Cape Cod Revisited and Steam Calms

Photo: Patricia Turo

Ingredients

5 pounds New England steamers

1 bottle beer

1 bay leaf

1 stick sweet butter

Water

Sea salt to taste

Preparation

When buying shellfish make sure that all the clams are closed. The fishmonger will usually remove them, but check to be sure. Place them in a bowl covered with wet paper towels and refrigerate them until you are ready to cook them. You should not leave them in the refrigerator more then a day.

Put them into a large pan of cold water and sprinkle cornmeal over them, swishing the cornmeal around in the water. Leave them for about 15 minutes and repeat the process several times until you see that there is no sandy residue on the bottom of your pan. The cornmeal helps to flush out the sand as the clams process water.

Place a bottle of beer into a deep pan and add the sea salt, bay leaf and a little about the same amount of water as beer. Place the clams in the pan and cook for a about 5-10 minutes until the clams are completely opened. If there are any that do not open, discard them.

In the mean time melt butter and put it into two small bowls.

Remove the cooked clams into a large bowl and remove some of the water into 2 small bowls.

Steamers have a skin that covers the neck of the clam and must be removed before eating. We once saw someone at a restaurant eating the clams with the neck still on and she was so confused why anyone would eat them. They require a little tugging to remove. Dunk the clams into the broth and swish around to clean any possible sand and then dunk them into the butter and then enjoy this delicacy!