Clam Boil - New England Style

This never gets old! I am thinking of having everyone over and making a nice New England style Clam Boil. Having grown up on Martha's Vineyard, this was a favorite meal among all our friends. The first thing you need to ask would be how many people are coming for dinner? Usually, I am cooking for about 12 people. Not everyone is going to want clams so make sure you have enough for the ones that do because they can usually eat a lot of them! Also, you must use Linguica or Chourico. These are Portuguese favorites, especially in New England. The Linguica is a mild sausage where as the Chourico is a little more spicy. If you buy the Chourico, check the package as it comes in mild, hot and extra hot. You can order this online at Gaspars Sausage Co. or pick it up at your local supermarket. I have no relation to Gaspars only that they still sell the best Portuguese Sausage I have ever found. Not every supermarket carries this. It will be in the same section as the hot dogs. Sometimes I find it near where the italian sausage is located too. This is not the same as Chorizo, known as a Spanish sausage. Outside of New England you can find it, you just have to look. I found a good supply at the local Price-Rite Supermarket. You are going to need a clam pot steamer. How about some fresh steamers from the local supermarket seafood section. You can use any clams but I have found the best to be the New England Steamers. Littleneck clams will be OK, just keep in mind they are probably farm raised and will not have the same taste as the steamers. I still use them when I need a lot as I can usually get a good deal on them at the local fish market. The supermarket sometimes have good prices but not that often. For the rest of the ingredients, you can find at any local store. You will need potatoes, onions, hot dogs and breakfast sausage. I use any brand breakfast sausage links. They cook quick and are easy to portion. Here is the list of ingredients that will feed approx 12 people with some leftovers. I love to have leftovers from the clam boil. Its soooo good and easy to heat up. Adjust your quantities to the amount of people you are feeding. If it is for a small family of 4, use a 1/4 of the ingredients listed.

• 2 lbs of either Chourico or Linguica sausage
• 15 large potatoes peeled and cut in half
• 7 sweet onions, peeled
• 2 packages hot dogs (I try to use Ball Park Beef Franks)
• 2 packages breakfast sausage links (20-30 total)
• 200 clams (4 bags of 50)
• Hot Dog Rolls
• 12-15 ears of shucked corn

I will usually ask some of the guests to bring a side dish. Usually, they offer and I don't have to ask :) Usually any kind of cold salad is good such as potato salad or macaroni salad. You can also prepare a house salad too but that tends to get in the way! You will need a lot of room at the table for all the dishes to be served. Are you ready? Fill up the bottom of the clam pot with water. I usually fill it to just above the spout. Keep in mind that as you are cooking, the juices from the food are going to drip into the bottom pan and if you are not watching, the water will boil out between the top of the bottom pan and the bottom of the top pan. You can use your stove or as we like to do, fire up the grill and cook this outside. Peel your potatoes, cut them in half depending on size, rinse and put into top section of steamer. Peel your onions. Once you stop crying, decide if you want to cut the onions in half or leave whole. Put them into the top section of the steamer. Once the potatoes just start to get softer when you test with a fork, you can add your Linguica or Chourico and let heat for about 15 minutes. Now add in your hot dogs and sausage. You should have a good feeling by now how long its going to take for everything to heat up. Every so often, drain water out of the bottom section into a coffee cup or bowl, and pour back into the top covering all ingredients. Do this often. 20 Minutes before everything is ready, start a pot of water so you can add your corn when it boils. You can add them into the steamer if you do not have a lot of food in there. Now things get tricky. The clams are going to take anywhere from 5 minutes to 20 minutes to cook. It depends how many you are cooking. If you bought the clams in bags of 50, put in 50 at a time by holding the bag over the top of the pot and put a small cut in the bag so that the clams will slowly come out falling on top of the food in the steamer. The clams are done when all the shells have opened. If you see 99% of them open but a couple are not, that is ok. There are always some that do not open. Do not eat the ones that do not open. Place your ingredients in their own respective dishes to put on the table. You can start doing this when you add the clams as you will need to make room for the steam to work its way up to the clams. Serve the clams last. Make there are empty pots or bowls around for everyone to throw their shells into. Also, get some coffee mugs and fill them with broth from the bottom pot. You dont need a lot of broth in the mugs, just enough to dip the clams into. Some guests may want melted butter for dipping, that's fine too. Serve the corn with your dinner. As you are the cook, you will have to keep adding clams to the cooker. Once you have taken out 50, add another in. They will cook much quicker now that there is less ingredients in the steamer. Remember that the clams have to open up wide for them to be done. Leftovers should be refrigerated as soon as possible, as with any food. Make sure you save some broth too. When you reheat, you can put all the ingredients together or heat separately. Don't forget to spread the broth out on top of the food as it is heating, keeping it moist. Then use some of the broth for dipping. Enjoy :)