Clam chowder

“ 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. ”

“ Chopped celery, or onion, or both, improves the flavor for some people, and some like a teaspoon of chopped parsley.
No. 125. Clam Chowder.—There are innumerable ways of making this chowder, every cook book has one or more recipes for it, yet, hardly any two are alike. We give recipes for two ways of making, which we do not think can be improved upon. For the first one open clams enough to make a quart without the liquor, which you save and strain for the chowder. ”

“ Clam chowder, steamed soft clams, and raw Littlenecks are among the delicacies an American misses in Europe.
As for our scallop, Paderewski thinks it is the best edible thing America produces. Many other epicures doubtless agree with him.
As seen in our markets the scallop is simply the abductor muscle of the bivalve. The remainder of the body is thrown away or used as fertilizer, though much of it is tender and of fine Flavor. Nor is this wastefulness the only cause for complaint. The best scallops are small ”

“ The cook and a last helper of some unknown function carry our trunks to the station. But it has now suddenly become a question whether we shall go on the 12.20 or wait for the 5.20. It depends finally upon our getting a last lunch at the restaurant of the bathing-beach. We ask, limiting our demands to a [Pg 223] clam chowder. We are answered that there are still clams, but the man who knows how to make chowder is gone. The restaurant family are going to lunch upon a ham bone, which is now being scraped for them. ”

“ Jimmy Toppan and Mr. Daddles went for the clams, after the latter had changed his bathing-suit for a shirt, and a pair of duck trousers. Captain Bannister sailed the "Hoppergrass" quarter of a mile below the beach, put about, and came back in time to pick them up when they returned in the tender. Mr. Daddles was interested in the idea of a clam-chowder. He had already noticed the funny little noise which the clams made, as their shells opened and shut.
"It seems rather hard-hearted to make them into a soup," he observed, "when they sing all the time like that." ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fishiest of all fishy places was the Try Pots, which well deserved its name; for the pots there were always boiling chowders. Chowder for breakfast, and chowder for dinner, and chowder for supper, till you began to look for fish-bones coming through your clothes. The area before the house was paved with clam-shells. Mrs. Hussey wore a polished necklace of codfish vertebra; and Hosea Hussey had his account books bound in superior old shark-skin. ”

“ When the fish have stewed about twenty minutes, take them up, and mix a couple of tea spoonsful of flour with a little water, and stir it into the gravy, also, a little butter and pepper. Half a pint of white wine, spices, and catsup, will improve it. Bass and cod make the best chowder—black fish and clams make tolerably good ones. The hard part of the clams should be cut off, and thrown away. ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Fifteen to twenty years ago clams were everywhere much more abundant in this region than now, and in those days some market digging was carried on. At present the needs of the home market are with difficulty supplied from the local production, and 100 bushels per year would cover all clams dug both for food and bait. No effort has at any time been made by the town authorities to increase the industry, though the clam fishery, at least in the sheltered coves of Pamet River, is not without possibilities of development. ”

“ Bisque of Clams.—For one pint and a half of soup take a dozen large clams; stew them fifteen minutes in their own liquor, to which water is added to make three gills. Boil three gills of milk; stir one dessert-spoonful of butter and one of flour in a small saucepan till they bubble; then pour the boiling milk quickly on them, stirring all the while; stand it aside. Squeeze each clam with a lemon-squeezer, and you will find little but an empty skin remains; strain the clams and liquor to the thick white sauce already made, pressing as much juice out as possible ”

“ 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. ”

“ The smaller clams, such as are generally used for food, are often picked up on the reef in basket-loads; and many a careless child has playfully thrust its little fingers into a gaping shell, an invasion promptly resented by the owner. Happily the scream of agony generally brings some friends to the rescue: and strong as is the armour of the poor besieged clam, it offers one weak point to the enemy—namely, the cavity through which the byssus passes ”

“ Most of the clams produced at Gloucester are shucked either for market or bait.
Local legislation has no bearing on the shellfish question, and no effort is being made either to better conditions in the clam industry or to check its steady decline.
The industry has fallen off greatly in the past few years. In 1875 there were 90 regular clammers, and a man could dig 6 bushels to a tide, where now 8 regular and 23 intermittent clammers find it difficult to get from 11⁄2 bushels to 3 bushels per tide. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Thus armed, they begin to dig up the mud-homes of the unsuspecting clam: guided by the jets of water, they push down the bent stick, and experience has taught them to make sure of getting it well under the shell: placing a stone behind the stick, against which the squaw fixes her foot firmly, she lifts away: the clam comes from darkness into daylight ere he knows it, and thence into the Indian’s basket. The189 basket filled, the clam-pickers trudge back again to the lodge—and next to open him. He is not a native to be astonished with an oyster-knife ”

“ So big and weighty a shell can scarcely be sensible of its invariable burden of parasites and other encumbrances—but the variety of such tenants never fails to excite curiosity. That which is illustrated accommodated another oyster of delicate texture, a thorny clam (which has the reputation of being poisonous) , a mass of seaweed, a serpentine mollusc, two species of coral—the red organ-pipe and a mushroom—three burrowing crabs, besides a number of smaller animals, fixed and mobile, in addition to the congregation of less obvious life critical examination would undoubtedly have revealed. ”

“ The finest clam grounds of this town lie in the proscribed district of the Acushnet River, and handling or eating shellfish from this area is a positive menace to the public health.
A strip of gravel-mud about 100 feet in average width fringes the shores of Priest's Cove, and this strip furnishes at present the best digging. Scattered patches of clams occur along the indentations of Sconticut Neck, around West Island and along the coast of Little Bay. No men are regularly employed in digging clams, though a rather inefficient attempt is made at times to supply the local demand. ”

“ The clams are deposited in these huts, and in those parts of the day when the tide is in, so that the men cannot work out on the flats, and in stormy weather, they are employed in ‘shocking’ them, as it is called, that is, in opening the shell and taking out the clam, which is done with a small stout knife. ”

“ 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. ”

“ The large mussel is very toothsome. Like the oyster and clam, it was dried for winter use by the Indians.
The giant or hen clam-shell, found in every buttery within fifty miles of the coast, was the Indian's garden hoe. After a storm many clams would be cast up on the beaches, which the natives, taking out of the shells, carried home in baskets. A large shell will hold a plentiful draught of water, and is unequaled for a milk-skimmer. ”

“ Their manner of eating affords a very entertaining spectacle. Clams, either soft or hard, cut into tiny bits, form the principal food for all the dwellers in the aquarium, and a long stick with a needle driven in one end, to form a tiny spear, is used in passing it to them. When a particular crab is to be fed, a bit of clam is taken up on the needle, and lowered down in the water to a position directly in front of him. ”

“ Planting the Clams.—The planting of the seed clams is perhaps the easiest work of the clam culturist, as it necessitates merely the sowing of the seed on the surface of the flat. The small clams when left this way burrow into the ground as soon as the water is over them, and require no planting on the part of the culturist.
Working the Farm.—This style of farming requires no cultivation for the growth of the clams. Once planted, the farmer has no further work until the time when he is ready to dig them. The clams grow better when undisturbed than when the soil is upturned by frequent digging. ”

“ Of course that broke the shell and of course Corbie came down and ate the clam, without needing any vinegar or butter on it to make it taste good to him. How he learned to do this, the children never knew. Perhaps he found out by just happening to drop one he was carrying, or perhaps he saw the wild crows drop their clams to break the shells: for after nesting season they used often to come down from the mountainside to fish by the river for snails and clams and crayfish, when they were not helping the farmers by eating up insects in the fields. ”

“ On the south shore clams are now commercially extinct, and it is only a question of time, if the present methods are allowed to remain, before the north shore clams will also disappear. The experiments of the Massachusetts department of fisheries and game and the work of men who have planted this shellfish all show that thousands of dollars can be brought into the State by utilizing the waste clam areas, and that [Pg 167] the production can be so increased as to even exceed that of former years. Immediate action is necessary, if this important industry is to be saved. ”

“ Hard clams are not fit to eat, stew them as you will. Soft clams, after the tough parts are removed, are excellent stewed with a little butter, or butter rolled in flour, as directed for oysters; but being richer than oysters, they do not need so many additions. The soup is made by thinning the juice before it boils with milk, which will curdle if thrown into the boiling liquid. Hard clams make a good soup if they are cut fine and not eaten. ”