Kitchen Essential

Razor clams should first be steamed for 10 minutes to open them. The meats should be shaken out and the clams should be cleaned by removing the stomachs and splitting open the necks. They should then be washed and cut into sections. The clams should be soaked in 60% brine (1 lb 14 oz salt to 1 gallon of water) for 5 minutes, then rinsed in cold water and drained on racks for 15 minutes.

Smoking

After draining, the meats should be placed on wire racks, oiled with vegetable or olive oil and smoked in very light smoke for 30 minutes at 105^° F. Dense smoke should then be produced and the clams should be smoked for a further 2 hours in this smoke. For the last 30 minutes of the process, smoking should be carried out at a temperature of 170^° F. Weight loss should be 25 - 30%.’

Smoked partridge, chukor and ogridge

The grey partridge is a familiar bird in Britain and Europe. Latterly its fortunes have declined in Britain, but its status is now improving owing to the increased awareness of shooting enthusiasts that the species needs help in the form of rearing programmes.

The red-legged or French partridge has always remained in a cliff hanging position, thriving well in some areas yet seemingly incapable of gaining a foothold in some parts, even though helped by man.

The chukor is a handsome bird, resembling a large French partridge in appearance. It is an Asiatic and Balkan species, not as yet appearing in the wild state in Britain, but it is bred on one or two game farms purely as a table bird and is also crossed with the French partridge to produce the ogridge, a made-up name for a man-made bird, which is now being released as a sporting bird.

All these birds are particularly suitable for smoking and, in common with all game birds to be smoked, they should not be hung until they become ‘high’ or ‘gamey’. The chukor is naturally frozen by the producers, within 24 hours of killing, so can obviously be guaranteed fresh enough for smoking when it is purchased.

My own attitude to young grey partridges is similar to my ideas on young grouse, namely that they are really too much of a rarity in most households to justify any other treatment than conventional cooking methods. However there is a strong case for smoking the over-yeared birds which one would normally casserole or put in a game pie. My sentiments differ somewhat on the French partridge. The young birds are not so fine-fleshed or delicately flavoured as their grey or ‘English’ cousins, and can be mass produced on game farms fairly easily, so I can see nothing against smoking them.

A word on distinguishing old from young partridges is appropriate. The first flight feather on a young grey partridge is V-shaped at the tip. This feather on an old partridge is U- shaped. A young French has a very thin, cream coloured tip to the first flight feather, about 1/4 in. in length. The old bird has no such tip.

Grey or French partridges and ogridges should be placed in 80% brine for 1¹/4 hours. The chukor, being a larger bird, requires soaking for 11/2 hours. After rinsing in cold water, the birds should be allowed to dry for about 8 hours. Cold smoking at 70 - 85°F should be carried out for 12 - 18 hours, depending on species, the chukor of course requiring the longer period. The birds will now need oiling with vegetable or olive oil before being transferred to the hot smoke oven.

For old birds, the smoke oven should be pre-heated to 200° F and smoking maintained at this temperature for 21/2 - 3 hours. Young birds should be hot smoked at 210 - 225°F for a period of 11/2 - 2 hours, giving chukor 15 minutes longer.

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