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Clam Stew
Mrs. M. L. S, Lay the clams on a gridiron over hot coals, taking them out of the shells as soon as open, saving the juice; add a of the shells as soon as open, saving the juice; add a ittle hot water , pepper, a very little salt and butter rollea n flour sufficient for seasoning; cook for five minutes and pour over toast.
A very short clam stew built on the liquor the shells give up over the fire. The whole dish depends on not overcooking the clams.
- Which clamsThe recipe does not say, but hard-shell clams (quahogs, littlenecks or cherrystones) suit this method. Buy them live with tightly closed shells, and discard any that stay shut after heating.
- Opening over coalsThe gridiron over hot coals is simply a way to make the clams open themselves and release their liquor. A covered pan over high heat with no added liquid does the same thing; catch the juice in the pan rather than losing it to the fire.
- Strain the liquorClam juice off a grill or out of the shell almost always carries grit. Pour it through a fine sieve or a coffee filter before it goes back into the pan.
- The five minutesAs written, the clams sit in the liquid for the full five minutes. Shucked clams need barely a minute in hot liquid before they tighten, so it is worth simmering the seasoned liquor to thicken and returning the clams at the very end.
- Butter rolled in flourThis is beurre manié — equal parts soft butter and flour kneaded together, then whisked into the hot liquid in small pieces. The recipe leaves the amount to judgement ('sufficient for seasoning'); about a tablespoon of each thickens a small panful.
- SaltThe "very little salt" is deliberate. Clam liquor is already saline; season only after the broth has reduced.
- Yield and servingServing -- The recipe gives no quantities or yield. Use a sturdy bread, toasted dry and firm, or it will collapse under the broth.
Clam stews of this kind belong to the coastal American habit of treating shellfish as a quick supper rather than a set-piece dish: open, season, thicken lightly, pour over toast. Toast as the base for a soupy dish was ordinary economy in nineteenth-century households, the same logic that gives us creamed oysters and oyster toast, and it let a small quantity of shellfish feed a table. Community cookbooks like this one collected such recipes under contributors' initials, and the instructions assume the reader already knows how long a clam takes to open over coals and how much butter makes a thickening. The gridiron detail suggests a kitchen with a live fire or a coal range, though gridirons were used over coals in stoves and ranges of various kinds well into the period.