If you ever wondered how they taste. The mussels and clams were better than I thought. All steamed with nothing on them and tasted tested the same way 3 minutes on mussels and 8 on clam and oysters. I ate some of the clams and mussels raw and undercooked and they tasted a little dirtier than steamed to a certain temp. A medium steam on the mussels and they had a sweet taste that was really good.
with the old clam farm in the vicinity, I’d love to know where to dig for some littleneck clams…I’m not a fan of the mussels, but the oysters also look good…I was able to go pick a bushel while the pics loaded :))
if you have a lot of cooking/cleanup time - this will change your mind about the mussels -
par-steam (2 min, just opened) and shuck into a bowl. Get another pan hot with garlic + chili flakes + olive oil, when the garlic is cooked hit with white wine, and add mussels. Add lemon zest and a pat of butter and stir in cooked wide noodle pasta (fettuccine works). Try and keep the mussels in the hot pan as short as possible but long enough to stir + combine.