The Clam Species, Preface To Boston Fish House Clam Recipes From The 1940s

Fish House Recipes, 1940s

The Clam Species

Soft clams are one of the great delicacies of the clean waters of the sea, they have a distinct flavor that once enjoyed is never forgotten. They are in season all year. Leaving Maine, [many years ago] all the coast of Massachusetts Bay [was] found to be a highly productive region for soft clams, and an immense trade is supported, centering in Boston.

The abundance of clams was a matter of great solace and profit to the Puritan colonists, as quaintly expressed chronicles bear witness. For example, it is recorded in the early annals of Plymouth that a good man, in a time of scarcity of food, asked his pastor to dine on clams, and returned thanks that they were permitted "to eat of the treasure hid in sand."

When the tide is out, on pleasant days [many years ago], one will often see gangs of ten, twenty, or fifty men busily employed in turning up the sand on the flats, and picking up the clams into buckets. The implement which they use is a stout fork, with four to six flat prongs, each about a half an inch wide and 10 to 12 inches long.

The soft shell clam is made up of two oblong, slightly bluish-white shells within which is a yellowish body, comprising the food substance. The shell of the clam is held together by a pair of strong muscles, but if the animal would keep his doors quite closed he must exert a continued effort, since immediately beneath the hinge, occupying a little cup shaped projection like a bracket, is an elastic substance which acts to throw the valves a little apart when the muscles are relaxed, just as a piece of rubber squeezed into the hinge of a
door would tend to open it as soon as the pressure was removed.

The ordinary length of the shell is about three inches, and the specimens that live on the outer sandy beaches have a much whiter, thinner, and more regular shell than those found in estuaries; they are often really delicate in texture, and covered, even when full grown, with a thin, yellowish epidermis, making a striking difference between them and the homely, rough mud-colored specimens usually seen in the market.

Spawning season occurs in June and July. Clam juice was first served in the Parker House of Boston. A noted doctor had declared that clam juice was the finest thing known to keep the stomach in trim, and so there were many requests for this juice. The chef, after steaming the clams, threw them away and served the remaining juice to the patron. The demand grew so that the hotel regularly steamed a batch of clam juice every day and it became a regular part of the bill-o-fare.

The favorite and most popular way today of serving soft shell clams is by steaming them and serving the broth at same time. They are commonly used for chowder clams, and are also fried and made into fritters.