FREE ASSOCIATE Do your clambake your way. Serve it on newspaper Louisiana-style, if you like. There are no rules.
Photo: CHELSIE CRAIG FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL, FOOD STYLING BY PEARL JONESTHE CLAMBAKE is a flexible feast. Most iterations include some type of potato; whether fingerling, red or Yukon Gold is up to the cook. Corn on the cob is a common element—white or yellow. One could easily go in a half-dozen different directions when it comes to clams alone.
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“I don’t love the idea of sausage in a clambake,” said chef Barbara Lynch, a Boston native. “It takes away from the seafood. I like to stick to steamers, lobster and mussels.” Yet many Rhode Islanders consider chouriço sausage essential, lobster optional.
Traditionally held on the beach, this meal relies on ancient technology: a fire pit dug in the sand. Covered in soggy seaweed, the ingredients steam for hours. “Gathering on the beach is the best part,” said Ms. Lynch. “After a New England winter, your body just craves the sun and all the minerals from the shellfish.”
The clambake certainly has roots in New England, but having themselves co-opted the practice from the indigenous people of the Northeast, Yankees display a “you-do-you” attitude when it comes to adaptations. Take the Cleveland clambake, an Ohio variant popularized after World War II: It calls for chicken and sweet potatoes, but no beach, no lobster, and is traditionally held in the fall.
A close relative of the clambake, the Louisiana crawfish boil is a springtime custom. Since crawfish swim out of season by summer, why not replace them with Gulf shrimp? New Orleans chef Nina Compton even swaps out the clams for soft-shell crab in her clambake. It also has andouille sausage, corn, onions, habaneros and copious Creole seasoning. ”It’s a sweet, salty, spicy dish that makes you lick your fingers,” said Ms. Compton.
“ ‘It’s fun, no-frills, kind of primal and a little messy.’ ”
Miami chef Michael Beltran’s Caribbean-inflected take includes tropical root vegetables such as malanga, boniato and calabaza; Spanish chorizo; sweet spiny lobster; Key West pink shrimp; Cedar Key clams; and Florida conch. He suggests serving it with a chunky mojo of Cuban oregano, parsley, mint, sour orange and Sherry vinegar.
In San Francisco, chef Brandon Jew‘s Chinatown-inspired clambake nixes the potatoes in favor of rice. Layered with lap cheong sausage, salted black cod and Littleneck clams, it cooks in a clay pot. A little egg beaten with soy sauce and fish sauce steams into a lush egg custard on top.
Peter Juusola, partner at Greenpoint Fish & Lobster Co. in Brooklyn, laments that he won’t be attending his mother-in-law’s annual clambake in Cape Cod this year due to the pandemic. But he’ll make a version in his home kitchen, with local oysters “to represent the history of NYC,” chopped tomatoes, wine, butter and Aleppo pepper. The flavors call to mind Manhattan clam chowder. Kielbasa nods to the Greenpoint neighborhood’s Polish heritage.
Still, there’s nothing like the classic. Eventide Oyster Co. in Portland, Me., built its reputation on its clambake; the tradition occupies an entire chapter in the “Eventide” cookbook, published in June. “I love the efficiency of it,” said chef Mike Wiley. “It’s fun, no-frills, kind of primal and a little messy. You’re always dipping your sleeve in someone else’s butter. Its communal eating at its finest.” At the restaurant, outside-the-box accompaniments—nori vinaigrette, maitake XO sauce, salt pork sambal—support an otherwise old-school version.
This clambake translates well to a home kitchen. You just need a stockpot, salt, fresh ingredients and proper layering to ensure even cooking. The recipe at right is a template. Tweak it to make the variations below. Or create your own. It’s so easy.
Home-Kitchen Clambake, Maine-Style
Total Time: 1 hour
serves: 2
Ingredients
- 2 (1¼ pound) lobsters
- 1 pound live mussels
- 1 pound live steamer clams
- 2 ears corn
- 2 eggs
- ½ pound sausage, salt pork or bacon
- 6 red potatoes, halved
- Nori seaweed
- Kombu seaweed
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- Cover bottom of a 16-quart stockpot with kombu. Layer on top, in this order: potatoes, sausage, corn, eggs, nori, lobster, clams and mussels. Add 3 cups water, salt and pepper.
- Cover pot with lid and cook on medium-high until boiling with steady steam, 20 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cook until lobster is Ferrari red, mussels and clams open, and potatoes are tender, 20 minutes more. Serve with lemon and drawn butter.
SHAKE UP THE BAKE / Regional Variations
Use the recipe above as a guide, adjust quantities to suit the size of your party and have fun.
New Orleans-Style
Adapted from Nina Compton, Bywater American Bistro
(top)
Gulf Shrimp
Soft-Shell Crabs
Halved Lemons
Corn on the Cob
Andouille
Potatoes
Habanero Peppers, Onions
(bottom)
1. After layering ingredients up to lemons in pot, sprinkle on ½ cup Creole seasoning.
2. Add 4-6 cups shellfish stock.
3. Add crabs, then ½ cup Creole seasoning. Add shrimp, then 1 cup Creole seasoning. Steam, loosely following directions for Home-Kitchen Clambake, above.
4. Serve with crusty po’boy bread.
San Francisco-Style
Adapted from Brandon Jew, Mister Jiu’s
(top)
Egg
Littleneck Clams
Salted Black Cod
Lap Cheong Sausage
Rice
(bottom)
1. Rinse 1¾ cups medium-grain white rice until water runs clear, and strain. In a clay pot, mix rice with 3 teaspoons peanut oil, ¼ cup minced ginger, 4 shiitake mushrooms, diced, 1 link lap cheong, sliced on bias ¼ inch thick, and ½ cup sliced scallions.
2. Add 1 cup water, cover and cook over medium heat at a low simmer 20 minutes.
3. Add cod and clams and cover again.
4. Whisk 2 eggs and pass through a fine strainer. Add 1½ tablespoons light soy sauce and 1 teaspoon fish sauce. Drizzle over clambake. Sprinkle on more sliced scallions, cover and let sit until egg is custardy, 2-3 minutes.
NYC-Style
Adapted from Peter Juusola, Greenpoint Fish and Lobster Co.
(top)
Oysters Mussels
Shrimp
Littleneck Clams
Lobster
Kielbasa
Corn on the Cob
Fingerling Potatoes
(bottom)
1. Top off main ingredients with ½ bottle dry white or rosé wine and 1 cup water.
2. Add 10 black peppercorns, 2 quartered onions, 1 halved head garlic, 1 bay leaf, 1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper, ½ bunch parsley, roughly chopped, and 1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes.
3. Cook according to instructions above, then use a slotted spoon to transfer ingredients to a platter. Add ¼ pound butter to liquid in pot and whisk to incorporate.
4. Serve clambake with bread and bowls of buttery liquid from pot for dipping.
Miami-Style
Adapted from Michael Beltran, Ariete
(top)
Conch
Key West Pink Shrimp
Cedar Key Clams
Spiny Lobster
Corn on the Cob
Spanish Chorizo
Malanga, Boniato and/or Calabaza
Plantain Leaves
(bottom)
1. Top off main ingredients with 1 bottle dry white wine and plenty of black peppercorns and cumin seeds. Cook as above.
2. Make mojo: Whisk 1 cup sour-orange juice, ½ cup Sherry vinegar, 1 teaspoon each chopped Cuban oregano, parsley and mint, and minced garlic to taste.
3. Serve clambake with mojo and Saltine crackers.
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