The only problem with a New England clambake? It’s exclusively available to those in New England. Until now. This spectacularly land-loving approach to a clambake works its magic on the stovetop instead of over an open fire yet still gets you pretty darn close to feeling sand between your toes.–David Leite
Clambake FAQs
Fresh clams usually just need a quick scrub under cold running water to remove any sand or dirt. If they are extremely sandy, use a small brush to clean them. Discard any clams that don’t close when tapped or any with cracked shells.
Everything you need for a complete meal is already in the pot, however, a loaf or two of crusty bread is an absolute must for sopping up excess juices. To drink, cold beer or a crisp white wine would pair nicely.
New England Clambake
Ingredients
- 1 cup cold water
- 2 cups dry white wine
- 2 1/2 tablespoons store-bought or homemade Old Bay Seasoning
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 4 garlic cloves, smashed
- 1 red onion, roughly chopped
- 2 pounds new potatoes, halved
- Two (1 1/2-to 2-pound) lobsters
- 2 dozen steamer clams or Manila clams
- 4 ears fresh corn, cut into quarters
- Small bunch tarragon or flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
- Crusty bread
- 6 lemons, halved or cut into wedges
Instructions
- In a ginormous pot, bring the water, wine, Old Bay, salt, and garlic to a boil.
- Toss the onion and potatoes in the pot, cover, and cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes.
- Nestle the lobsters on the onion and potatoes, cover the pot again, and cook for 3 minutes.
- Add the clams and corn and continue to cook, still covered, until the clams have opened, 8 to 10 minutes.
☞ TESTER TIP: If you happen to be doing your clambake in a pot that's set on a rack over an open gril, go ahead and instead toss the corn and the cut lemon directly on the rack to impart a slight smokiness to the final dish.
- Carefully remove the pot from the heat and drain the cooking liquid. Remove and discard any clams that haven't opened.
- Tip the contents of the pot onto a table lined with newspaper or butcher paper or transfer to a large platter. (If your guests can't be trusted to be amicable about splitting the lobsters, you may wish to cut each one in half prior to serving.)
- Sprinkle everything with the herbs and set out small bowls of melted butter along with some crusty bread and lemon wedges and dishes or small buckets so folks have a place to toss the spent shells. Don't forget gobs of napkins.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe Testers’ Reviews
Oh my STARS, we had fun with this New England clambake! None of us knew what a traditional clambake might look like as our cooking and tasing team included a 9-year-old, our friend who’s a chef from Thailand, and me, who’s never been part of an East Coast clam event.
We started with the homemade version of Old Bay Seasoning—easy, fun, interesting, and a great project. We plan to give some as a gift. We bought fresh Manila clams at our favorite local spot (The Jolly Oyster in Ventura Beach) and ran home to prepare the feast. The entire meal was ready in less than 30 minutes.
We all sat outside and—per the instructions—I dumped the meal onto newspapers. Then we had ourselves a mighty fine feast! The experience was a 10, the flavors a 9.
Now that I’m in the know, I’d include much more tarragon—many tablespoonfuls. All in all, delicious, and so much fun to serve to 2 of my most discriminating—and delightful—tasters!
Such a genius alternative when cooking at the beach isn’t an option. We had a few friends over and enjoyed a warm evening and a pot of fresh shellfish in our own backyard. Small pails around the table are great to discard the shells in.
Regarding the lobster cooking time, I was skeptical and didn’t want to risk overcooking the lobster. But I added the lobster on top of the potatoes and onions about 3 minutes before scattering the clams on top, as directed. Along with littleneck and cherrystone clams, I added 2 dozen mussels. The clams and mussels were open in 8 minutes. The lobster was cooked perfectly.
Split the lobsters before serving so each person will get 1/2 or serve 1 lobster per person. I feel 1 to 2 cups white wine would be quite sufficient.
I was very pleasantly surprised by this New England clambake.
Instead of trying to find a lobster, we doubled the amount of clams to 4 dozen. We found extremely fresh Manila clams for this recipe. I am not sure how someone would think that 48 small clams will feed 4 to 6 people. That is beyond optimistic. There were 3 of us, and those 48 clams just upped and disappeared before we knew it.
Now, the 2 pounds of baby potatoes was a lot for the 3 of us. I can see that amount feeding 4 to 6 people. We did have some potatoes left over, as well as 3 pieces of the quartered corn. I cut the corn off of the cob, cut the potatoes into chunks, and made a very nice hash the next day.
Our friend thought that sausage might be nice addition to the dish. I would think that chouriço, linguiça, or dry-cured smoked Spanish chorizo, like David uses in his cataplana recipe would be wonderful.
Recipe sounds great! Pic shows food that has spent some time over fire (grill?) but recipe is all about boiling? Why the diff?
Harold, that’s a darn good question. I can’t exactly answer that. By way of explanation, though not excuse, we are granted permission to post recipes and their accompanying photos from cookbooks. We test the recipes, and then the ones that make us go wobbly in the knees end up on the site. But here’s the thing—sometimes the photos that appear in the book don’t exactly match the recipe in the book. Maybe there’s some scallion sprinkled on for garnish so something doesn’t seem so brown. Maybe it’s a butterflied chicken and not pieces of chicken. There are countless examples of how food stylists tend to veer off the recipe to make the photo look “better,” and I could go on citing example after example from my years in the biz. My hunch is that either the stylist felt the grill marks lent that authentic clambake touch to the photo or maybe at the stage at which the photo was taken this was a recipe for a grilled clambake. At any rate, if someone wanted to grill the corn and the lobster instead of boil them, one certainly could, although I personally think that would be a mistake as you’d lose the subtle sweetness they otherwise impart to the rest of the clambake. Or boil. Or whatever. Sorry to have perpetuated a falsehood, but I do hope you try the recipe—boiled, thank you very much—as we really, really enjoyed it.
Great recipe! Have used before and will use again, next month for my birthday. But you shouldn’t use a pic with charred pieces if recipe doesn’t call for it. Thanks for the post.
So glad you love this recipe as much as we do, E.F. Trujillo. And yes, you are absolutely correct on the lack of charring in the recipe. The trick is that we are granted permission to use the photo from the cookbook that accompanies a recipe and sometimes, as in this photo, food stylists go rogue. We try to avoid using recipes in which this happens but sometimes the recipe is just too spectacular to not share.
Sounds great, but in New England (southeast coast) we call that a clam boil. An easy at-home clambake can be done in large disposable chaffing dish. Get some rock weed (a sea weed that grows at the ocean)—pick it yourself or get some from a seafood store. Poke 6 quarter-size holes in the dish, then put 1 1/2 to 2 inches rock weed in the bottom. Pile on the lobster and clams, then sausage, chourico or linguica, fish (portions of fillet in a small paper bag) if you like, onions, small potatoes and corn. Cover with heavy-duty aluminum foil. Throw it on a campfire for 45 to 60 minutes depending on the amount of food (done when the potatoes and onions are cooked). The seaweed will steam the food and give it the traditional smoky flavor of a clambake.
Scott, this is terrific, many thanks! And sorry, but I gotta ask, any relation to my boss, David Leite?
I knew that question was coming! I lived in Fall River as a child (still live 20 minutes away). David and I exchanged a few e-mails and discovered our grandparents were from the same island in the Azores, but concluded we were no relation.
Thanks for indulging me, Scott. It’s nice to know others who come from the same part of the world, though. I mean, I’m German so not that I would know, but I mean, for you and David. Anyways, thanks again and come back to the site again! Love to hear which recipes you try…
You can add sausage (Linguiça is the best, but Andouille or even kolbász or any cooked or smoked sausage) cut into pieces and shrimp (Fresh raw, head on has the best flavor) and any kind of clam or mussels for additional flavor and variety. I also like to add some edible sea weed if i can get it. Your recipe is of course closer to the classic, which skips the garlic and onions but is better with them. If i am not using a spicy sausage I might throw in some hot peppers as well but i like more spice than many folks.
David, David, David. Now you’re talking my language. A clambake ain’t a clambake without linguiça or chouriço, I always say.