Steamed Clams
The soft-shell clam is the variety used. Pour boiling water into a large covered saucepan in which has been placed a brick or other similar foundation. Place the clams in a smaller dish and set this on the brick in the pan, letting the water come up around it. Cover the saucepan and cook about seven minutes. While the fish is steaming, prepare the following sauce: two tablespoons of melted butter; juice of one-half lemon, salt and pepper. Lay a napkin upon a hot platter and place the clams in their shells on this; cover with a second napkin and In eating, remove the clam from the shell and dip it in the sauce.
A plain steamer supper, with the period's improvised equipment standing in for a steamer basket. The method still works; only the hardware and the timing need attention.
- The brick is a trivetThe brick raises a smaller dish above the boiling water so the clams cook in steam rather than liquid. A steamer insert, a folding metal colander or a wire rack in a stockpot does the same job, with an inch or two of water beneath.
- Soft-shell clamsThese are the New England steamer or Ipswich clam, with a thin brittle shell and a protruding neck. Hard-shell quahogs and littlenecks are a different animal and generally take a little longer to open; if you substitute them, judge by the shells and allow extra time.
- Purge the sand firstSoft-shells hold grit in a way littlenecks do not. Soak them in cold salted water for a half hour or more, change the water, and lift them out rather than pouring, so the settled sand stays behind.
- Cull before and afterDiscard any clam whose shell gapes and will not close when tapped, and discard any that stays shut after steaming. The book assumes the cook knows this; modern practice states it.
- Seven minutes is a guideGo by the shells, not the clock. They are done as soon as they open wide and the meat is set, usually five to eight minutes for soft-shells. Longer steaming toughens them noticeably.
- The brothThe liquor that collects in the clams' dish and in the shells is the traditional second half of the dish. Strain it through cloth to catch grit and serve it in cups alongside the butter for dipping.
- The sauceTwo tablespoons of butter and half a lemon serves one or two people at most. Scale to about two tablespoons of butter per diner and keep it warm, since cold butter congeals the moment a clam hits it.
- YieldReckon one to one and a half pounds of clams in the shell per person as a first course, two pounds for a main. The napkins are there to absorb drips and hold heat; a warmed platter and plenty of paper napkins do the same.
- A gap in the textThe sentence beginning "cover with a second napkin and" breaks off in the original printing; what is lost appears to be a short serving direction. The final sentence still carries the essential instruction for eating.
Steamed soft-shell clams belong to the New England shore rather than to formal dining, and the Butterick book presents them with almost no ornament because the dish resists it: clams, steam, butter, lemon. The soft-shell, Mya arenaria, was dug from tidal flats from Maine to Long Island and was cheap enough to be everyday food, which is why it turns up in a general household manual alongside more genteel fish entrees. The napkin service may reflect a period habit of sending shellfish to the table on linen, both to soak the liquor and to keep the shells from sliding, though how widespread the practice was is hard to say. The improvised brick steamer suggests, at least in this kitchen, that a cook might be left to assemble one from whatever was at hand.