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Blanched Geoduck
Geoduck sliced paper-thin, blanched for twenty seconds, iced, and served over glass noodles with aged tangerine peel and a soy-wasabi dip. Adapted for a home kitchen from the original ClouChef R&D report — 白灼象拔蚌, report 24.
Original poster image from clouchef.com (poster: 白灼象拔蚌_24.jpeg). This is the hero poster only, not a step-by-step photo set.
Prep: 10 minutesCook: 5 minutesTotal: 15 minutesServings: 2Difficulty: MediumRegion: CantoneseFlavour: Fresh-sweet (chenpi and ginger)
Why this works
Geoduck is prized for a texture that exists in a window of seconds: slice it 2–3 mm thick, blanch it for exactly twenty seconds in a fragrant broth, and it curls into crisp, sweet ribbons; five seconds longer and it turns leathery, and there is no way back. The broth itself is seasoned but light — aged tangerine peel, ginger, scallion and wine in two litres of water — so it perfumes without masking, and the immediate ice bath stops the cooking dead and locks in the snap. Glass noodles underneath catch the juices and give the plate substance, while the remaining tangerine peel, blanched scallion and ginger threads on top repeat the broth's aromas in solid form. The soy and wasabi dip stays on the side, so each diner controls the salt and heat against a flavour that is, at its best, almost unseasoned sweetness. Serve it at once, while the slices are still cold and crisp against the warm noodles beneath them.
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Ingredients
| Ingredient | US | Metric | Substitute / note |
|---|---|---|---|
| Live geoduck, in shell (1.5–2 jin) | About 10.6 oz meat | 300 g | Net meat from one clam. Specialist ingredient — a live geoduck from a Chinese seafood market; buy it alive and use it the same day. |
| Aged tangerine peel (chenpi), 3-year | 2 pieces | 2 pieces | Boiled 2 minutes, then shredded; half goes in the broth, half on top. |
| Dried glass noodles (longkou) | 1.8 oz | 50 g | Boiled until transparent, about 3 minutes, then cooled and cut into 15 cm lengths. |
| Scallions | 0.7 oz | 20 g | Cut into segments; half for the broth, half blanched 5 seconds for garnish. |
| Old ginger | 0.5 oz | 15 g | Sliced; half for the broth, half blanched 5 seconds for garnish. |
| Japanese soy sauce (koikuchi) | 2 tbsp | 30 ml | For the dip. |
| Wasabi paste | 1 tsp | 5 g | For the dip; the report's ratio is soy to wasabi 1:0.2 by weight, which is 30 g to 6 g — 5 g is the rounded home measure (adaptation). |
| Cooking wine | 2 tsp | 10 ml | Yellow wine, for the blanching broth. |
| Water, for the blanching broth | About 8 cups | 2000 ml | — |
| Ice water, for shocking | As needed | As needed | Drinking water with ice, 0–4 °C; replace every 2 hours if holding, per the report. |
Equipment
- Large pot for the blanching broth
- Bowl of ice water
- Sharp knife for thin slicing
- Chilled serving plate (home adaptation: chill the plate in the fridge)
Steps
- Prepare the geoduck and accompaniments. Scrub the shell, open along the seam, remove the meat whole and peel off the outer membrane. Remove the innards, slice the siphon (the trunk) into 2–3 mm slices, and keep the body for soup if you like. Boil the glass noodles until transparent, about 3 minutes, cool in cold water, drain and cut into 15 cm lengths. Boil the tangerine peel for 2 minutes and shred finely. Cut the scallion into segments and the ginger into slices.
- Blanch for twenty seconds. Bring 2 litres of water to a rolling boil with half the tangerine peel shreds, the ginger slices, scallion segments and cooking wine. Add the geoduck slices and time exactly 20 seconds, so the centres reach at least 70 °C / 158 °F per the report. Lift out at once and plunge into ice water (0–4 °C) for 10 seconds until completely cool.
- Assemble. Bed the plate with the cooked glass noodles and lay the iced geoduck slices over them. Scatter the remaining tangerine peel shreds and the scallion and ginger threads blanched for 5 seconds in boiling water. Mix the soy sauce and wasabi and serve it in a separate dish. Serve on a chilled plate, with the slices snow-white and naturally curled.
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Technique: twenty seconds, then ice
The blanch is a kill step and a texture step at once, and both depend on the clock: twenty seconds in boiling broth is long enough for the centre to pass 70 °C but short enough that the proteins only just set, keeping the snap. The ice bath is not optional garnish — without it, residual heat keeps cooking the slices for another minute on the plate, and the dish is ruined before it reaches the table. Slice evenly, or the thin pieces overcook while the thick ones stay raw.
Variations
- Razor clams: use large razor clams sliced the same way for a similar crisp-sweet result at lower cost, though the flavour is less sweet (adaptation).
- No wasabi: serve with soy sauce and a little grated ginger instead (adaptation).
Frequently asked questions
Where do I buy geoduck?
Live from a Chinese seafood market or a specialist fishmonger; it is sold by weight, alive, and must be used the same day. It is expensive — that is normal for this dish.
Why is my geoduck tough?
It was blanched longer than twenty seconds, sliced too thick, or not iced immediately. All three must be right.
Can I eat it raw as sashimi?
This recipe deliberately blanches it; raw geoduck is a different preparation with its own sourcing and handling requirements, and this page does not cover it.
Storage and freezing
Best eaten within minutes of plating, on a chilled plate. Do not keep leftovers: blanched geoduck loses its snap within hours and should not be reheated. Buy and prepare it the day you serve it.
Blanched Geoduck — Recipe Card
Twenty-second blanched geoduck over glass noodles with tangerine peel and a soy-wasabi dip.
Prep: 10 minutesCook: 5 minutesTotal: 15 minutesServings: 2
Ingredients: 300 g geoduck meat; 50 g glass noodles; 2 pieces aged tangerine peel; 20 g scallions; 15 g ginger; 30 ml Japanese soy sauce; 5 g wasabi; 10 ml cooking wine; 2000 ml water.
Steps: 1) Clean geoduck, slice 2–3 mm; cook noodles and chenpi. 2) Blanch slices exactly 20 seconds, ice 10 seconds. 3) Assemble over noodles, garnish, serve dip separately.
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Source note: ingredients, quantities and steps are adapted from the original ClouChef R&D report for 白灼象拔蚌 (data/reports/24.md). The report's pricing, margin and marketing sections are deliberately omitted here; no B2B cost is presented as a home-cook cost. The report's own cost tables are arithmetically wrong by an order of magnitude (a materials total of 759.62 against itemised lines that do not support it), so no cost figures are reproduced. The chilled-plate note, the wasabi rounding and the razor-clam variation are adaptations and are labelled as such. Original poster image: clouchef.com (白灼象拔蚌_24.jpeg).