New England Clambake 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.

NEW ENGLAND CLAM CHOWDER I

Steps:

• Place diced bacon in large stock pot over medium-high heat. Cook until almost crisp; add onions, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in water and potatoes, and season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, or until potatoes are fork tender.
• Pour in half-and-half, and add butter. Drain clams, reserving clam liquid; stir clams and 1/2 of the clam liquid into the soup. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until heated through. Do not allow to boil.

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.

NEW ENGLAND CLAMBAKE

Steps:

• Put the potatoes and the chicken thighs in a large pot. Cover with salted water and boil, skimming and discarding any scum that rises, for about 25 minutes or until the potatoes are soft and the chicken thighs are cooked through. Drain and set aside.
• In the meantime, light the fire using hardwood charcoal. Place the corn in a large bowl of water and soak thoroughly, about 20 to 30 minutes.
• When the coals are red in the center with ash around them, the fire is ready. Put the lobsters and corn on the rotisserie grill. Arrange the potatoes, chicken, and sausage on top of the grill and top with the clams. Cook for 45 minutes. Serve with melted butter.

NEW ENGLAND CLAMBAKE CHOWDER

Steps:

• In a large stockpot, saute' the onion, celery, and potatoes in butter. Cook for about 10 - 12 minutes, or until the onions and celery are soft; stirring occasionally.
• Add the next 8 ingredients to the pot, give a good stir. Season with salt and pepper.
• In measuring cup, mix flour with a little bit of warm water to dissolve it and make it paste-like. Add flour mixture to pot and bring just to boiling. (If you want a thicker base, add a little bit more flour.).
• Cover and simmer on low heat for 30 minutes. Stir in the sherry wine vinegar, simmer another minute or two.
• Remove the bay leaves. Ladle into warmed soup bowls and serve hot with oyster crackers or crusty Italian bread.
• SERVING TIP: Cut a lid out of a small round loaf of sourdough bread, just as you would a pumpkin. Hollow out most of the bread (save for breadcrumbs or toasted croutons). Toast the sourdouch round lightly in the oven; serve warm chowder inside the bread bowl.

NEW ENGLAND CLAMBAKE IN A KETTLE

Steps:

• The above ingredients are the average you should add for each person.
• Put fish, potato, onion, and pork sausage on a square of cheesecloth, fold up to make a pouch and tie with kitchen string.
• Put 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water into a large pot. Add steamers, littlenecks and/or mussels, hot dog and chourico. Leave husks on corn. Place corn on top of steamers. Place pouches of potatoes and fish on top of corn. Top with lobster. Cover.
• Place on high heat until steaming, then lower heat and cook until the lobster is red. Time varies with the amount of ingredients. A bake for six takes about an hour.
• TIP: Usually a potato placed on top of the whole boil helps to determine when the boil is done. If the potato is tender to fork touch, the rest of the food is cooked.

SHEET-PAN NEW ENGLAND CLAM BAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°. Place potatoes in a 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with Italian seasoning; toss to coat. Bake until tender, 25-30 minutes. Using a potato masher, flatten potatoes to 1/2-in. thickness; remove and keep warm., Add corn, mussels, clams, shrimp and chorizo to same pan; top with potatoes. Pour wine into pan. Squeeze lemon wedges over top; add to pan., Combine butter, garlic, seafood seasoning and Cajun seasoning. Pour half the butter mixture over top. Bake until shrimp turn pink and mussels and clams open, 20-25 minutes. Discard any unopened mussels or clams., Drizzle with remaining butter mixture. Sprinkle with pepper; top with parsley. If desired, serve with bread.