Steamed Egg with Clams

⭐ The most impressive-looking version in the dive for the least actual work.

Clams are nestled into the raw custard, and as it steams they open and release their liquor straight down into the egg. You get a pale, set custard studded with open shells, and the seasoning arrives from inside the dish rather than out of a bottle.

🔴 So go very light on added salt. Clam liquor is properly saline and it is going into a small volume of custard. Season the egg with barely anything and add soy at the table if it needs it — I have oversalted this dish more than once and there is no coming back from it.

⚠ Purge the clams properly or the whole bowl is gritty. There is no straining sand out of a set custard.

Ingredients

• 12 small clams (littleneck, manila, or similar)
• 3 large eggs (about 150 g — weigh them)
• 225 g warm water or light stock

Scant 1/8 tsp salt — see the description

• 1 tsp Shaoxing wine
• To finish
• 1 tsp light soy sauce
• 1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 scallion, green part only, sliced
• Coriander, if you like it

Directions

1. Purge the clams: cover with cold salted water (about 35 g salt per litre — roughly seawater) and leave 1–2 hours in the fridge, changing the water once. 🔴 Do not skip this. Lift them out rather than pouring, so the grit stays behind.
2. Discard any clam that stays open when you tap it.
3. Weigh the eggs, add 1.5× their weight in warm water, add the scant salt and the Shaoxing, beat gently with chopsticks and strain through a fine sieve into a wide, shallow dish.
4. Skim the foam.
5. Nestle the clams hinge-down into the custard, spaced out, most of the shell submerged. They will open upward and spill their liquor into the egg rather than over the side.
6. Cover the dish with foil or a lid.
7. Steam over a bare simmer for 12–14 minutes, until the custard wobbles as a unit and every clam has opened.
8. ⚠ Discard any clam that did not open.
9. Uncover, thread over the soy and sesame oil, scatter scallion and coriander. Serve immediately.

Notes

⭐ Do not pre-steam the clams and add them. The entire point is that their liquor goes into the custard, and if you open them separately you have thrown away the seasoning and are left with decoration.

Timing: the clams and the custard are conveniently close — small clams open in about 8 minutes and the custard is done at 12–14. Big clams will overshoot the egg; use small ones.

Mussels work and are cheaper, though they release more liquid and the custard will be looser. Cut the added water by about 25 g if you use them.

🔴 A dish this shallow and this wide is what makes it work. Deep bowls hide the clams and cook unevenly.

In the dive: China — the everyday bowl.