Clam-Bake Roast
Wash clams in sea water. Roast by laying them on hot stones upon a thin layer of seaweed. A piece of heavy canvas spread over the clams is the best way of keeping the steam in.
Three sentences of instruction that assume a beach, a fire and a working knowledge of tides. The method is sound; almost everything that makes it work is left unsaid.
- The hinge: the stones do the cookingThe fire is built on the rocks, burned down to embers over an hour or more, then the embers and ash are raked off so only clean hot stone remains. Clams laid on live coals scorch and fill with ash; clams laid on stones that were never properly heated never steam at all.
- Seaweed means rockweedThe traditional layer is knotted wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum) or bladder wrack (Fucus vesiculosus), the brown weeds with air bladders along the fronds. The water held in the fresh weed is what makes the steam, so it must be wet, not the dry stuff at the high-tide line.
- Sea water, and whether to use itRinsing in sea water was normal when the recipe was written and coastal water was cleaner. Water drawn near harbors, moorings or storm outfalls should not be used; a strong salt solution, about 1/3 cup salt per gallon, does the same job.
- Purge the sand firstSoft-shell clams in particular hold grit. An hour or two standing in cold salted water lets them spit it out; cornmeal in the water is a folk addition whose value is disputed.
- Sort the clamsUse only live clams: shells shut tight, or gaping shells that close when tapped. Discard anything that stays open, smells of anything but the sea, or has a broken shell.
- Canvas, and what to use insteadThe heavy canvas is a steam trap, and it must be soaked before it goes on. A wet cotton tarpaulin is the modern equivalent. Avoid plastic sheeting, which melts onto the food.
- Timing and donenessSteamed clams over hot stones need roughly 15 to 25 minutes depending on size and how much weed is under them. They are done when the shells gape and the meat is opaque and firm at the edge; discard any that remain closed. Longer does not improve them, it toughens them.
- QuantityThe recipe gives none. Reckon a dozen to eighteen soft-shell clams per person as part of a larger shore dinner, more if the clams are the whole meal. Serve with melted butter and a cup of the collected broth for rinsing off grit.
The clambake belongs to the New England and Long Island shore, and the technique of steaming shellfish in a pit under seaweed is often said to derive from the Wampanoag, Narragansett and neighboring peoples, though that Indian-origin narrative was itself substantially shaped and popularized in the nineteenth century. By the late nineteenth century the bake had become a fixture of summer resort life and church outings, with commercial bakemasters running large pits for paying crowds, which is why a general-purpose household manual like Butterick's includes it at all. The brevity of the entry is itself telling.