Home › The World's Kitchen › Soft Shell Clams, Vaudeville

Soft Shell Clams, Vaudeville

Heat in a small saucepan one and a half tablespoons butter, adding six finely chopped shallots; cook for five minutes, occasionally stirring meanwhile, then mix in two tablespoons flour, pour in one gill hot milk, one gill cream and two tablespoons sherry. Season with half teaspoon salt, a saltspoon cayenne pepper and half a saltspoon grated nutmeg; then continually mix until it comes to a boil. Thoroughly clean thirty-six good-sized fresh, soft clams, keeping nothing but the perfect bodies, totally cleared of sand. Plunge them in a quart of boiling water for one minute. Thoroughly drain and add them to the sauce; gently mix, being careful not to break the bodies; cook for one minute. Pour into a baking dish, dredge a tablespoon bread crumbs over them and arrange a few small bits of butter over the surface. Set in the oven to bake for five minutes. Remove and serve.