THE Clam Bake: Part 2

After the luncheon of fresh made clam chowder and Boston Brown Bread fresh from the can (B & B does a reasonable job on this traditional dark, brown bread) it was back to the reason for this gathering! The Clam Bake. (Okay, they had a 50-50 and a couple of gift baskets to raffle off first. Proceeds to help pay for the copious amount of food, porta-potties and dumpster. Terry won one basket with all sorts of barbeque goodies: rubs sauces, spices etc.)

Food prep continued apace. When it was all done, each food bag had two red potato, one half of a sweet potato, one small onion, one haddock filet topped with clam stuffing, one package of sausage links, and a quart of clams. (Depending on the size, that could be 18-24 clams!) In a separate kettle, corn on the cob was steamed over a propane burner.

Clam stuffing gets cut into squares.

Stuffing stacked on haddock filet and wrapped in paper.

Hardwood charcoal is piled on the tray...

...and lit using a propane torch.

It eventually catches after some prodding.
(Should have left the bags in the pile?)

Once the fire burned down to a nice bed of coals, a heavy metal tray cap was placed over the tray and covered with wet seaweed.

Seaweed goes first to provide the steam...and flavor.

The bake was prepared in a plywood box having a hardware cloth mesh bottom. Canvas soaked in seawater went down first, then the bags of food, followed by trays of hot dogs and linguisa (spicy Portuguese sausage) , then a covering of soaked canvas, plastic and canvas.

The bake goes on the hot seaweed.

Steam passes up through the whole thing to cook what's inside.

An hour or so later it's ready to be served.

Set on the side of the table, ready for dinner.

We moved in a buffet line picking up our sacks of food, corn on the cob and small tub of melted butter. Shuffled off to a seat under the tarps and enjoyed!

And then I forgot to take any more pictures as I was too busy eating! Sorry, you'll have to use your imagination.

After we enjoyed our meal--and sat around digesting it for a time--deserts came out. Home baked cookies, cheesecakes, and lots of other...stuff.

And after that, it was time to clean up. By nightfall, the tents were down, all the garbage was hauled off to the dumpster and the place was clean as ever. Only Bruce and Sue's immediate family and we four trekers (Nancy, Robert, Terry and I) remained to sit around the campfire.

It was great!