Chowda-Heads

Happy as a clam….chowda heads..Seafood is as quintessential to New England as are lighthouses, the fog, Fenway Park and long, rocky beaches. A non-native can be frustrated trying to translate all the various shellfish you find on the menu. Well here is your quick, easy guide for eating your way across New England.

First there are steamers which are steamed soft-shell clams bought by the bucket. It is a little work to find the meat inside and can be messy. If you don’t want to hassle with a fresh bucket you can have them served deep-fried as clam strips. There are also clam cakes which are deep-fried made with stuffing and chopped clams then dunked in malt vinegar or sprinkled with salt or lemon juice.

Next are cherrystones which are round clams either served raw on the half shell or baked in the shell with bread crumbs and spices as what is known as clams casino.

Ok..stay with me…then there are quahogs. Those are large hard shell clams which are also Rhode Island’s state mollusk, only in New England will you find a state mollusk. However when you take the meat of the quahog mince it all up and throw on breadcrumbs and spices and bake it like clams then they are called “stuffies”. I only learned this the other night having a seafood feast with the family at one of our favorite restaurants in Jamestown, Rhode Island. My little cousin Vicenzo was nice enough to point out the subtleties of clams casino versus stuffies.

So we have steamers, clams, quahogs, cherrystones, periwinkles (a very small snail) and we can’t forget mussels. Mussels which are my favorite of the New England shellfish are a dark, oval-shaped mollusk. They are best enjoyed steamed with drawn butter.

However, I still haven’t discussed lobsta’s or chowda. Those two food groups have their own place with me. Anyone who knows me understands my love for lobsta (not lobster) and chowda (not chowder). During my visits in New England I have lobsta rolls, lobsta bisque, lobsta eggs benedict, lobsta omelet’s, lobsta penne, lobsta pizza, etc…When I am not having lobsta I am sampling and savoring fresh New England chowda not Manhattan chowder. All chowda must be accompanied by a big spoon and oyster crackers. Some of the best chowda around is Rosie’s in Ogunquit/Maine, Fenway Park/Boston (especially when the Red Sox win), The Black Pearl/Newport, the beach road deli/Provincetown, and one of the all-time best was the restaurant which is one block off the wharf on the island of Nantucket. I don’t remember the name of the restaurant but the chowda was a heavy, milky broth with huge meaty chunks. It was wonderfully delicious.

I have yet to find lobsta ice cream but when I do I will let you all know.

In closing here are a few things to remember when eating shellfish. Shellfish should be cooked/iced immediately upon harvesting. The shells will naturally open themselves when cooked and if the shells are still closed DO NOT eat them.

Also it is imperative that you have enough drawn butter, plastic bibs, Wet-Naps and crackers (to crack open the lobsters, not ritz) to really experience what is a traditional New England summer memory.

More to come…

Angie of the Lobstas

PS. We are all going to see the movie “Evening” this week. The movie which stars Meryl Streep, Glen Close and Vanessa Redgrave was filmed in Newport and the nearby town of Tiverton. The white house in the movie is located in Newport and is known to the locals as “The Ledges” because it literally sits at the edge of the rocks off Gooseberry Beach. I did a previous blog about Gooseberry Beach. The beach is a wonderful spot in Newport and the view is spectacular.