Living Off The Land (and Water): Fire, Booze & Cherrystones

This past weekend my lawnmower died halfway through mowing the backyard. Normally in such a circumstance I would scatter profanities, break out the toolbox, and spend an hour tinkering with a machine I do not fully comprehend. This day would be different. The sun was shining, it was low tide, and I had a hankering for some fresh quahogs. The mower would wait for a trained professional, and I would capitalize on my own expertise by filling a bucket with clams.

When I first moved to Cape Cod 17 years ago, I quickly became schooled in the pastime of quahog collecting. Fresh out of college, I was ripe with enthusiasm for my newfound home,  but I quickly learned that it is a rather expensive place to live. I was working at a t-shirt factory making a piddly wage, and my paycheck seemed to disappear with the passing of each weekend. My hobbies of chasing fish and pints at the bar was costing far more than I expected, so I began looking for ways to cut corners on expenses.
 
My first education on quahogs came from Jim Young at Eastman’s Bait & Tackle.

“If  you can dig a hole, you can dig a quahog!” 

Jim explained in his coarse, rather serious tone.

“It’s not rocket science. Just don’t buy one of those cheap rakes… get a good one.”

So I took big Jim’s advice, and I bought the finest quahog rake the shop had to offer. It would turn out to be one of the best investments I ever made.

There is nothing particularly appetizing about a raw quahog. They live in the mud. They have a thick, lifeless gray shell. They are stubborn and tough to shuck open, and once you do finally manage to pry their armor-like shells apart, you are greeted by a slimy, booger-like mess that is far from easy on the eyes. To the squeamish, they are gross. But to a seasoned, salty chef, they are are one of the finest ingredients found in our local waters.

Over the years I have experimented with countless recipes for quahogs, and just about all of them make for good eats. Dishes like stuffed quahogs, clam chowder, clams casino, pasta and clam sauce, clam cakes, clam balls and clams with rice have all found a home in my line-up of quahog recipes, and they are all delicious. A few years ago my wife stumbled upon this recipe on the internet. At first I was a bit skeptical, but it seamed intriguing, especially the booze and fire part, which we will get to shortly. We gave it a go (with a few alterations), and the result was a delicious appetizer, similar to a stuffed quahog, yet with a very distinctive, sweet and spicy flavor.

Grilled Clams Sambuca

Quahogs are graded into three categories, depending on their size. The smallest, barely-legal ones are called littlenecks. Mid-sized ones are called cherrystones, and the largest ones are “chowders” or just simple called quahogs.  Cherrystones are ideal for this recipe.

Start by giving the cherrystones a good scrub under cold water. Quahogs have very little sand inside their shells, any grit found in them usually comes from sand and mud lodged in the crevices of the shells. Wash them well, and you will be rewarded with sand-free clams.

The next step is to place the cherrystones in a dish towel, and pop them into the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. No more, no less. This will shock their abductor muscles, and makes them much easier to shuck.

Now it’s time to open them up. This is a skill that can only be mastered through practice. Always go in on the rounded, not the pointy, side of the quahog, and use a proper knife. You don’t need to muscle the knife in; if you pick the right spot it won’t take much pressure to pop into them.

I learned a great shucking tip from my good friend Ian Campbell two years ago. Ian was once a chef at a high-end restaurant, and one of their specialties was clams casino. Ian taught me that if you run the knife straight down through the middle of the quahog, you can split the meat in half, leaving you with two portions from a single clam. This will extend your clam supply, and cut your shucking time in half. It’s not ideal for all recipes, but perfect for this one.

Once all your clams are shucked, put them in the fridge and make the stuffing.

STUFFING RECIPE

4 ounces diced chourico (spicy Portuguese sausage)
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon Franks hot sauce
1-2 tablespoons butter
Dash of salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
paprika
2 tablespoons Sambuca or Pernod (licorice-flavored liqueur) I buy the small nip bottles and use about half of one
1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs

Sauté the diced chourico for a few minutes, then add the onions, peppers, garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Cook until the vegetables are almost done. Add the butter, spices and hot sauce and crank the heat for about one minute. Push all of the ingredients to one side of the pan. Add the Sambuca, stand back and ignite it! It should burst into flames, which will burn off the alcohol. Turn off the heat, and mix in the panko. Taste and add more seasonings if needed.

Now stuff a heaping spoonful of this delicious mixture on top of each shucked cherrystone and fire up the grill. you’ll want medium high heat, make sure the grill is good and hot before adding the clams. Place the clams on the grill, close the lid, and cook for about 6 minutes. The clams can quickly burn from below, so keep a good eye on them. Serve them up with a lemon wedge and a splash of hot sauce, and you will be treated to an amazing appetizer fit for a king.

If you’d like to learn more about digging clams, check out my article from the February 2007 Issue of On The Water Magazine, Happy as a Clam