HOW TO MAKE A CLAM BOIL.

Donna Parker is renowned for her clam boil so I’m sharing her recipe and method. First she scrubbed up about 10 potatoes and 6 pounds of little neck clams. The potatoes go in the bottom of a big corn cooker pot. She covers them with water, i can of beer and arranges the clams on top and sprinkles them lightly with salt to taste and cayenne pepper.

Next she loads individual cheesecloth bags with the meat. Here is 8 hot dogs.

This is 12 breakfast sausage and another bag holds  four linguisa cut into chunks. You can place the meat in the pot without a bag, but it is easier to dish up from the bag, explains Donna. The meat is arranged on top with four vidalia onions and all is set to boil. It takes about 45 minutes from cold start to finish. Donna cooked four ears of corn, broken in half, in a separate pot.

Bob tied a lobster bib on Jim and then the feasting began while the clams boiled.

We visited and snacked on shrimp and crackers and ate lobster because at the Parkers, a clam boil is a feast and you have to have lobster, too.

In 2010 when we visited, Bob taught me how to pet the lobster to put it in yet another giant pot to cook. You stand them on their tails, pet them and they become docile and go into the boiling hot water without thrashing and splashing. These one to one and a quarter pounders cost $3.99 each already cooked. They are soft-shelled. You can crack them open with your fingers. Bob explained that lobster shed their shells and the newly grown shells are still soft. They don’t taste any different.  In may they are caught before shedding.

Bob poured a bit of strawberry bubbly.

Donna loaded individual bowls with clams and for each a cup of the broth.

You load up your plate with potatoes, onion, meat  and corn. Pour on a bit of butter and broth and chow down. The clams you dip in the broth first, (or vinegar if you prefer) then into the butter and enjoy. Yum. The broth is so delicious, you can drink it straight, cup after cup. I got to take some back to the motor home.

I must apologize for no pictures of Donna. I was concentrating so hard on the recipe and getting every step in the process, and busily eating in between, I forgot to take a picture of all of us before I waddled, much too full,  out to the motor home with my containers of broth.

A New England Food Feast!

Jim says:

On Saturday…it finally happened…something I had been dreaming of…since the last time I was here in New Bedford in 2007. A New England Food Feast!

The day started with a two-hour heavy-duty thunder and lightning storm.

Despite the rain, we headed out for the seafood market. You do not see seafood markets like this on the west coast.

A little later we went to Sacred Heart Cemetery where I introduced Mary to my mother and father and other aunts, uncles, cousins…all deceased. Most of my relatives are buried here. Because of my advanced age…I only have a few cousins left alive in this area.

It was time to prepare the food. For openers, we enjoyed stuffed quohogs. Then my cousin Bob taught Mary how to put the Lobsters “to sleep” before dropping them into the pot.

Mary’s a quick learner!

My cousin Bob and his wife Donna celebrate Mary’s accomplishments!

Mary shows off her handiwork. By time she finished devouring this critter…there was was little left to be put in the trash. Donna said Mary outdid her father who was an expert at cleaning out a Lobster!

Here’s my Lobster waiting for me!

In addition, we enjoyed a Clam Boil. The clams, hot dogs, sausage, linguisa, potatoes and corn are all cooked together at the same time in a big pot.

By the time we were finished…all of us were saying…”I’m stuffed!

Zoe the cat slept through the whole meal.

One of my favorite memories of living in this area as a young child was the French Meat Pie, a traditional Christmas-time meal. I was telling Mary, Bob and Donna this story and wondered if one might be found this time of year. After our great New England Food Feast…Bob and Donna surprised me with a gift of a French Meat Pie they found at a local bakery.

Thanks Mary, Bob and Donna for everything… I’m a happy camper!

All original material Copyright – Jim Jaillet 2010
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