Arselle

Let me tell you about arselle, and you will never confuse them with vongole again, even though they end up in the same pot.

Arselle are small clams, of the genus Donax, the kind that live where the sand meets the tide line, washed back and forth all day long. Smell them before you buy. A fresh arselle smells of clean seawater, nothing else. If it smells sour or muddy, leave it in the shop.

Buy them alive, shells shut tight or closing fast when you tap them. A clam that stays gaping and does not react is dead, and a dead clam does not belong in your pasta.

Some people say arselle are just small vongole. No! Pick one up and look at the shell — the shape alone tells you it is a different animal. Treat them like vongole on the stove, same garlic, same white wine, same olive oil, but stand by the pot and watch the shells. The moment they open, pull the pan off the heat right away. Walk away for even a minute, and you will come back to rubber where tender clam meat used to be.