Clam Bouillon
Wash and scrub with a brush one-half peck clams, changing the water several times. Put in kettle with three cups cold water, cover tightly, and steam until shells are well opened. Strain liquor, cool, and clear.
Four lines of instruction that assume you already know what "clear" means. Here is what the recipe leaves unsaid.
- Half a peck of clamsA peck is 8 dry quarts, so half a peck is 4 quarts of clams in the shell. With the three cups of water called for, that yields roughly a quart or so of finished bouillon, depending on the size of the clams.
- Which clamsThe recipe does not specify; either hard-shell clams (quahogs) or soft-shell steamers will work. Quahogs give a stronger, saltier liquor; littlenecks are milder, and a broth that discards the meat is a costly use for them.
- Scrubbing is not optionalThe repeated water changes are there to purge grit. Any clam that stays open when tapped, or that has a cracked shell, goes in the bin — the steaming step will open a dead clam just as readily as a live one.
- "Steam until shells are well opened"The recipe gives no time; in a tightly covered kettle this usually takes under ten minutes. Pull them as they open rather than waiting for the last holdout, since overcooked clam meat toughens.
- "Strain, cool, and clear"This is the hinge. Strain through several layers of cheesecloth, chill so the fine sand settles, then decant off the sediment. To clear properly in the period sense, whisk in a lightly beaten egg white with its crushed shell, bring slowly just to a simmer without stirring, and strain again through a cloth. The result should be pale and transparent.
- No saltClam liquor arrives already salty. Season only after clearing, and taste first; it may well need nothing.
- The meatNothing here tells you what to do with the shucked clams. Chop them for chowder, fritters or a creamed dish; they have given up much of their flavor to the broth but are still worth using.
- ServingThe recipe stops at the liquor. A spoonful of whipped cream floated on top was a common period service, or serve it chilled to a light jelly in hot weather. Refrigerate and use within two days.
Clam bouillon belongs to a genre the Boston Cooking School took seriously: light, clear broths served to convalescents, at afternoon receptions, and as the opening course of a dinner too long to begin with anything substantial. Fannie Farmer's book gives a run of them, and the emphasis on clearing reflects a period in which a cloudy consommé was a fault. The clams themselves were a New England staple that cost little; the labor of scrubbing, steaming, straining and clarifying half a peck of them for a quart of transparent liquid is what turned a cheap shellfish into something fit for a company table. Clam broth was also sold bottled by the late nineteenth century and promoted as a restorative, which is roughly the position it occupies in this section of the book.