Clam Cakes

I’ve been on a clam cake kick lately, ordering clam cakes anytime I see them on a menu, no matter what I had intended to order when I first walked through the door. If they have clam cakes, that’s what I’m having.

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Insane behavior? Perhaps, but blame the Food Network. It all began a couple weeks ago when I saw Aunt Carrie’s in Narragansett spotlighted on the cooking channel. I don’t remember the name of the show, but it was the one that showcases different places around the country that are famous for certain foods. They’d just taken us to a place called the Lobster Pot in Cape May, New Jersey, so I was primed and ready for seafood. Then, lo and behold, what popped up next on the screen but Aunt Carrie’s and I was lost.

I should probably mention that I’ve never been to Aunt Carrie’s. I’ve seen Aunt Carrie’s. I’ve driven past Aunt Carrie’s. But I’ve never stopped and eaten there, although I think it’s safe to say that will in all likelihood change very soon.  According to the program, Aunt Carrie was a real person who, back in 1920, began selling lemonade to local beachgoers to supplement the family income. She gradually added chowder and clam cakes, and the rest, as they say, is history. The operation evolved into the landmark restaurant we see today.

On the program they interviewed patrons who had worked there as kids, and whose children and grandchildren had worked there after them, as well as customers who had never worked there but who came back year after year for the seafood. They talked about shore dinners and showed the different foods that comprise that feast, including desserts. They showed chowder, and they showed a vat of clam cakes being deep-fried. Yummy golden brown clam cakes bobbing in the hot oil, crispy crunchy on the outside, and soft and steamy on the inside.

“Oh, yeah,” my brain said, “clam cakes,” and that was it.

I’ve never met a clam cake I didn’t like. I loved the rubbery clam cakes they used to sell at the drive-in. I look forward every year to the little clam cakes I buy at the St. James carnival in Manville. I love clam cakes when they’re big. I love them small. I love them crispy and I love them tender. I even love them when the only time you actually find a clam in them is when the cook accidentally losses her grip on the token clam as she drags it through the batter one more time.

We make clam cakes at home from a family recipe that’s been used for more than 60 years. Our clam cakes are of the softer, tenderer variety and they’re always full of chopped clams.  My parents were from landlocked upstate New York where seafood was still a treat back in the 40’s and 50’s. So when the aunts, uncles, and grandparents came to visit every summer we’d take them to the ocean where the men would dig quahogs, then we’d come home and the ladies would make clam cakes and chowder while the men sucked down the smaller clams, raw on the half-shell.

During the summer when my own children were young, I’d often whip up a batch of clam cakes, pile them into a large bowl, and send them out for the kids and their friends who’d all gather on the front steps to chow down.  One year, when the kids had their Jerry Lewis Muscular Dystrophy carnival in the backyard, our biggest moneymaker was the food. My friend Lorraine had baked up a batch of brownies that we sliced and bagged for sale. The food was such a hot-ticket item, we quickly expanded the menu to include hot dogs and soda.

Then I started making clam cakes. People were ordering them by the dozen “to go,” and I was churning them out just as fast as my deep fryer could cook them. Six to a bag, and they sold like hotcakes.  The statute of limitations is long past, so I guess I can safely confess that when one of the parents commented that a cold beer would sure be good, my Aunt Bea started selling that, too. We even had to send one of my neighbors out to the liquor store to pick up another case. Needless to say, we made a whopping donation to MDA that year.

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Clam Cakes (Nana’s Recipe)

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs slightly beaten
• 1 8oz can minced or chopped clams (drain liquid and use as below)
• 1-1/4 cup liquid (add milk to your clam juice to make up full amount)

Instructions

• Mix dry ingredients in bowl
• Add wet ingredients and mix thoroughly to remove lumps
• Add clams
• Add pepper to taste (optional)
• Drop by tablespoonfuls into hot oil (360-370 F) and fry until golden brown
• HINT: If you keep them on the small side they will cook through more quickly
• Serve with clam chowder