Host a New England Clambake

A Clambake is a great way to throw an outdoor party with a unique twist. Traditional clambakes are held on a New England beach. If you have access to a beach, then by all means have your party there. Be sure to check with local regulations, as not all stretches of beach allow clam baking. But even if you’re totally landlocked, you can re-create many aspects of a clambake in your own back yard.

Choose your guest list and send out invitations about two weeks in advance. Check out MyExpression.com for great themed invitations.

Doing it the old fashioned way

If you’re holding your clambake on the beach, here’s how to create your pit for cooking. Traditional clambakes include soft shell clams, native seaweed, corn, potatoes, and lobsters all cooked together. Make substitutions based on your preferences and what’s fresh and available - crabs work great as well. Don’t eliminate the seaweed if you’re cooking in a pit, it helps with the cooking process and insulation.

1. In firm sand, dig a hole 3 feet deep and 4 to 6 feet across.
2. Line hole with round, dry, somewhat large rocks. Try to use all igneous rocks, or those that are nonporous and will hold the heat.
3. To heat the rocks, build a fire in the hole, using driftwood or hardwood. Allow at least 4 hours of burning to get rocks hot enough. To test the temperature, sprinkle salt water on random rocks; it should sizzle on contact with each rock.
4. When rocks are white-hot, rake out wood and ashes. Cover the bottom rocks with 3 to 6 inches of wet seaweed. (The idea is to create as much steam as possible for cooking.)
5. Quickly add a layer of tightly shut clams (previously washed clean of sand), another layer of wet seaweed, live lobsters, more seaweed, a layer or two of small new potatoes, more seaweed, a layer of unhusked corn and a final thick layer of seaweed.
6. Cover entire hole with a wet tarpaulin or canvas and anchor securely all around the edges with rocks so steam cannot escape.
7. Let clambake steam for approximately 1 hour. Periodically check under cover and poke down with a stick to see all the layers. The bake is done when clams are open, lobsters are bright red and potatoes can be easily pierced with a fork.

Hosting a Clambake at Home

If you’re nowhere near a beach, you can host a clambake at home. You can boil your seafood over a fire pit in your yard or even on your stove. For this party, which is more of a boil than a bake, you’ll use a large pot filled with water and steam your food (unless you want to have enough sand to build a pit delivered to your back yard).

To recreate the beach atmosphere, use picnic tables covered with red and white checked table cloths and have ice chests filled with beer and other beverages right in the back yard. Bring blankets if the evenings get chilly and have plenty of lanterns for outdoor light. If you like, buy a CD of ocean sounds to make your backyard feel more like the beach.

To set your table, put a sand pail on each table and fill it with packaged oyster crackers, salt, pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, utensils and napkins. Have other pails available for shells and other trash.

A clambake is a fun way to spend an evening, especially when the evenings are starting to cool just a bit in early fall. Whether your clambake is held on the beach or in your yard, your guests are certain to have a great time!