Storing and Cleaning Mollusks

When refrigerated and covered with a wet cloth, freshly caught mollusks stay alive for 24 hours or more, depending on the species. To prepare them, scrub the shells under cold, running water, detaching any weed and scraping off barnacles. Discard broken shells and any that do not close when tapped. If the shells are covered with sand, the mollusks can be purged by soaking in a bucket of seawater, or water salted with a handful of salt per 1 quart/1 liter of water, for two to three hours. If you leave them for longer, change the water, otherwise the mollusks will die from lack of oxygen. Some cooks add one to two tablespoons of flour or bran to the cleaning water to plump up the meat before cooking.