR 97394
(541) 563-3743
P.O. Box 1601
Waldport, OR 97394
(541) 563-3743
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Smokin' Hot!
I decided that ye olde Cast Iron Maiden blog deserved one more post before 2008 comes to an end. I feel bad that this blog has mostly been ignored since its conception, especially since the blog has such a clever and witty name. Cast Iron Maiden?! C'mon, it doesn't get much better than that.
Recently I've been pretty much obsessed with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage series of TV shows and cookbooks. Hugh is a British celebrity chef known largely to his "back to basics", "real food" campaigning. He's a large supporter of buying only free-range or organic meats and practicing nose-to-tail eating philosophies.
Basically, he's a cooking bad ass.
In an episode of 2007's River Cottage: Gone Fishing, Hugh fashions an on-the-go smoker out of an old tin bread box. Personally, I've always thought smokers to be complex things which only should be handled by the manliest of men, the BBQ Kings. Smoking meat seemed to be right there with muscle cars, cheap beer and lawn maintenance. Imagine my surprise to see Hugh, with his glasses and luscious locks of hair, smoke a freshly caught fish without batting an eye lash. Obviously, smoking meat wasn't just for the BBQ Kings.
In fact, slow drying in the sun or by a fire has been used for food storage in cultures the world over. While today we largely use smoking to enhance flavor and texture, prior to refrigeration it was immensely important in preserving perishable foods. Humans have been smoking meat and fish for as long as we've been doing just about anything. You can read more about the history of smoking here.
Seeing that my ancestors were probably smoking meat successfully hundreds and hundreds of years ago, I decided to give it a try. If cavemen can do it, so can I, right?
It turns out that, for once in my life, I was right. Smoking is really really easy. When you get down to it, smoking food is a pretty simple concept that only needs a few key elements. You need a heat source. You need something to smoke. You need a container to contain your smoke. It turns out that building a homemade smoker is really easy too. In the episode of River Cottage: Gone Fishing that inspired all this, Hugh fashioned a smoker out of an old metal bread box which he placed over a fire. My smoker has a few more parts, but not many. My container is a metal trashcan (new, in case you were worried). I used a hot plate for my heating element and purchased some hickory wood chips to provide the smoke. Drill a few holes and add a BBQ rack, and you too could have a homemade smoker. While I didn't follow the directions on this website, the smoker here is almost identical to the smoker I made.
Upon completing the smoker, I smoked a pound and a half of salmon and two turkey thighs. Getting them up to temperature (150 F for salmon, 165 F for turkey) took several hours but the taste was sure worth it!
If you decide to do some smoking yourself, here are a few tips:
Recently I've been pretty much obsessed with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage series of TV shows and cookbooks. Hugh is a British celebrity chef known largely to his "back to basics", "real food" campaigning. He's a large supporter of buying only free-range or organic meats and practicing nose-to-tail eating philosophies.
Basically, he's a cooking bad ass.
In an episode of 2007's River Cottage: Gone Fishing, Hugh fashions an on-the-go smoker out of an old tin bread box. Personally, I've always thought smokers to be complex things which only should be handled by the manliest of men, the BBQ Kings. Smoking meat seemed to be right there with muscle cars, cheap beer and lawn maintenance. Imagine my surprise to see Hugh, with his glasses and luscious locks of hair, smoke a freshly caught fish without batting an eye lash. Obviously, smoking meat wasn't just for the BBQ Kings.
In fact, slow drying in the sun or by a fire has been used for food storage in cultures the world over. While today we largely use smoking to enhance flavor and texture, prior to refrigeration it was immensely important in preserving perishable foods. Humans have been smoking meat and fish for as long as we've been doing just about anything. You can read more about the history of smoking here.
Seeing that my ancestors were probably smoking meat successfully hundreds and hundreds of years ago, I decided to give it a try. If cavemen can do it, so can I, right?
It turns out that, for once in my life, I was right. Smoking is really really easy. When you get down to it, smoking food is a pretty simple concept that only needs a few key elements. You need a heat source. You need something to smoke. You need a container to contain your smoke. It turns out that building a homemade smoker is really easy too. In the episode of River Cottage: Gone Fishing that inspired all this, Hugh fashioned a smoker out of an old metal bread box which he placed over a fire. My smoker has a few more parts, but not many. My container is a metal trashcan (new, in case you were worried). I used a hot plate for my heating element and purchased some hickory wood chips to provide the smoke. Drill a few holes and add a BBQ rack, and you too could have a homemade smoker. While I didn't follow the directions on this website, the smoker here is almost identical to the smoker I made.
Upon completing the smoker, I smoked a pound and a half of salmon and two turkey thighs. Getting them up to temperature (150 F for salmon, 165 F for turkey) took several hours but the taste was sure worth it!
If you decide to do some smoking yourself, here are a few tips:
- Soak your chips! Unsoaked chips will not smolder and smoke as well as wet ones. Soak chips for at least 30 minutes prior to smoking. If you don't use your chips all at once, keep them in water. They will dry out and leave you smokeless when you least expect it!
- Think salt! Smoke and salt are a match made in heaven. Consider the salt content of the meat you're about to smoke. Turkey, which is injected with a salt water solution, will be tasty placed straight in the smoker. Other meats may need to be salted, cured or even brined. Check out this smoked salmon recipe from Alton Brown for an example of curing!
- Experiment! Keep in mind that humans have been successfully smoking meat for centuries without recipes. Don't be afraid to try something new!
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