I wish they were steamers, as those make great fried clams as well.
These are hard shell clams. The smallest ones (1" minimum "girth" for legal harvest) are littlenecks.
Medium are cherry stones, and the big boys are Chowder clams. Some folks only refer to the larger ones as Quahogs, but most around here use this term for all hard shells.
Littlenecks and cherrystones are great right off the grill. No butter, no horse radish. Just pop on the grate and remove when opened. Eat/slurp in one bite.
More chewy than the soft shell steamers, but more delish also.
I still haven't mastered shucking them, so I stick with the cooked variety. But if you're able to pry it open, cherrystones are AWESOME right at the digging hole, opened up and gulped down.
tailgater wrote:
