Clam Lobster Bake Recipes

KITCHEN CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Slice the kielbasa diagonally into 1-inch thick slices. Set aside. Saute the onions and leeks in the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed 16 to 20 quart stockpot over medium heat for 15 minutes, until the onions start to brown.
• Layer the ingredients on top of the onions in the stockpot in this order: first the potatoes, salt, and pepper; then the kielbasa, little neck clams, steamer clams, mussels, shrimp, and lobsters. Pour in the white wine. Cover the pot tightly and cook over medium-high heat until steam just begins to escape from the lid, about 15 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and cook another 15 minutes. The clambake should be done. Test to be sure the potatoes are tender, the lobsters are cooked, and the clams and mussels are open. Remove the lobsters to a wooden board, cut them up, and crack the claws. With large slotted spoons, remove the seafood, potatoes, and sausages to a large bowl and top with the lobsters. Season the broth in the pot to taste, and ladle over the seafood, being very careful to avoid any sand in the bottom.

CLAM - LOBSTER BAKE

Steps:

• Prepare your favorite clam chowder as an appetizer.
• Serve clambake with plenty of melted butter, lemons, and watermelon.
• " Detailed directions below.
• Dig a bow-shaped pit 3 ft. in diameter and 1.5 feet deep in the center.
• Using crisscross pattern, line with double thickness of heavy duty aluminum foil, then a layer of dry rocks about the size of grapefruit. NOTE: Wet rocks can explode. Build a bonfire on top of rocks in the pit. Use firewood and kindling.
• Let the fire burn 1.5 to 2 hours or until burned down and rocks are hot. NOTE: Do not use charcoal.
• Soak corn-on-the-cob (with silk removed) and mixed greens in cold water while fire is burning.
• Wash clams and set aside. Refrigerate lobster on ice. Peel onions; remove ends. Oil potatoes.
• Once fire has burned down, work quickly to prevent rocks from losing heat. Tamp down embers.
• On top of rocks, layer pit in the following order: Half of the greens, strips of wet cheesecloth, potatoes, corn, onions, chicken halves, live lobsters and clams.
• Cover food with remaining wet cheesecloth, then greens.
• Cover pit with heavy duty aluminum foil.
• Crimp all sides to the edges of aluminum foil used to line the pit. Let food steam cook 40 to 60 minutes.
• Remove foods immediately when done. Cooking times will vary depending on temperature of rocks.
• Peek at clams after 40 minutes. If they are open and lobsters are bright red, dinner is ready.
• Serve with melted butter and lemon.

CLAM BAKE

Steps:

• Place a potatoes in a layer in the bottom of a large pot. Cover with a layer of clams, then mussels, and finally the shrimp. Pour in the vermouth and enough chicken broth to fill the pot halfway. You may not need all of the broth, depending on the size of your pot. Cut a half cup of the butter into cubes and place on top of the seafood. Cover with a lid, and seal tightly with aluminum foil.
• Bring to a boil, then simmer over medium-low heat for 45 minutes. Remove from the heat, and carefully remove the foil and lid. Remove the seafood and potatoes from the liquid and serve on a large platter, family-style.
• Melt 1/2 cup of reserved butter, and divide into 4 individual dishes for dipping. Serve with French bread and remaining softened butter for the bread.

BACKYARD LOBSTER BAKE

Steps:

• Start the fire 1 hour in advance, making sure the coals are white hot before you begin cooking.
• Spread 1/2 of the seaweed on the bottom of the tub to protect the lobsters from burning. Place lobsters on top of seaweed. Place the corn on top of the lobster, and the potatoes on top of the corn. Arrange the raw clams on top of the vegetables and top with the remaining seaweed. Pour the wine into the tub. Place the wet burlap over the food and tuck the edges into the tub to retain the steam inside.
• Place the tub on top of the coals. Every 15 minutes, moisten the burlap with water. Cook for about 45 minutes.
• Serve the lobster bake strewn out on newspapers, with melted butter, piles of coarse sea salt, and favorite spices as condiments.

STOVETOP CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Combine onions, garlic, pale ale, and water in a 16-quart stockpot. Cover with a layer of seaweed (or place a steamer basket on top of onions). Add potatoes, chorizo, and 1 tablespoon salt. Bring to a boil. Add lobsters; cook over high heat, covered, for 15 minutes. Add clams and corn; cook, covered, for 6 minutes. Add mussels and shrimp; cook, covered, until clams and mussels open and shrimp are cooked through, 4 to 8 minutes.
• Remove seafood, corn, potatoes, and chorizo using tongs, and transfer to large platters or rimmed baking sheets. Discard seaweed and any unopened clams and mussels. Strain liquid through a sieve into a bowl; add butter, swirling to melt. Squeeze lemons over clambake.

ONE POT CLAM BAKE

Steps:

• Place a steamer basket in 30-quart pot. Add wine and 12 cups water; cover and bring to a boil. Add potatoes; cover and cook 5 minutes. Add lobsters and eggs; cover and cook 10 minutes. Gently nestle corn and next 6 ingredients (and littlenecks, if using) in pot. Cover and cook 5 minutes. Add Manila clams or steamers (if using), cover, and cook 10 minutes. Add mussels, cover, and cook until shellfish open, about 5 minutes (discard any that do not open). Peel 1 egg and cut in half. If it's hard-boiled, lobsters are ready.
• Using a slotted spoon and tongs, transfer clambake to a very large platter or a table covered with newspaper. Sprinkle with spice mix. Pour broth from pot into small bowls, leaving any sediment behind. Serve clambake with broth and melted butter.

ONE-POT CLAM BAKE

Steps:

• In a 12-quart stockpot, bring wine and 3/4 cup water to a boil. Add garlic, shallots, potatoes, and 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon red-pepper flakes, if using; cover and cook 8 minutes. Add corn, clams, and lemons; cover and cook until clams have opened, 10 to 12 minutes. Add shrimp in a single layer, cover, turn off heat, and let sit until shrimp are opaque throughout, about 3 minutes.
• With tongs or a spider, transfer shellfish and vegetables to a serving platter, setting lemons aside; discard any unopened clams. Pour broth into a bowl and whisk in butter, parsley, and oregano. Scrape flesh from half the lemons into broth, discarding skins. Serve shellfish and vegetables with remaining lemons and broth for dipping.

MAINE LOBSTER BAKE

Steps:

• The Location
• Scout out the location well in advance. A rocky beach is superior for cooking, but a sandy beach is better for swimming. Decide which will be more pleasurable for your guests. If you decide on a sandy beach, you will need quite a few large, flat rocks, so choose a spot where you will not have to spend hours dragging them in. If your beach does not have a lot of driftwood, you will need to bring about twenty fireplace-size logs. You will also need newspaper and kindling. Organize your wood supply and set up the pit the day before the bake. Bring along a tarp so that you can cover the wood and keep it dry overnight. Make sure there is plenty of rockweed growing nearby; otherwise, arrange for about seventy-five pounds of it. Most lobster dealers have plenty on hand, but it is wise to order ahead of time. The small oval sacs on the rockweed release the seawater that is essential for creating steam inside the pit. Take note of the foods growing near your location. If there are lots of mussels and periwinkles, count them as part of your ingredients, but be sure to check with the Coast Guard for "red tide alert." You will have lots of time to pick them while you wait for your fire to be ready, provided you have a low tide at that time. If you intend to rake for clams, remember that you need a permit in most places.
• The Pit
• Build your pit well above the high-tide line. I have heard disaster stories of waves crashing over the pit and ruining the bake. To cook enough food for twelve to sixteen people, the pit should be about 5 x 3 1/2 feet wide and 3 feet deep.
• On a rocky beach:
• I learned how to build a pit on a rocky beach from my friend John Stevens - a lobsterman and great "bake master" from Boothbay Harbor, Maine - when, about eight years ago, we filmed a lobster bake for a PBS series called "Crazy for Food." You will not always be able to create a pit that is 3 feet deep on a rocky beach, but this is okay because the top of the pit does not have to be flush with the ground. Find an area where the stones are less that 1 foot in average size and remove them from the center as you build up the sides. You may even find an area where nature has started the pit. If you clear 2 feet down and build 1 foot up, you will still have a pit that is 3 feet deep. Be sure your tarp is big enough to fold over the sides of the pit and lay flush with the ground. One advantage of a pit built on a rocky beach is that it can reach a very high temperature and cook food more quickly than a pit built on a sandy beach. Another advantage is that you will not get sand in your food.
• On a sandy beach:
• You will dig the pit 5 1/2 x 4 feet wide and 3 1/2 feet deep. Line the bottom with large stones and the sides with smaller ones. After you add the rocks, the pit will be the same size as that built on a rocky beach. Taper the sides of the pit toward the bottom so that the walls do not collapse. The more stones you use to line the pit, the better it will retain the heat.
• Lighting the fire:
• Have the pit and firewood ready to go. About 3 1/2 hours before you start the lobster bake, stack the kindling in a tepeelike structure with crumpled newspaper underneath. Light the fire; once the kindling is burning well, begin to stoke the fire by adding more kindling, then small logs or driftwood. After they have caught fire, start adding the bigger logs or driftwood; once they catch, use your shovel to spread them around the pit. Continue stoking the fire with more logs until the entire pit is filled with blazing wood. After about 2 hours, when the fire has reached its hottest stage, quit stoking the fire (do not add any more wood) and allow the wood to burn away completely. This should take about 1 1/2 hours. Wet your broom in the ocean and brush away all the coals and ashes; they will settle between the hot rocks.
• Cooking the Food
• 1. Prepare the pit according to the directions above. While the fire is cooking down, start preparing the food. Scrub the potatoes and sweet potatoes in the nearby ocean. Peel the onions, wrap in 4 cheesecloth sacks (so you can have the aroma of onions scattered throughout the pit) and tie the sacks off with twine. Scrub the sea clams and return them to your cooler. Wrap the steamers, mussels and periwinkles in cheesecloth sacks, putting about 2 pounds in each bundle. Tie the bundles together and place temporarily in the ocean - just be sure they are well anchored. Otherwise, return the bundles to the cooler to keep chilled. Divide the sausage into portions. To prepare the corn, carefully pull back the husks without detaching them. Pick away the silk and fold the husks back over the corn. Wet the corn in the ocean a few minutes before you begin the bake.
• 2. Start the bake as soon as the coals have cooked down and been brushed away. At this point, a single person (the bake master) should take charge of the actual bake. That person should have an assistant. Caution should be exercised around the pit: Master and assistant should take their responsibilities seriously, and children should be kept at least 10 feet away. Gather all the food and bring it close to the pit. Make sure the rockweed is moist. If it is not, give it one last dip in the ocean and bring it close to the pit. Bring the tarp to the ocean and soak it thoroughly. Work carefully but as quickly as possible.
• 3. Start with an 8-inch layer of rockweed. Place the whole fish in the center and lay the potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and sea clams around the fish. Cover the food completely with a 4-to 6-inch layer of rockweed and then distribute the bundles of steamers, mussels and periwinkles, with the sausages on top. Add the third layer of rockweed (4 to 6 inches) over the food. Place the lobsters in the center, back to back (actually tail to tail), forming 2 rows. Lobsters can only move backward on land, so by laying them this way, they will stay put. Place the corn around the lobsters and scatter the eggs about. Place one egg very close to the corner of the pit and remember exactly where it is. Scatter a last thin layer of rockweed over the corn and eggs but do not cover the lobsters. By now the steam will be rising from the pit fairly vigorously. Cover the pit with the damp tarp and place heavy rocks all around to form a tight seal. Place the butter in a pot and set it on a corner of the tarp to melt.
• 4. If your pit is on a rocky beach the food could be ready in as little as 50 minutes, but an hour is the norm. If your pit was made in the sand, the food could take up to 90 minutes. Make sure everyone knows the approximate time of unveiling. Have all plates and utensils ready. Bring the platters near the pit; you can even warm them on the tarp. The bake master and assistant should have their gloves on for the next step.
• 5. Remember the special egg? Lift up the corner of the tarp and pull out the egg. Crack it open. If it is cooked through (hard-boiled), the bake is ready to eat. Gather everyone about 10 feet from the pit. Remove the melted butter and all the rocks that are holding the tarp in place. The bake master should grab one corner and the assistant the other, on the side closest to the gathering of family and friends. Quickly pull back the tarp. There will be a giant burst of steam. When it subsides, the bright red lobsters will come into view. Both the bake master and the assistant will use tongs to remove the food and place it on platters. As the rockweed is removed, it should be spread around the outside of the pit to show that it is still hot. The hot pit cannot be left unattended - a child or dog could be injured. Get a few people to bring buckets of water up from the beach to pour over the rocks to cool them. The others should unwrap the cheesecloth bundles, cut the potatoes in half and set out the food. Put the butter in small bowls for dipping lobsters, steamers, mussels and anything else you want. Allow plenty of time to eat before you bring out the desserts.
• 6. After the festivities have ended, everyone should help clean up. Cover the pit back up with rocks or sand; be sure there are no hot rocks left on the beach. The rockweed can be left on the beach to decompose, but all other litter must be put in garbage bags and taken away. The beach must be left as it was found.