There's nothing quite like seaweed steamed clams.
Step back in time with a good, old-fashioned New England clam bake. Clam bakes are deeply steeped in New England history, a tradition adopted by the Pilgrims from local American Indians. There is no right or wrong way to have a clam bake. However, you can make your clam bake New England-authentic by trying time-tested regional recipes and New England-style decorations. Does this Spark an idea?
Instructions
1. Dig a pit in the yard that is 2 feet long, 4 feet wide and 2 feet deep.
2. Line the walls and floor of the pit with medium-sized well-rinsed stones.
3. Build a fire that covers the bottom of the pit with wood, coals or a combination of both. Allow the fire to burn out until it is reduced to embers.
4. Wrap the food in personal sized cheesecloth bags affixed with garbage ties. Traditional New England clam bake food items include Ipswich clams (or any type of steaming clam), sliced onions, small red potatoes, small white potatoes, small lobsters, mussels, sausage, fish (they can go in whole or filleted,) crabs, corn and potatoes. Leave the lobsters, corn and potatoes out of the bag for more even steaming. A backyard pit of this size will hold roughly 100 pounds of food.
5. Remove any coals or burning embers with a pair of metal tongs. The heat you need is retained in the stones.
6. Place half a bushel of wet seaweed over the bottom of the pit.
7. Place the cheesecloth bags over the seaweed, followed by the corn, potatoes and the lobsters.
8. Cover the food with wet cloths.
9. Cover the cloth with one half bushel of seaweed.
10. Cover the mouth of the clam bake pit with a canvas tarp. Weigh the edge of the tarp down with large rock. Leave one corner of the canvas tarp rock free to give the clam bake pit a ventilation hole.
11. Leave the tarp in place for one hour or longer. The clam bake is done when the potatoes are cooked through.
12. Serve your clam bake goodies with plenty of melted butter.
Tags: clam bake, corn potatoes, your clam bake, bushel seaweed, canvas tarp, cheesecloth bags, England clam