Drunken clams

Last Updated on July 14, 2021 by Simon Fan

Drunken dishes, made with aromatic Shaoxing wine, are popular in Shanghai and the neighboring provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang.

While drunken chicken is best-known outside China, other drunken dishes abound. Several types of seafood, such as crabs, shrimp, and clams, are delectable after steeped in an alcoholic flavoring broth. Because drunken dishes are easy to prepare and are served chilled or cold, they will make your meal refreshing and stimulating in hot weather.

Shaoxing wine, with a beautiful amber color and complex aromas, is the soul of drunken dishes from the region, though in some dishes Chinese liquor (baijiu 白酒) may also be added. (Check out this post to learn more about Shaoxing wine and its birthplace, and get a recipe for drunken chicken.) For best results, you want to use a high-quality aged Shaoxing wine rather than something labeled “Shaoxing cooking wine.”

For this drunken clam dish, only a small amount of wine is needed to give the clams a boozy kick while letting their natural flavors shine. The preparation is straightforward: cook the clams until they’re open and just cooked through; the cooking liquid—clam juice—is mixed with Shaoxing wine, soy sauce, sugar, and aromatics to create a flavoring broth in which the clams are steeped and chilled.

You can try the recipe with another rice wine or a grape wine (white or dry sherry). You’ve probably had clam dishes prepared with a copious amount of white wine–they are technically “drunken clams!”

Drunken clams

Serves 2

Ingredients

1 lb (450 g) small clams or cockles
1 scallion, cut into 1-inch (2.5 cm) lengths
½-inch (1.3 cm) piece of ginger, thinly sliced
½ cup (120 ml) water
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine

Flavoring broth
⅔ cup (160 ml) reserved clam juice
1 tablespoon Shaoxing wine
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sugar
⅛ teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
½-inch (1.3 cm) piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 garlic, peeled and minced

1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon finely diced red bell pepper

Directions

1. Put the clams in a bowl and add cold water to cover. Let stand for 20 minutes. Scrub the clams to remove sand and grit, then rinse and drain well.
2. In a skillet, combine the scallion, ginger, water, and wine. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then add the clams. Cover and cook until the clams are open and just cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes (a few clams may take a bit longer to open). Transfer the cooked clams to a plate and discard those that remain closed. With each clam, leave the meat on the half shell and remove and discard the other half. Strain the clam juice from the skillet, plus any collected on the plate. You’ll need about ⅔ cup (160 ml) clam juice, so top it up with water if you have less.
3. Add the clam juice and the other ingredients for the flavoring broth to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, then turn off the heat. Transfer the mixture to a heatproof bowl, and let it cool to room temperature.
4. Place the clams in a shallow serving bowl (or a deep plate). Pour the cooled mixture over the clams, and drizzle in the sesame oil. Cover and transfer the bowl to the refrigerator until the clams are chilled, 1 to 2 hours. Serve the clams chilled or cold (leave it on the counter until slightly below room temperature), garnished with the diced pepper.