Razor Clam Farters...I mean, Fritters

My mind was aglow the other night trying to come up with ways to prepare all of these razor clams that we just harvested off of the Washington Coast at Grayland. I then remembered the crab fritters I made this summer (sorry, no pictures for those so they are not up...Maybe this summer though) and that was enough: clam fritters it was. I used my great grandma's cast iron skillet to fry them in and I also used Crisco to fry them, which I had never used before. They turned out great - not one fritter left over.

The first thing I did was take the whole clams and put them in the Cuisinart and pulse them about 4 times, each pulse about one second. I wanted the clam meat to stay a decent size but not too big. Above equals about 10 razor clams.

The trusted cast iron skillet, seasoned for over 50 years now...The white in the corner of the skillet is the Crisco melting.

After I made up the batter, I let it sit in the refrigerator for about an hour to set up before I fried them. Once they were done frying - about 2 to 3 minutes per side - I put them on a wire rack and then on a sheet pan. I used a wire rack because paper towels will make the fritter turn soft and it will lose it's crunch.

The first fritter...

The inside of said fritter...

RAZOR CLAM FRITTERS

1) 12 cleaned, whole razor clams
2) 1 cup sifted flour
3) 1 teaspoon salt
4) 2/3 cup clam nectar or a combination of nectar and a little milk
5) 2 eggs well beaten
6) 1 teaspoon pepper
7) Crisco or your favorite oil to fry in.

First take up the clams and pulse them in Cuisinart or chop them up to a medium dice; you want chunks of clam but not too bit. Sift the dry ingredients together into a bowl and then fold in the clams and nectar/milk to form the batter. You want the batter sticky and able to hold together easy. To help with this, I suggest letting the batter sit in the refrigerator for about an hour.
Heat up a large skillet with about 3 inches of oil in the bottom. I try to keep the oil at about 350 degrees. Then drop them into the skillet with a measuring cup and cook about 2 - 3 minutes per side, flipping once. When they are done, spread them out on a wire rack and keep them warm in a 250 degree oven. They are really good with tartar sauce and a little lemon juice.