Beat The Butcher at the Beach Part 1

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I steam most of my catch right on the beach in a 30-gallon army surplus kettle, and the barnacles get popped into the water right along with my day's mussel harvest. Their white-shelled tops can be discarded after steaming, the stems cut open, and finger-sized pieces of meat pried out. Furthermore, since the taste of these dainties Is akin to that of the clawed crustaceans, goose barnacles can be substituted in any recipe that calls for crab or lobster.

Those patches of gravel surrounding the masses of stone (which harbored the barnacles) should be foraged too: They're often the homes of small clams and of several types of mollusks called cockles.

That last name, by the way, probably should be clarified at least a little before we proceed any further: On the eastern seaboard "cockle" usually refers—more or less accurately—to members of the genus Cardium. On the Pacific Shore, however, the same term is applied to mollusks of at least four different genera. This confusion is seldom a problem, though, because in local usage "cockle" most often seems to translate as "good eatin' clam". See what the area's residents gather, double check with your field guide (local prejudices often cause folks to ignore delicious shellfish), then have a go at the little bivalves on your own.

You'll be thankful (as many a sore-backed digger has been) that cockles have no breathing siphons at all . . . and, because of this inconvenience (to them), must limit their belowground travel to within an inch or two of the sand's surface. A clam rake, hoe, or shovel should be the only tool you'll need to gather the tasty little rascals . . . however, due to the rocky nature of the sand in which cockles are generally found, even a small amount of digging will be anything but easy. (Remember, too—after you straighten out the kinks and leave the seaside for the day—that a freshwater rinse will greatly extend the life of your foraging equipment. Perhaps it'll make you feel better, too!)

THE WEST COAST'S LARGE, ECONOMY-SIZED CLAMS

The Pacific Ocean is a powerful big body of water, and some of the clams that inhabit its North American coastline are nothing less than giants. The most common of these monsters—found in mud and sand flats from Alaska to San Diego—is the horse clam (Schizothaerus nuttalll).

It isn't necessary to wait for a particularly low tide to snare a few of these whoppers (they run all the way up to four pounds each). The only real job—after you sight the spouts from their squirt holes between the low and high water marks—is diggin' 'em out . . . since even when they're spraying water three feet into the air, these clams may well be buried another yard deep !n the sand. Dig the giants out anyway. When properly cleaned and prepared, they're more than worth the effort.

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