Since it appears that we will be living in Rhode Island for at least the next couple of years, I figured that we should make the best of it, and my philosophy is that there is no better way to get to know a place than by its food. Accordingly, we decided to make "stuffies", or what the rest of the country would call "stuffed clams". At least around here, these are typically made with the largish quahog clams, which we found at our local supermarket for the ludicrously low price of $0.99/pound. I suppose much of the weight is taken up by the shell, and then the end user has to do all the prep work, but that's still a ridiculously low price for any kind of fresh (and live!) food.
The clams
We checked
various recipes to figure out the best method of preparing the clams; in the end we put about an inch and a half of water into our pot, brought it to a boil, put our 4 clams in, and turned the heat down. In theory, the water would have only simmered after putting the clams in, but we must not have turned the heat down enough, and the water started boiling again. According to some recipes this is one way to make clams tough; in the future, we'd want to be a little more vigilant and a little more patient! But all of the clams popped open when done, just as the recipes said they would. So far, so good.
 |
| When the clams were done, they would pop open rather more violently than I would expect, enough that I didn't want to use the tongs to get the first clam out lest the next one decide it was done at that exact moment and splash boiling water onto my hand. |
It was Dom's job to chop up the clams while I rinsed off the shells. Here's his take on it.
Chopping the clams turned out to be pretty easy. If I had wanted to, I could have just chopped them all haphazardly and things would have been fine. However, I noticed while I was chopping that the centers of the clams were a different consistency and a bit gritty. (From later reading of Joy of Cooking, we determined that this part must be the stomach.) I removed this part of the clam starting on the second one, and by the fourth, and last, I had devised the following strategy - and I apologize if it sounds gory. If I was to slice the clam horizontally to open its stomach wide, and spill out the contents by scraping (actually not to hard to do). This way, there should be no grit left, and all you should have is meat. We don't want a repeat of the bit of grit that found its way into one of Caroline's clams. I will have to report back on the strategy after take 2.
The filling
From our research, we determined that the stuffie is one of those kinds of foods where no two recipes are the same. Even something like oven temperature is pretty variable; apparently you can bake stuffies at anywhere from 300°-425° and they'd still be good. But the biggest differences are in the stuffing mixture; the most basic just use minced clams and breadcrumbs, while the more elaborate concoctions use celery, peppers, various herbs, and even bacon or chouriço. We ended up using the clams, the rest of our panko breadcrumbs (about 2 Tbsp.), some Italian breadcrumbs (about 1 Tbsp.), an egg, and some sautéed celery, onions, and garlic. I didn't want to cover up the taste of the clams, which I figured was a big part of the reason we wanted to make stuffies in the first place.
 |
| Stuffing mix, pre-mixing. |
These got baked at 350° (mostly because the oven was still set to 350° after baking a loaf of bread) for about 13 minutes, after which I sprinkled a bit of pecorino cheese on top of 2 of the clams and popped them all back into the oven for another 4 minutes. The stuffies were plenty hot and cooked through.
 |
| Stuffies before going into the oven. |
Verdict
This was literally the first time either of us had eaten a stuffed clam. We thought they were pretty tasty but that the actual clams were kind of tough; next time we'll know how to cook AND prepare the clams! The stuffing was flavorful but the other ingredients didn't detract from the clams, and I don't feel the need to toss any other meats into the stuffing. If we happen to have any fresh herbs around next time we make stuffies, I might throw some of those in, but otherwise, these tasted fine as they were. Overall, we think this was a resounding success for first-timers like us!
 |
| A stuffie with pecorino in the front, one without in the back, and a slice of homemade bread. Tasty! |
