Word has it a few folks are looking for some How To instructions on cleaning Razor Clams.
Here is how I do it, feel free to add your special tricks too.
Dig Clams
Put clams in bucket for trip home....you may keep them in water, I dont...
I bring a gallon block of freezer ice to ice my clams with as soon as I can...
Home care;
Soak clams in water, some do this overnight, others don't.
Rinse clams in sink.
Use vegetable brush to vigorously scrub the edges and shell to rinse free as much sand as you can.
Scrub them again.
While you are scrubbin your clams, get a large pot of boiling water going...
Get another pot of cold water nearby.
Toss clams a few at a time into the boiling water...until the shells obviously pop open a bit...
Now scoop them out of the hot and straight into the cold. We arent cooking them yet, so you want them to stop cooking....
After they are all in the cold, dump in the sink and rinse everything well again, keep trying to rinse the sand away.
Physically grab whole clam and pull, it will come off the shell, place in collander, toss shell.
Rinse clams.
With scissors, trim off tip of neck to use later surf fishing.
With scissors, trim out the digger/gut bag of the clam leaving the main clam body and neck free of ick.
With scissor, slice open lenghtwise the clam neck tubes, both, leaving a flat open clam neck.
If you see any irregular spots with black, or sand...now is the time to snip it out...place clean clam body in bowl, set aside.
With scissor, trim off gut, save as much digger as you can.
Open digger body in half with scissor, butterfly it open by placing scissor tip into digger from opening on bottom, and gently snip open the digger. Remove dark stringy stuff, but try to retain the fluffy sweet smelling fatty tissue, this stuff is golden. Just worry about the dark stuff, rinse it away, leave as much fatty stuff as possible, rinse and add to your clam bodies in the bowl.
After you are sure the clams are free of sand, and I mean clean, freeze them up in a gallon ziplock, with any remaining juices from your bowl.
See other recipes on the site for pressure canning into smoked razors, or pan frying...
Also check out the WDFW link :
http://wdfw.wa.gov/fish/shelfish/razorclm/razor9.htmEnjoy.
Note, be careful diggin them to start makes better table fare later. Some folks using the tubes push the clam gun thru the clam really grinding the sand in.