"clams" news and stories

• When it comes to chowder, you need the right clams. And for the right clams, Bostonians depend on this guy.
• If you fork over $20 for a burger, exactly what are you getting? This had better be more than just a prime cut.
• Don't call this classic white, flaky fish, "trash." Hake is good eating, and the best seafood bargain now.
• Want local eggs? How about really, really local eggs? We're talking your backyard and a Rent-a-Coop.

B52 on ice. Photo: quinn.anya, Flickr

• Ice isn't solely a drink chiller. It's also a fine art for bartenders concerned with chilling rather than diluting.
• Farm vacations hit stateside. Would you pay hundreds for the chance to work on one?
  
• Frank Bruni's final column notes his (often underrated) favorites around New York City.
  
• After nearly half a century, Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking" has finally topped the best-seller list.
• The Minimalist dips into peanut butter.
• Hot baths and other treatments to keep your berries from growing mold too quickly.
  

There is a whole slew of cooking shows on the web that showcase newbie cooks that can show off a good meal, but can't necessarily give you some great background information that a chef can. Above you can watch Dallas' Master Chef David McMillan prepare halibut and clams with chorizo and black bean sauce -- and he not only discusses the dish, but the particulars of what is going into the meal. For example, he explains the different flavors that can be coaxed out of garlic, and the differences between curly and flat-leaf parsley.

It's the debut show, so I imagine there will be lots of great cooking info to come in the future. Enjoy!

In the New York Times Magazine, chef Daniel Patterson, owner of Coi in San Francisco, admits to a massive kitchen taboo - he doesn't like garlic. Well, he doesn't like eye-stinging, cutting-board ruining radioactive garlic, that is. What he does like is green garlic, the young stalks of the garlic plant plucked before they reach maturity. Also known as spring or new garlic, it goes perfectly with springtime dishes like lamb, peas and fava beans. Patterson likes to turn it into a aioli-like sauce by pureeing it with egg, oil and vinegar and using it as a sandwich spread and an artichoke dip.

The story includes a great-looking recipe for linguine with green garlic sauce, which I'll have to try next time I get my hands on four pounds of Manila clams. If you try it, please let me know how it is!

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Our sister blog, Luxist, picked up the story of a Florida couple who received an unexpected year-end bonus, a rare purple pearl.

While enjoying some steamed clams at Dave's Last Resort & Raw Bar with his wife, Leslie, George Brock suddenly bit down on something hard. By now you've guessed that what stopped him midslurp was the aforementioned pearl. It's safe to say that the couple didn't expect anything from their $10 investment other than fresh seafood. Turns out they got much more than that: A gemologist's appraisal pegged the pearl's value at $25,000.

I'm no gemologist, but the last time I checked pearls, purple or otherwise, are found in oysters. I've eaten my share of oysters and clams both raw and cooked. Heck, I've had conch freshly plucked from the clear blue waters of Nassau, and I'm always game for giant clam at the sushi bar. Some might say that I've been lucky to have found only grit and stray bits of shell in my mollusks and not a nasty bug. However, the Brocks' purple pearl and the arrival of 2008 have given me hope. I resolve to eat more mollusks this year, if only for health reasons.

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