Maine Clam Boil at Hood Canal

Date of Visit: August 25, 2018

Most of the smoke from the day before was gone so we decided to stay rather than head home. Good thing! Our hostess had a great treat on the menu for us – a Main Clam Boil. There would be nine people altogether: our hosts, friends they’ve been with for 30 or so years, us, and some folks who used to live in our hood but have since moved to Washingon,

Clams are easy to come by at the cottage on the canal. Simply walk out into the mud flats during low tide and dig up what you need.

The ingredients are simple but delicious

New Potatoes are at the bottom

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3251

Shallots and aromatics go in first

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3228

Sausages and hot dogs

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3249

Clams, of course

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3236

and corn on the cob

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3231

The clam boil itself requires  a LARGE pot with a large burner to get the water boiling. I don’t know how many gallons this pot holds, but it is big. I can’t imagine doing this on the stove top – at least for the size of crowd we had. Many years ago when we were traveling in the South of France we had a local vendor come out to the house to cook us a huge plate of paella – the burner was similar to the one we used.

John was the head cook.

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3255

 

First the potatoes, shallots, and aromatics are placed in a basket and go in the simmering water for 5 to 10 minutes.

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3276

Then everything else goes in: sausages and clams,

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3304

with the corn on top.

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3310

The corn is just about done

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3325

When the corn is done and the clams have opened it’s time to pull everything. The corn goes in its own serving bowl; everything else is in the basket.

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3346

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3348

John had a steady hand

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3350

 

Our hosts have a great island in the kitchen with a stainless steel top so the hot stuff can lay on it easily. The basket has some feet on it to keep it up a bit. The plates were prepared – plenty of melted butter is a must of course.

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3358

And dinner was served

20180825_Hood Canal New England Clam Boil__RXX3374

What a delicious dinner! We stayed at the table and chatted for hours.

Good times with good friends; it’s always a treat for us when we are invited up.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.