I actually took the photos and thought I would write a post about how to prepare a genoduck clam. Many people have them at restaurants, but not everyone has prep them. I then deleted most of the photos later.
They can be on the expensive side, but the good ones do taste good – despite the odd look.
This one is pretty big even compared to my cutting board.
I’ve never prepared geoduck at home, only had them at restaurants. I remember a geoduck sashimi at a restaurant in Singapore, where they kept live geoducks in tanks. Can’t get any fresher! Not a big fan though - I believe people like them more for the texture than the actual taste?
I really like the taste. Geoduck has this sweetness much stronger than say Manila clams or scallops. Yes, my geoducks above were all alive.
Okay, maybe I should try them again! I trust your judgement.
I’m considering going for holidays to Hong Kong, so that would be a good spot to have them I guess. Unfortunately all the good Cantonese restaurants in my home town closed down because of covid, and haven’t reopened yet.
You think the shape also plays a role?
I read once that geoducks comprise the largest biomass of the Salish Sea/Puget Sound region–greater than humans, trees, birds, etc.
Not sure if the shape plays a role - I’m not Cantonese… I do reckon that their allure lies in firstly being expensive, and then secondly indeed their texture, an important quality in Cantonese/Chinese/SE Asian foods. To me the shape is off putting if I’m honest… But as said, I trust chems judgement so I guess I should retry them.
Oh I forgot to say this. It does matter about the quality of geoduck. I totally forgot about this. As you can see, one of the stores I bought selling them at $50 per pound. There is another store which sells geoduck at $10 per pound. 5 times difference. Imagine what would be a $80 clam suddenly only cost $16. Unfortunately, there was a big taste difference too. I never went back to the $10 per pound supermarket again.
My understanding is that geoduck clams from Canada and Northern USA are superior in taste (and also in price) than say South American geoduck clams. I suppose the same argument like lobsters and oysters from different areas can taste quite different.
For high quality geoduck, I think sashimi is good. For lower quality geoduck, I cannot taste much, so I think those…need some flavoring. Sashimi or any blanching or steaming will be un-suitable.
…fritters and chowder.
A technician was just here to fiddle with my Bosch fridge filter (just needed some torque, which I have the implement to use the next time) - he was telling me that some of the newer refrigerators (I think he mentioned LG) now have chips in the filters that communicate with the fridge and if you don’t change the chip, the water turns off. Period. You can’t disable it. You can’t just hit reset. You can’t use the “wrong” filter. You can’t just ignore it. He doesn’t want one, but your nightmare is already here.
So if we start removing items from the fridge, will it begin to sing Daisy Daisy or are we all doomed? 
I dunno if this voids your warranty or gets you into all sorts of legal trouble, but just figure how the inventors of this silliness figured they’d set up an income stream for GE by forcing the customer to buy their filters in perpetuity in order to have a water stream for their fridge.
How to hack an RFID chip - equipped fridge filter
So evidently they can be hacked. LOL. And yeah, they do actually turn the water off
Yup. I knew about that one. Printer makers have been pulling the same BS for ages, making sure their printers could ONLY take THEIR ink cartridges, and never a 3rd party. Except that during the chip shortage, some of them had to ship cartridges w/o the magic chip, and thus had to instruct their customers how to bypass the check. Now they can do it with competitor’s cartridges, too.
That’s satisfying! 
So was this:
I’ve given this subject a little afterthought and when I look at what cookware I have amassed over the last 5-6 years, De Buyer Inocuivre, Mauviel M250 & Falk 2.0 & 2.5 bimetal copper pans, 7-ply Demeyere, 5-ply Mauviel, 3-ply Eva Trio, Itaala and Zwilling, Fissler Stainless Steel with Alu sandwich bottom, Lagostina Lagofusion ply with Alu sandwich bottom and ECI Staub and Le Creuset and Darto & De Buyer Mineral B Pro carbon steel pans (yeah I dud it again, made sure to brag about all my excellent cookware and that’s because I’m darn proud of my cookware collection and I use all pans in rotation year round), when I look at all that - I think it’s quite difficult for the companies to innovate on their premium lines, unless they want to risk being ridiculed for creating overpriced hex clad patters like Hexclad Nanobond for instance or when Fissler upgraded their top line Original Profi to a new name, then sold out inventory of the old top line, proceeding to then relaunch the old line Original Profi with a slight twist to the design.
It’s just hard for me to see what you can do to improve the current top lines of cookware without getting too gadgetry or too high tech.
Perhaps Falk could try to launch a 3.5 copper line - but would it sell well enough and would the extra mm copper really make that much if a difference ?
Perhaps 3.5 copper sears meat better than 2.5 copper and perhaps it can hold a more steady simmer for stews, but that’s probably about it.
I for one don’t use cookware for multiple things.
I don’t believe in the ‘do it all best pan’
I use specific cookware for specific tasks.
I don’t speed sauté or jump sauté that often with my carbon steel pans - I mainly use them for stationary high heat tasks for instance.
I don’t make sauces - acidic or not - in my carbon steel pans either. I use my 2.5 copper pans for this.
I mean, I just think I have trouble feeling disappointed over the performance of my cookware, because I feel I now know what type pan to use for specific tasks and I also now know to use the correct size pan - too large and your oil will burn, too small and you steam things instead of searing them.
What do you guys think the top cookware manufacturers could do to improve their top lines of cookware ?
Do you miss something in the cookware you use for daily cooking ?
Do you feel they could perform marginally better if they were more responsive or had better heat retention ?
They could offer:
–higher conductivity AND a better balance between responsiveness and evenness.
–hydrophobic linings that are truly durable.
–induction “wraps” that can heat the entire pan.
–Curie Point frypans that limit top temperatures to 350-375F.
–detatchable/interchangeable handles with onboard sensors and pairings.
–onboard stirring capability.
–SS that is truly easy to clean.
I can think of more.
I would not mind a return to tinned heavy copper with cast iron handles and lollipop lids. There are some pieces I wish some of the ceramics companies would bring back (Pillivuyt’s painted trompe l’oeil terrines and its cocoa pots come to mind, as do Emile Henry’s vinegar pots and its older glazes with dark green or brown atop uncolored clay). I love the sparkle of tinned molds. They are sufficiently nonstick for me.
I am glad you brought up these good points. I think everyone’s priority can be different and can also change. For some people, being affordable (cheap) is important. Back when I was in college, the single most important tribute is being inexpensive. For others, being high performance in heat response is important. For others, being durable is most important. However, I think the one area which cookware companies are pushing and also can make the biggest gain is being more environmental. It is difficult to claim a new graphite cookware to be twice as responsive as your cookware and that you should care enough to buy a new set of graphite cookware. However, I think it is easier to claim that a new cookware is 5X more environmental (both manufacturing and in-use), and you should switch to this new set of cookware.
Now, if you are asking me… I am actually going a bit backward compared to many of us. I have been getting some clay cookware, like this Japanese clay donabe. I cannot say it has better heat response or more even cooking surface. For me, it is about going a bit backward in time and also getting something made with good durability and high quality (high quality among other clayware)
Kamado-san – TOIRO (toirokitchen.com)
I am loving clay cookware, be it bean pots or casseroles. Of course those and au gratins and soufflé dishes are about all the clay cookware I have. If they were not so expensive, an old French cassoulet bowl would be awesome, but then cassoulet with baguettes, green salad, and wine is as fine a dinner as I can imagine. It is a shame it is such a multi-day labor of love. What do you like to cook in ceramics?
For most slow and moist cooking, ceramic cookware can be quite good. They do not response as good as metal cookware, but once the proper cooking procedure is set (like food-to-water ratio, heat level, and time), then ceramic cookware can be very reproducible - not to say other cookware are not. I think a sense of using an older technique is quite attractive. Finally, many Japanese rice enthusiasts still believe the best rice is made from a clayware.
