Kitchen Clambake Recipes

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.

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.

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.

INDOOR CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Place potatoes in large saucepan; cover with cold water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook just until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well. Cool completely, then cover and refrigerate until well chilled, at least 2 hours and up to 2 days.
• Into each bag or cheesecloth pouch, put: 2 potatoes, l ear corn, 1/4 of steamers, 1/4 of mussels, 1 piece sausage, 1 lobster, and 1 egg. Gather bags or pouches together and tie closed with kitchen twine.
• Fill 5-gallon pot with 1 inch of water and add 1 tablespoon salt. Add steamer rack or enough rockweed to keep clambakes elevated. Cover and bring to rolling boil.
• Gently layer bags in pot. Nestle extra egg in a central position where it's easily retrievable. Cover tightly and steam 15 minutes, maintaining water at full rolling boil. Uncover pot, set aside extra egg, and gently rearrange bags from top to bottom to promote even cooking. Replace egg and re-cover pot.
• Steam additional 5 minutes, then retrieve extra egg and crack open. If it's hard-cooked, clambakes are done. If egg is not yet cooked, steam bags an additional 5 to 10 minutes. (If you're unsure, untie one bag and test with another egg). When done, lobsters will be completely red. Transfer each bag to large plate and serve immediately.
• To serve, divide melted butter among 4 small cups and season to taste with salt. Ladle some broth from pot into 4 small bowls. Cut open bags. Discard any steamers or mussels that have not opened and loosely arrange food on plates. Sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning. Place one cup of butter, one dish of broth, and one lemon wedge on each plate. Have bowls for shells and plenty of napkins at the ready.