Clambake

A clambake, also called a clam bake or New England clambake, is a special way to cook seafood like lobster, mussels, crabs, scallops, soft-shell clams, and quahogs. The food is cooked by steaming it over layers of seaweed in a pit oven. Sometimes, vegetables such as onions, carrots, and corn on the cob are added too.

Clambakes are often held during happy times along the coast of New England, like at fundraisers or political events. Some restaurants and caterers also prepare clambake-style meals for people to enjoy.

History

Native Americans in the eastern United States had ways to cook clams, but American colonists did not like eating them. They mostly fed clams to pigs.

The clambake we know today started after the American Revolution. It became very popular after the American Civil War. Business people in Rhode Island helped make it famous, and it spread to other places in the United States.

Railroads helped bring fresh seafood to places like Cleveland, which also began enjoying clambakes. Some communities, like a group of Quakers in Dartmouth, Massachusetts, have held clambake events every year since 1888.

Books like the Joy of Cooking have shared recipes for clambakes, showing how to cook them in big sandpits or smaller pots.

Method

A clambake is a special way to cook seafood like lobster, mussels, crabs, and clams. It starts with gathering seaweed from the shoreline, which helps cook the food. You also need round stones that are heated in a fire to give off heat during cooking.

The stones and seaweed are placed in a fire pit, and a fire is built on top of the stones until they glow hot. After the fire burns out, wet seaweed is placed over the stones, followed by seafood and vegetables like corn, potatoes, carrots, and onions. The food is layered with more seaweed and covered with wet canvas to trap the heat, letting everything steam for several hours.

Some places don’t allow beach fires, so clambakes are sometimes made in large pots at home or in backyards. In places like Greater Cleveland, clambakes include clams, chicken, sweet potatoes, and corn, all steamed together in a pot.

In popular culture

The 1945 Broadway musical Carousel by Rodgers and Hammerstein had a song named "A Real Nice Clambake". This song was also in the 1956 film version. The writer of the song, Hammerstein, did a lot of research. He looked at over 20 books and talked to chefs, language experts, and historians. One book that helped him a lot was Mainstays of Maine by Robert P. T. Coffin. This book had a whole chapter about a clambake on a Maine island, and Hammerstein used many of these details in his song.