Preparing Live Clams (or Mussels), and a Pasta Sauce for Them

Cooked Clams

At this point your clams are cooked; pick over them and discard any that have remained shut tight: They were already dead before you put them in the pot, and eating them could make you quite sick!

If you're making something along the lines of stewed clams or mussels, serve them as they are, and enjoy fishing the shells from your bowl and sucking out the shellfish. If you are instead making pasta sauce, shuck most of them, leaving a few in their shells for aesthetic appeal. In either case, strain and reserve to pot liquor.