Gerard Drive Clambake Recipes

BACKYARD CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Make sure the clams and mussels are all alive. The shells should be tightly closed. If they're open, they should close when you tap them. If any remain open, discard.
• Build a fire in your covered grill and soak a couple handfuls of wood chips in water. Put the potatoes and onions in cold, salted water, bring to a boil, and cook for 15 minutes, till potatoes have softened. Drain. Pull the husks back from the corn but leave them attached. Pull off all the silks, then pull the husks back into place and tie around the corn with a strip of husk.
• Drop the lobsters in boiling water for about 3 minutes till they're bright red. Remove from water.
• When the coals have burned down to red-hot, spread the wet wood chips across them. Lay the lobsters close together on the grill rack, spread the shellfish around them, and spread the vegetables over the top, ending with the asparagus lying in a single layer at the top. Put the lid on the grill and open the vents. Cook for about a half hour, until the mussels and clams have opened. Serve with bowls of melted butter.

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.

GERARD DRIVE CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Preheat the broiler.
• Place the chicken pieces in a large dish and coat with the oil. Sprinkle with the paprika, pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Rub in well.
• Broil the chicken pieces on both sides until the skin is golden brown, but the meat is not cooked.
• Cut 10 12-by-12-inch pieces of cheesecloth. Place two pieces of chicken on four separate pieces of cheesecloth and tie the ends, making individual packages; divide the clams, place on four separate pieces of cheesecloth and tie into packages; divide the onions, place on two pieces of cheesecloth and tie into packages. Separate the seaweed into six equal amounts.
• Place one portion of the seaweed in the bottom of each of two 18-quart enameled pots. Divide and layer the chicken, clams and potatoes in each pot. Reserve two potatoes.
• Place another portion of seaweed in each pot and divide the lobsters (with rubber bands carefully removed), corn and onions between the pots.
• Cover with the remaining seaweed and put a reserved potato in the center of each pot. Add the sausage pieces. Pour two cups of water and one cup of the white wine into each pot and cover tightly.
• Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower the heat to medium-high, being careful to keep the pots boiling. Cook for 25 minutes. Divide the mussels, add them to each pot and cook for another five minutes. The clambake is ready when the potatoes on top are tender but not mushy.
• Arrange all the foods on a large platter and serve with melted butter and lemon wedges.

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.

CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Preheat your grill until it's fairly hot. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Parboil the lobsters for just 3 minutes and then remove. To start the outdoor clambake, spread a thick layer of seaweed directly on the hot grill rack. The potatoes and corn go down first since they will take the longest to cook. Arrange the potatoes and corn on the seaweed in a single layer, then cover them with more seaweed. Put the lobsters on top, along with the kielbasa; cover with more seaweed. Spread the clams on top and cover with another layer of seaweed. Finally, set the oysters on the top, and blanket them with a thick layer of seaweed. As the seafood cooks, the juices will drip down and flavor the corn and potatoes. Cover the entire bake with a burlap bag that has been soaked in water; it traps in the seaweed steam and bakes the food. Cover the grill. Cook until the clams open and the lobsters are bright red, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Keep a bucket of water handy and check the burlap periodically to make sure it stays wet. Serve with lemon wedges and melted butter.

TRADITIONAL CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Preheat grill to medium-high (350 to 400 F).
• Combine butter, lemon juice, garlic powder, salt, cayenne and thyme in small bowl: set aside.
• Line large bowl with 2 sheets of aluminum foil.
• Fill evenly with one-fourth of the shrimp, potatoes, corn, clams and sausage.
• Drizzle with butter mixture.
• Close foil packet by bringing corners together at tip and pressing together tightly to seal. Repeat to make 4 packets.
• Grill packets, covered, 20 to 25 minutes or until clams open and shrimp are opaque. To serve, place packets on large plates and open to vent.

ULTIMATE CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Before you leave the house, put the potatoes and a few large pinches of salt in a very large pot and add water to cover; bring to a boil and cook until they are about half done, 10 to 15 minutes. Drain and transfer to a container to take with you to beach.
• Take all the ingredients to the beach, along with a shovel, a tarp, a few garbage bags, a bucket, some cheesecloth, a box of matches, lots of newspaper, firewood and kindling. Find a spot above the high-water mark and dig a 4-by-2-by-2-foot hole. Build a fire in the hole with newspaper, kindling and some wood. (Keep everything else upwind of the fire.) Feed the fire quickly and steadily with more kindling and wood.
• Find about 30 rocks, each 6 by 4 inches or bigger. Start adding the rocks to the fire, a few at a time, slowly over the course of about an hour, while continuing to feed the fire with wood. While the rocks are heating, gather enough seaweed to half-fill 2 or 3 garbage bags.
• When the rocks are white hot (this should take about an hour), stop adding wood but let the fire continue to burn. Meanwhile, make 8 to 12 cheesecloth packages, each containing a few of the clams, mussels and potatoes. Peel back the husks of the corn but don't remove them; remove as much of the silk as you can, then fold the husks back into place.
• Remove any remaining wood from the fire with a shovel; a bed of coals topped by a layer of white-hot rocks should remain. Immediately dump the seaweed over the rocks, creating a layer at least 2 to 3 inches thick; no rocks should remain exposed or you will burn the food (and maybe the tarp). Sprinkle the seaweed with about a gallon of seawater. Put the cheesecloth packages, corn and lobsters in a single layer on top of the seaweed. Cover the food in an additional layer of seaweed and cover the entire pit with a tarp, weighing the edges of the tarp down with rocks.
• Cook undisturbed for 30 to 40 minutes. Put the butter in a heatproof saucepan. When the seafood is ready, peel back the tarp and put the pan of butter on the fire until it melts. Remove the tarp entirely, transfer the food to serving platters and serve everything with the melted butter, lemon wedges and more salt.