Steamers Taste Better With Head Warmer Removed

Article in New York Times today on a longtime New Yorker who has moved to Maine and learned new culinary tricks. One of her suggestions has to do with cooking clams and she describes "the simplest method is to pluck a just-steamed steamer straight from the shell, swish it in hot water, dip it in melted butter and slurp it down". No mention of removing the neck warmer before before swishing, dipping or slurping. One possibility is that she forgot to mention that she does remove the head warmer before eating clam or actually holds the clam by the head warmer and just eats the belly or does not  know the head warmer is supposed to be removed and eats it along with rest of the clam.