How to Cook Your Shellfish
In the world of seafood, shellfish are hard to beat. Most shellfish cook quickly, are full of flavor, and can be used across a wide variety of dishes like pasta dishes, paella, stews, or even steaming as they are.
Shellfish might seem rather daunting to cook, but I am here to walk you through the basics of preparing and cooking shellfish in a way that will make you feel like a world-class chef in no time.
And, a quick reminder before I continue; if you enjoy my content, then please subscribe to my newsletter, become a Food Loving Member (for only $5/month), or do whatever you can to show your support!
Shellfish are invertebrate animals that live in water and, in most cases, live in a hard shell, including edible creatures such as mollusks or crustaceans.
These days, a large variety of shellfish can be found in most supermarkets or fishmongers, especially if you live in an area close to the ocean.
Those of us in landlocked areas like Colorado often get our shellfish shipped in IQF (Individually quick-frozen) and, in some cases, thawed for our consumption. This is perfectly acceptable, but know that once shellfish has been thawed, it cannot be re-frozen.
Once you have your shellfish, especially in the case of live critters like mussels, you want to keep it as cold as possible. What I do is set the shellfish directly on top of a bed of crushed ice, just like they do at grocery stores.
Ok, storage basics are out of the way; let’s dive into the beautiful world of shellfish. Keep in mind that most, if not all of the varieties of shellfish I’ll be mentioning today can be found in the fish section of any grocery store.
I will begin with a category of shellfish known as mollusks and the first subcategory for the mollusks are the bivalves, these are critters that have a soft body encased in a hard shell that splits into two sections, starting with…
Scallops
One of Gordon Ramsay’s favorite proteins, scallops live in relatively low, warm waters, up to 100 meters deep along the Indo-Pacific area, and are one of the largest edible bivalves. Most of us are likely familiar with shelled bay scallops with a fair amount of flesh and a light sweet flavor.
To cook scallops, your best bet is to pan-sear them.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat with a touch of oil until the oil starts shimmering.
While the pan is heating, dry the surface of the scallops with either paper towels or a clean dish towel, then season lightly with salt and pepper.
Place the scallops into the hot pan, starting from the spot furthest away from you and forming a clock-like circle around the edges; this way, you will know the order in which they need to be flipped.
Scallops tend to come in different thicknesses, so the best way to ensure that they’re cooking is to keep an eye on them. As they cook, you’ll notice the bottom edges start turning white. When that white reaches halfway up the scallops, you can flip them and sear the other side; it should take 30 seconds to a minute.
Once flipped, let them cook for another 30 seconds, then take them off.
Because the flavor of scallops is so delicate, I like pairing them with a light salad with arugula, sliced apples, and a squeeze of lemon juice.
Mussels
I love mussels because of their light, sweet flavor, and you can use their shells like tongs to pick out the meat inside. Mussels mostly grow in saltwater habitats along the Northern Atlantic Coast and are usually sold in large bags.
When you want to cook mussels, you need to remember a few things. The same rules apply for clams.
Mussels are bottom feeders who live on ocean floors, so they tend to pick up a good bit of dirt and sand, so before you cook, them you need to soak them in cold water for at least 30 minutes.
You will also want to scrub each mussel and remove a hairy end on the side of each mussel that captures sand and small particles to help keep the oceans clean.
As you scrub your mussels, check to make sure that all of their shells are fully intact and that they are all closed tight.
If you come across a mussel that is open, give it a gentle tap on your countertop. If it closes on its own, then it’s still safe to eat; if it stays open, then discard it. Remember, you want all of your mussels to stay alive until the point that you cook them.
For this reason, I like to start with more mussels than I think I’m going to eat because, due to the process of mass fishing and shipping, there are bound to be a few that died before they hit the fish market.Once cooked, check to make sure that all of your mussels have opened up. If any mussels haven’t opened, then get rid of them.
A classic and delicious way to do mussels is by steaming them in a broth made with leeks, fennel, white wine, and herbs. Serve it with some crusty bread, and it’s a healthy, complete meal.
Clams
Clams are in the same category of bivalves as mussels and spend most of their lives buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds.
The most common variety of clams you may find at grocery stores are littleneck clams, one of the smaller clam varieties seen in restaurants, and they follow the same rules as mussels, except clams don’t have the same hairy end on their sides.
Going larger than that, we have the Cherrystone clams, which have an astounding popularity due to their size and flavor.
I like using clams for pasta dishes and paella, and those who live in or near New England will likely be familiar with the beloved favorite, clam chowder.
Oysters
Oysters are one of those things that make me wonder how and when someone decided that these dirt-covered, ugly looking sea creatures are edible. To me, there are two types of people: those who like oysters and those like me who are stable-minded.
Shucking oysters is a rather dangerous task, so if I were to eat them, then I would say to buy them at a restaurant where they are shucked for you.
Oysters are often eaten raw with a vinegary sauce called mignonette, although fried oysters are pretty popular as well, especially in Louisiana, where the oyster Po’ Boy reigns supreme.
Moving away from our bivalve friends, we will now dive into mollusks that aren’t covered by a shell, but their soft bodies make them shellfish no less.
Squid
A type of cephalopod, squids are known for having a large head on top of tiny tentacles that they use to grab onto prey and help move around their environment.
As mentioned, those of us in landlocked areas will likely get squid shipped in frozen in the form of calamari slices, which can be cooked from frozen or thawed before being cooked.
Squid slices are great to sauté to put on top of salads, pasta, and rice dishes, and we Americans will likely be familiar with the ever-popular appetizer, fried calamari, which is fantastic when served with cocktail sauce.
However, squid/calamari have a narrow margin between being tender and delicious and chewing on rubber bands. My best advice is to cook the squid until the outside turns barely white.
Octopus
A protein that American palates likely aren’t familiar with, but I can tell you first-hand that octopus is delicious! It’s quite hard to find the farther you get away from the ocean, but many big fish mongers will sell it either whole or just the tentacles.
A classic way to cook and eat octopus is by first braising it in a court bouillon (A flavored liquid made with water, wine, vegetables, and herbs) before cutting off the tentacles and grilling those.
(If you have a sensitive stomach, then you should skip right past this next part.)
In Korea and Japan, there is a rare dish called San-nakji, which is a live or recently-live octopus that has had its tentacles cut into small pieces, and those tentacles are still moving.
It is very dangerous to eat as the suction cups on the tentacles can latch onto your esophagus and cause you to choke.
I’m going to assume that you didn’t even bother looking at that last part, so we are now ready to move on to the crustaceans, which tend to have 6 legs and, for the most part, are covered by a thick shell, starting with…
Shrimp
Without question, the most popular form of shellfish in the world. There are different varieties of shrimp in the world that range in size, but for the most part, shrimp are defined as crustaceans with elongated bodies and tiny legs.
In the market, you may notice numbers in the description bar for shrimp that’ll say something like 16 to 20 or 26 to 30. These numbers follow a size chart and indicate roughly how many shrimp you will get per pound, telling you their general size.
When preparing shell-on shrimp, you want to start by pulling off the tiny legs and pulling the shell away from the body, whether or not you leave the tail on is up to you.
You’ll then want to take a paring knife and slice lengthwise along the topside of the shrimp, exposing a dark vein that you can pull out with your paring knife. This vein isn’t really a vein; it is part of the shrimp’s digestion tract. It is what we call in the restaurants the poop shoot…sorry you had to hear that.
Once the vein is removed, you can saute, bake or grill the shrimp as you, please. larger shrimp are great for shrimp cocktail and smaller shrimp are nice when tossed into soups or pasta as they fit on the fork easier.
By the way, you don’t have to throw away shrimp shells. You can saute them, then simmer them in white wine, fennel, bay leaves, and strips of lemon zest to make a quick, tasty shrimp stock, perfect for any soup or risotto.
Crawfish
Crawfish/crayfish are small crustaceans that look like miniature lobsters. They may be small, but the sweet, delicate flavor that their tails contain makes them well worth it.
Those of us in the Southern United States will likely be familiar with crawfish boils, where bucket loads of these little sea bugs are dumped onto a table along with corn, potatoes, and spiced sausage.
The key to eating crawfish is this: pinch them at the base of their tail and give it a twist until the tail pops out. You can then peel off the shell in segments to expose the delicious tail meat.
If you manage to get the small amount of meat that crawfish tails contain, then you can also use them in jambalaya, a stew, or a classic crawfish etouffee.
Crab
Crabs are a form of decapod that can live in fresh or saltwater and are known for their many legs and two hard-pinching claws.
There are a few species of crab that you can find in markets.
Dungeness crab: often sold whole and is great to steam, crack open and dip into melted butter. The meat is also sold pre-shredded and is great to mix into a crab cake or ravioli filling.
Snow crab: Often sold as clusters of their legs, I would treat them the same as the Dungeness
Soft Shell crab: Known for their…soft shell. These are smaller crabs that are great for frying or simmering into stocks.
King crab: Easier to find the closer you get to Alaska. They are one of the largest crab species and are insanely good.
When it comes to eating crab legs, you want to start by grabbing one of the knuckles and twisting until you can easily pull it out. Then, using either a mallet or a crab cracker, break open the shell and use the ends of the legs to pull the meat out.
For snow crab legs, they are so thin that you can carefully bend them until they snap in half, then pull out the meat from there.
Whatever kind of crab you’re using, I’m sure that they will bring you a mouthful of sweet, buttery flavor that hardly any shellfish can beat…well, except for…
Lobster
The king of shellfish. Lobsters contain more meat per pound than any shellfish, so they are great for Sunday brunch or get-togethers.
Whole live lobsters can be found in coastal regions (Same with crab), they can also be sold pre-cooked for your convenience, but people like me who live in the Rocky Mountains will most likely find lobster tails at fish markets and grocery stores.
To save you the horror, I will skip the steps on how to kill deal with live lobster and tell you this; lobster is best when boiled until the shell turns a bright red color, and you can extract the tail meat the same way you’d do for crawfish. From there you can peel off the shell and eat it as it is or serve it with a steak.
Shellfish are a great thing to have when you want to taste the sea but aren’t a big fan of fish, and I can guarantee you that once you get your first bite of any of the shellfish mentioned, you will want to keep coming back for more. And more. And more.
