Find yourself with too much shellfish on your hands? Oysters and clams should last a week in a refrigerator, but still: Maybe you dug too many clams at a farm day, or ordered a 5 pound bag when 3 pounds would have done it. Whatever the case, here's our best advice!
It mainly includes freezing them (shocker) but there are a few other hot tips too.
Shucked Oysters:
Freeze them. They freeze beautifully. You can freeze the oysters directly in the jar or bag they arrived in or you can transfer them to a ziplock freezer bag. Try to use within 3 months.
Some of our favorite recipes for shucked oysters include fried, oyster casserole, or in an oyster roll. More shucked recipes here.
Clams:
Freeze them!
Steam the clams open. Get fancy by adding ingredients like wine, butter, garlic... or just steam them plain. Reserve the liquid. Remove the clam meat from the shell, and put the clams in a waterproof container (like a tupperware with a snap on lid). Pour the reserved clam steaming liquid over the clam meat, and pop into the freezer. Try to use within 3 months.
After you defrost, we recommend turning the clam meat into clam butter or the seriously amazing sport dip. You could also add to a chowder... find clam recipes here, and find advice on storing your clams in the refrigerator here.
Oysters in the Shell:
Freeze them! Some of our customers freeze oysters whole, just by popping the entire critter in a freezer bag. We haven't yet done enough research on this method, because they freeze so much better when you shuck them first. So, shuck the oysters and put them into a plastic ziplock bag, and keep them for 3 months or so.
Another option: you can also steam the oysters open and then pickle them, which gives them a refrigerated shelf life of at least 6 weeks. Or, you can smoke oysters! We'll add instructions for pickling and smoking soon.
One quick reminder: frozen oysters are great for cooking but stick to the freshly shucked oysters for eating raw.
And, if you missed it: here's advice for how to store oysters in the shell at home, so that they'll last up to a week.
If you've got oysters on hand and are looking for advice about preparing them, here are our guides for how to grill oysters, and how to shuck oysters. Look for more oyster recipes here.