How To Cook A Geoduck

Geoducks (that's pronounced gooey-duck) are a shellfish delicacy, fetching about $30 a pound here in Seattle. But how do you cook these curious creatures? Kevin Bartlett of Taylor Shellfish at Melrose Market in Seattle showed us how.

Here's the video; we also provide a step-by-step guide with photos below.

1. First, as the Northwest children's song goes, you dig a duck. Pick the best one by checking its firm, round shape. Ask for the geoduck's tags if you're interested, and where it was harvested. Some are 3-years-old, but diggers have found ones that are a century old.

2. Set out two pots: one with boiling water, another with ice water. Plunge the geoduck into the boiling water and count to eight slowly.

3. Pull out the geoduck of the boiling water and place it in the ice water to stop the cooking process.

4. Place the geoduck on a cutting board and peel off its skin, starting at the shell end. Peel the skin off like a banana; discard the skin.

5. Toward the thicker part of the geoduck are the clam's innards. Squeeze those out and throw them away.

6. Identify the body of the geoduck. It's the part that previously held the innards. Bartlett said he likes to use that for the chowder -- it's the fatty part of the clam. Cut that part off.

7. The long part of the geoduck is its neck, called a siphon. Cut this part lengthwise. This is the crunchier part -- like a cucumber, Bartlett said. Cut thin slices, as Bartlett does in the photo below, and serve.