Whole Belly Clams are the best type of clams for frying.
Although most other types of clams are great for frying I find that the whole belly clams are the absolute best clams when it comes to frying the clams.
When eating clams you do eat the whole clam if you want too.
There's no rule that says you have to eat every bit of the clam but most people do eat the whole entire clam.
However some people are grossed out by some parts of the clam and then they do not eat those gross parts of the clam which is okay.
Only eat the parts of the clam that you like to eat and throw the rest of the clam out if you don't want to eat the entire clam.
There are 8 to 12 shucked clams in one pound of clams depending on the species of the clams as some clams weigh more than others even when shucked.
Each lb of shucked clams serves between 2 to 3 people.
A bushel of clams weighs about 50 to 60 lbs depending on the species of clams in the bushel of clams.
A bushel of soft shell clams weighs around 50 lbs while a bushel of hard shell clams weighs around 60 lbs and there are 4 pecks of clams in a bushel.
When steaming clams you can steam as many clams at once as you can fit into the pot.
I usually steam about 1 lb of clams at one time unless I am serving more people then I steam as many clams as I need at once.
If you are needing to steam a lot of clams for a party, gathering etc then you can steam them all at once using more pots on the stove.
Don't overfill the pot with the clams but allow some room for them to move around while steaming them.
I fill the pot to about halfway with the clams and then fill the rest of the pot to near full with water.
However you don't want the water to boil over in the pot when steaming the clams so don't fill the pot completely with water.
Just add enough water to cover the clams and then allow them to steam after bringing the pot to a boil then turn the pot down so that it's not boiling.