Clams on the Grill
Mike schooled me a couple summers ago about grilling clams. Nothing to it; just put them on the grill and the heat will cook them, like steamers. When they open up, they’re done. Take them off the grill and eat them.
But one night, when Mary Jo Speranza was watching me in the pit, she pointed out that this cooking method lost all the clam juice. She suggested putting them in a shallow pan with some white wine. So last night, we grilled littlenecks, and used Bianco vermouth for the wine. Just a little bit of vermouth in the bottom of one of those disposable aluminum pans, enough to come to a boil, and not quite cook off. (Actually, we used recycled aluminum throwaway pie pans, so it was an environmentally responsible recipe.) Anyway, the clams cook not only from the heat of the fire, but also from the steam coming off the boiling wine. And then, just as the wine is about to cook off, the clams begin to open, and the clam juice mixes with the reduction from the wine.
This technique could not possibly be any simpler, and the clams really couldn’t have been any tastier. As a matter of fact, it suggested to me that the next time we have a big summertime gathering, we could do this in quantity, to give the barbeque a sort of clambake flavor.
posted by pops | 1:59 PM
2 Comments:
This is the most useful information I have received from abybody's blog in years. Tomorrow, we dine on clams. But I must share with the baseball, food ,and scotch world, that this past wednesday will go down as one of the greatest fdays of my life rivaling and perhaps surpassing the birth of my two, now adult, children.
I had two tickets for the Sox-Jays game at Fewnway and was planning on meeting my son 15 minutes before the game in front of the Cask and Flagon. I got to Fenway early to take pictures of the scene and hang-out. All of a sudden two colleagues spotted me and said "Chip join us, you're not going to believe what we're up to." Turns out they were participating on a health care journalism seminar, led by a former Globe sportswriter Larry Tye, and they were about to be taken on tour of Fenway, including going down ON THE FIELD while the Sox were taking batting practice, then, going to the top of the Green Monster, and then heading to the interview room to talk with the team physicians along with a private conversation with Bill Monbouquette who pitched for the Sox in the early 60's, won 20 games in 1963, was later the pitching coach for the Mets, where he coached Tom Seaver.
Tem minutes later I was on the field with Sox behind home plate. The first thing I did was get on my knees and kissed the dirt, didn't know what else would express my felings so well. Later stood next to Terry Francona before heading to the Green Monster and the interview room.
It was just too surreal. Monboquette shared how he once slugged the Sox GM (literally), for not giving him what he wanted in his contract. After the 1963 season he made only about $13,000. He was very pissed-off about that. Even in his 70's now, you know not to mess with the guy, he was very entertaining.
Later I met up with my son, who berated himself for not joining me sooner, but we had a joyful time watching Dice-K pitch seven shut out innings, the Sox finally winning in the bottom of the ninth with a Jason Varitek walk-off single. It doesn't get much better than this, but just the same I look forward to grilling the clams.
Chip in Williamstown
Chipper,
I'm paralyzed with jealousy. I don't know what to say. But perhaps your supplication was accepted by the baseball gods, and is, in some way, part of the reason we're on a winning streak.
By the way, how were the clams?
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