Clam bake

“ Have a thick top crust of good pastry, but none at the bottom of the bake dish. Fill with alternate layers of the minced clams, season with salt, pepper, a few drops of onion juice, some bits of butter and a few teaspoonfuls of strained tomato sauce, and thin slices of boiled potatoes. Dredge each layer of clams with flour. Lastly, pour in a cupful of clam juice, put on the crust and bake half an hour in a quick oven.—From "The National Cook Book," by Marion Harland and Christine Terhune Herrick. ”

“ One who has never had the good luck to taste, at a New England picnic, beans baked in the ground really does not know beans, though his home be in Boston. Nor does any one know the epicurean possibilities inherent in seafood unless he has attended a shore clam-bake, at which lobsters, clams, and fish, just out of the water and wrapped in layers of seaweed, were cooked over heated stones, the whole being covered with more seaweed to prevent the escape of the heat and the flavors. ”

“ They always come and stare at us when we have our Bakes, and generally, when we are fishing or digging clams on the shore, they come and stand in [Pg 228] the water, and watch us by the hour, with their big, serious eyes.”
Rosie asked Aunt Gertrude if she might give the good cows some clam-bake? ”

“ Shell fish are not so apt to spoil as the other fish.
The wood cookery dishes will be found of great value in cooking all kinds of fish in paper bags. In many cases the flavor of the fish is improved and the fish can [26] always be taken from the bag with ease and served whole if desired.
Clam Pies.—Line little tins or moulds with paste and put in a layer of raw clams with a seasoning of butter and pepper. Dredge with flour, add a spoonful or two of clam juice, cover with the paste, cut a hole in the top, brush with beaten egg, slip into the bag, fasten and bake twenty minutes. ”

“ Cut a slice of fat bacon into the smallest dice, add four of these to each shell, strew over the top a thin layer of cracker-dust, place a pat of table butter on top, and34 bake in the oven until brown. They are delightful when properly prepared.
Clam Toast.—Chop up two dozen small clams into fine pieces; simmer for thirty minutes in hot water enough to cover them. Beat up the yolks of two eggs; add a little cayenne and a gill of warmed milk; dissolve half a teaspoonful of flour in a little cold milk; simmer all together; pour over buttered toast, and serve. ”

“ With appetite whetted by the delicious breezes coming over the bright waters of the bay, the meal is relished beyond description. There are millions of clams thus consumed, but their growth is enormous, and the supply seems perennial. The chief of these places is Rocky Point, a forest-covered promontory, the favorite resort of the population of the Rhode Island capital, where the "clam-bakes" have acquired great fame. ”

“ Scald the clams in their own liquor. If opened by steaming, they are sufficiently cooked. Chop them into fine dice and measure. To each cupful of chopped clams add one cupful of thick cream sauce. For one cupful of sauce put into a saucepan one tablespoonful of butter; when melted, stir in one tablespoonful of flour; cook, but not brown it; then add slowly one half cupful of clam liquor and one half cupful of milk or cream; season with pepper, and salt if necessary. Let it cook until a smooth, thick cream, stirring all the time ”

“ Those sold in our markets are generally ready for frying or stewing.
Dip them in beaten egg, then in cracker-crumbs and fry in hot lard.
Or, You may stew like oysters. The fried scallops are generally preferred.
Scalloped Clams.
Chop the clams fine, and season with pepper and salt. Cayenne pepper is thought to give a finer flavor than [68] black or white; but to some palates it is insufferable. Mix in another dish some powdered cracker, moistened first with warm milk, then with the clam liquor, a beaten egg or two, and some melted butter. Stir in with this the chopped clams. ”

“ The white wine and salt are put into a dish and the clams put in and shaken over the fire until they open. The inside is then taken out, the shells thrown away. The clam liquor is used for dressing or gravy. Heat 1⁄4 lb. of butter, stir in the flour and add cream, the liquor from the clams, chopped champignons and let it boil a few minutes, stirring constantly; then stir in the 3 yolks of eggs and set aside. ”

“ Add enough milk to make rather a stiff dough or batter. Drop by spoonfuls into boiling broth. There should be broth enough to cook up around the dumplings, but not enough to cover them. Boil for half an hour, and do not lift the cover until done.
Homemade clam soup. Put three dozen Little Neck clams with their juice in a sauce pan. Add one pint of cold water, bring to a boil, and skim well. Then add one-half pint of boiling cream and two ounces of butter. When the butter is melted add one cup of broken saltine crackers, and season with salt, pepper, and a little chopped parsley. ”

“ Take the pork and onions from the pan and add to the chopped clams. Put the flour into the fat remaining in the pan, and stir until smooth and frothy. Add this mixture to the clam broth and cook for ten minutes longer. Now put the potato cubes in a stewpan and strain the clam broth over them. Season with the salt and pepper, and cook for 94twenty minutes. Split the crackers and soak them in the milk for four minutes. Add the soft parts of the clams and the milk and crackers to the cooking mixture. When all boils up, serve. ”

“ Oh, sweet friends! hearken to me. It was made of small juicy clams, scarcely bigger than hazel nuts, mixed with pounded ship biscuit, and salted pork cut up into little flakes; the whole enriched with butter, and plentifully seasoned with pepper and salt. Our appetites being sharpened by the frosty voyage, and in particular, Queequeg seeing his favourite fishing food before him, and the chowder being surpassingly excellent, we despatched it with great expedition: when leaning back a moment and bethinking me of Mrs. Hussey’s clam and cod announcement, I thought I would try a little experiment. ”

“ In the delights of that festive hour, I forgot the croaking of the ancient mariner, for I was about to taste a clam for the first time in my life, and it was a most absorbing moment. Perched about on the rocks like hungry penguins, we watched the jovial cooks with breathless interest, as they struggled with refractory frying-pans, fish that stubbornly refused to brown, steaming seaweed and hot stones. ”

“ You should have as many clams as will make a large pint when minced. Make a batter of seven eggs, beaten till very thick and light; and then mixed gradually with a quart of milk, and a pint of sifted flour, stirred in by degrees, and made perfectly smooth and free from lumps. Then, gradually, mix the minced clams with the batter, and stir the whole very hard. Have ready in a frying pan over the fire a sufficiency of boiling lard. Put in, with a spoon, the batter so as to form fritters, and fry them light brown. Drain them well when done, and serve them up hot. ”

“ Cover the pot closely. As soon as the shells open the clams are cooked. When hard shell clams are taken from the shells, clip off with scissors the hard rim from each one. The clam juice should be saved and put aside to settle, the clear liquor can then be poured off. It is used to some extent in nearly all dishes made from clams.
If an oyster or a clam has its shells open, pick [292] it up in your hand. If it closes it is all right, if it remains open throw it away for it is dead. Only death prevents these creatures from shutting their doors. ”

“ The inventive genius of the pioneer women found generous exercise in the manufacture of new dishes. The variations were rung on fish, potatoes and clams in a way to pamper epicures. Clams in fry, pie, chowder, soup, stew, boil and bake—even pickled clams were found an agreeable relish. The great variety of food fishes [Pg 53] from the kingly salmon to the tiny smelt, with crabs, oysters, etc., and their many modes of preparation, were perpetually tempting to the pioneer appetite. ”

“ A couple of large clam shells which he had found on the beach, served to carry water. He had in his pocket a flint and steel, with which he soon managed to produce a blaze. While the shell-fish were cooking, he opened the cask, which he found contained flour. Though the outside was wet, by digging down to a little depth, he found the interior perfectly dry. A clam shell served him as a kneading-dish, and he quickly made some dough cakes, which he baked in the embers. He was thus able to enjoy a very satisfactory breakfast, although he had cold water alone as a beverage. ”

“ Cream of Clam Soup Make same as French Oyster Soup, using clams in place of oysters.
Clam Consommé Wash two quarts clams in shell. Put in kettle with one-fourth cup cold water, cover, and cook until shells open. Strain liquor through double thickness cheese-cloth, add to four cups consommé, and clear.
Clam and Chicken Frappé Wash and scrub with a brush two quarts clams, changing water several times. Put in kettle with one-half cup cold water, cover tightly, and steam until shells are well opened. Remove clams from shells and strain liquor through double thickness cheese-cloth. ”

“ Take six of the tiniest quahogs obtainable and put them in a glass with a tablespoon of the clam liquor, add a speck of cayenne, a saltspoon of ground celery, a teaspoon of tomato catsup, a teaspoon of vinegar and one of Worcestershire sauce. Stir thoroughly with a fork and eat one by one. When the clams are gone, drink the remaining contents of the glass. ”

“ Clam fritters when prepared according to the recipe given herein, is one of the best methods of preparing the clam, and it has the peculiarity of being so tasty that one feels that there is never enough cooked.
Of all the ways of cooking clams chowder takes precedence as a rule, and it is good when made properly. By that we do not mean the thin, watery stuff that is served in most of the restaurants and called clam chowder just because it happens to be made every Friday. That is fairly good as a clam soup but it is no more chowder than a Mexican soup approaches a crawfish bisque. ”

“ On the seaweed, spread the clams so the vegetables, &c., may be placed on top of them: then, in order, put on onions, sweet or Irish potatoes, or both, green corn, then the (blue or cod) fish, and a live lobster, if one can be had; if not, a boiled one, which will be very nice warmed up in this way.
Every thing to be used should be close at hand, to be put on the oven rapidly while it is very hot. Cover the whole bake with a piece of cheap cotton cloth, to keep out dirt; then cover all with seaweed until no steam escapes. Bake thirty-five minutes. ”

“ Make a sauce of the liquor, mixed with same quantity of milk, with a tablespoon of butter added, chopped parsley and flour to thicken. When making oyster or clam fritters use same rule as for fruit fritters, using clam juice and milk instead of all milk.
For the "fritter batter," sift together 1 pint of flour, 2 teaspoonfuls baking powder and a pinch of salt. Stir slowly into it a pint of milk, then the well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs, and, lastly, the stiffly-beaten whites of eggs. Beat hard for a few minutes and fry at once in smoking hot fat. ”

“ Beat the egg yolks first; then add the milk; melt the butter and put that in, then the flour, well mixed with the baking-powder, then the salt and sugar. Last, add the stiff whites of the eggs. Fill the pans half full.
"Some things, like cake, cannot bear to have the oven door opened while they are baking," said Mother Blair; "but salmon does not mind if you open quickly; so, Mildred, put these in as fast as you can; they will take about twenty minutes to bake. I do believe that is all we have to make except the tea, and that takes only a moment when everything else is ready. ”

“ If the salt is left in them, as they come from their native beds, their liquor will ferment, and they will quickly spoil.
The above facts are gathered from the most intelligent men in the shell-fish business in Connecticut—men who have had many years' experience in gathering oysters and clams, and preparing them for home and foreign consumption. They are all agreed that by judicious floating in the shell, and by washing and soaking when out of the shell, the oyster and the clam increase in bulk and improve in quality and flavor. ”

“ Have thirty-six fresh and rather small soft clams, throw away all the hard part, keeping nothing but the body. Place them in a stewpan with two ounces of butter, half a pinch of pepper, a finely chopped shallot, and half a glassful of Madeira wine. Let cook on the hot stove for seven minutes, then add a gill of Espagnole sauce (No. 151) , a pinch of chopped parsley, the juice of a medium-sized, good lemon, and half an ounce of good butter, shuffling the whole well for three minutes longer, without letting it boil, then pour the clams into a hot tureen, and serve. ”

“ When a fat man laffs, his little head sinks down into his shirt collar, and disappears in the fat, like a turtle's head when you tickle his nose with a sharp stick.
And then to see them eat clams. I've seen men punish clams by the bushel—by the barrel—but never did I see men shovel clams in by the cart load before.
"Gee-whitaker," said I, to a Reporter of a N.Y. Journal, "them critters must have a dredful elastic stomack."
"Yes," said he, "when Fat-men get clam hungry, the sea banks has to give up her clams, and the grocery keepers furnish the seasonin'." ”

“ Clam Chowder. 100 clams. 1 sliced onion. 12 butter or other small crackers, that can be split. 12 tomatoes, peeled and chopped. 1 tablespoonful minced parsley and half the quantity of mixed thyme, summer savory and sweet marjoram. A large pinch of mace and the same of cayenne pepper. 1 cup of milk—hot—for soaking the crackers, and butter for spreading them. 3 tablespoonfuls butter for chowder. Salt. ”