I am very surprised to see that hokkigai is not so prominent in the US.
Hokkigai clam is a specialty item in Hokkaido Japan and you can buy frozen ones. Surf clam has a crispier texture than the akagai and abalone and the meat that you are served in sushi is the top part of the cleaned surf clam, with all the rest of the meat(the intestines and the himo) detached.
In my experience, the hokkigai surf clam is served raw, but it will taste okay even if you poached it in a hot pot or shabu-shabu. Usually you do that for low grade hokkigai, but you should save it for sashimi for the good ones.
The profile picture to the right shows a natural hokkigai surf clam. The surf clam should look pinkish white in the lower body and it should look dark red on the tip of the clam. I have see some hokkigai with bright red top and a white bottom and I highly suspect they are counterfeits.
I work on one of the boats the catch the clams you are showing here. beleave me.. the ones that are solid red with a clean white bottom are not counterfeits. Email me for Pictures if you like. folkyayo@hotmail.com
That last comment is correct. A raw surf clam will appear to be a dark purple color, once blanched on board the FAS processing vessels they take on this vibrant red color. Hokkigai is never served raw, always blanched. The picture of the clam above appears to be under-blanched, or a low-grade surd clam with a pigment defect.
The surf clam with the bright red and white colour is definitely a high quality sushi clam that comes from the North Atlantic. As mentioned above, it is mildly blanched, which changes it from purple to the red colour, and is frozen at sea to maintain the top quality straight through to the consumer. Please take a look at our website for more info.
the about reader are correct, the ones that are solid red with a clean white bottom are not counterfeitslike. The reason you think the hokkigai is served raw is there might be a chance you been serve black surf clam
rather than red surf clam. The black one is much lighter im color almost to the point completly white even after it been blanched.
The funny part there are many kind of surf clam out there, but in sushi turn all of them fall under “Hokkigai”
Sorry,almost forget there also a chance you been serve a different class of clam call Aoyagi(青柳). The flesh of Aoyagi anh Hokkigai are extremeli alike.
Even in Japan, the only chance you can have Raw Hokkigai is during peek summer and early spring.