Seasonal Shellfish

[Anchor Lead]

In Korea, cockles are a seasonal delicacy in the winter and the spring. With its chewy texture and sweet taste, the small shellfish is also nutritious. Koreans prefer lightly boiled or steamed cockles. But there are many methods that are just as delicious, as we’ll show you in today’s Close Up.

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Small shellfish pour out of a net. Some people find them unfamiliar. These are cockles, which are both tasty and nutritious.

[Soundbite] Prof. Song Tae-hee(Baewha Women's University) : "Rich in essential amino acids, vitamin B and calcium, cockles boost children's growth. They also help prevent anemia with a great content of iron."

Cockles are also rich in taurine, a substance that helps ease fatigue and boost immunity. Full of nutrition, the small shellfish is caught in the western and southern coastal areas. It is in season between November and March. Let's go to restaurants known for good cockle dishes. This restaurant serves cockles in a large earthenware pot. It looks like kimchi jjigae. Noodles are revealed in a scoop. It is a bowl of cockle pasta.

[Soundbite] Cho Kook(Cockle Restaurant Chef) : "I tried to find a soup ingredient that can appeal both to Koreans and foreigners. I found that it tasted better when cooking with cockles than other kinds of shellfish.
This is how I came up with cockle pasta."

Let's learn how to make it. A spicy sauce is boiled with tomatoes and vegetables. Slightly boiled pasta noodles and various seafood, like crabs and mussels, are mixed in the sauce. Shelled cockle meat goes in last. Here is a pot of spicy cockle pasta. The very sight of it might make you sweat. This restaurant boasts another popular dish. Cockle meat is seasoned with the restaurant's special sauce and served with spicy mixed rice on a large dish. This is cockle mixed rice. The portions are generous enough for multiple people to share together. Let's try cockle dishes at home. The first is cockle fries. Before cooking the shellfish, it is important to remove the mud and dirt. Cockles are cleaned well in running water and soaked in salty water for half a day. However, there is a way to significantly slash the time needed for this preparation.

[Soundbite] Kim Woe-soon(Culinary Expert) : "Mud and dirt can be removed within an hour when metal objects like a spoon is put together with cockles. The process will be shorter when cockles are covered with a sheet of dark cloth or newspaper."

Now, let's boil the prepared cockles. Cockles taste best when they are put in salty cold water and boiled slowly. When shells of about half of the total cockles are open, the heat should be turned off to preserve the taste and mouthfeel. The boiled cockle meat is marinated with soy sauce, sesame oil, cooking wine and pepper. Then they are mixed with eggs, starch flour and diced burdock roots. Next, the cockles are fried in pre-heated oil. If you want a crispier taste, fry the cockles one more time. Let's make a sauce with water, vinegar, sugar, soy sauce, red pepper paste and some syrup. Fried cockles are mixed with this spicy but sweet sauce. The addition of chopped peanuts makes it even more inviting. Here is a dish of fried cockles that boast a crispy and chewy texture. Cockles are a seasonal favorite among many Koreans for their savory taste and nutritious value. Enjoy the seasonal delicacy and add greater variety to your dining table.