I was born in Pawtucket, RI and spent most of the summers of my youth in Bristol, RI and Boston with my dad’s side of the family. My favorite memories are of the clambakes dad would have, with the entire extended Gagne clan gathered around an old picnic table in the backyard or crammed into the dining room or out on his big deck. There would be pounds and pounds of lobsters and clams and Portuguese sausage and loaves of bread and mugs of broth and butter and Budweiser and running through sprinklers and birthday cake and presents and afterwards there’d be firecrackers and bottle rockets and sparklers. It was more fun than you could possibly imagine.
Here are my five favorite ways to enjoy clams:
- steamed clams
- stuffed quahogs
- New England style clam chowder
- clamcakes
- little necks (raw)