Clam Recipe
I am making a clam recipe this week. Actually I am making one of my favorite fritter recipes called Bonaker style clam fritters. This is one of Long Island, New Yorks favorite fritter recipes in seafood restaurants all over town. You see I am originally from the east coast. New York to be exact and part of New York is a place called Long Island although most of us urbanites will never admit to Long Island being part of New York. It’s just one of those local things I guess.
So back to the clam recipe. There are all kinds of clam recipe out there and all kinds of fritter recipes made with clams but these Bonaker style fritter recipes have been around for hundreds of years and it is the Bonaker people that gave the east coast many of the delicious seafood recipes that have evolved into world class dishes over the years.
This week I am going to make a slight variation to the Bonaker style clam recipe. I am going add a couple of small differences to my fritters and I am going to make a non-traditional sauce to go with this clam recipe and that is a chimichurri sauce that I think would go great with many fritter recipes. Usually, fritter recipes such as these are traditionally served with things like malt vinegar or even some kind of hot sauce but I thought the chimichurri sauce would be a nice change of pace.
Who are the Bonakers you ask? Bonakers? What’s a Bonaker? No! The question is who are the Bonakers? The Bonakers were working class families that lived north of the town of Easy Hampton, in New York state. The part of town the Bonakers lived in were kindly referred to as “The Springs.” The issue is that anyone who lived in East Hampton were referred to as Bonakers. This was not the case in reality though. Bonaker history goes back toe the earliest of settlers of this community whose heritage comes from England from around the 17th and 18th centuries.
The Bonakers were skilled fisherman and hundreds of years they made their way in live as fishermen, farmers and baymen which refers to “clamming.” The hunt for clams of anykind both hard and softshell clams. The clams harvested from the waters soon became the backbone of many Bonaker dishes such as clam fritters, oyster fritter and other fritter recipes, clam pie and of course clam chowder. Here’s one for you. Clam chowder was not made with milk or cream originally. Clam chowder was traditionally made by the Bonakers using tomatoes more along the line of what is commonly called today “Manhattan clam chowder.” The clam chowder using milk and/or cream came much later as an invention in Boston I imagine.
In 1929 we had the Great Depression here in the United States and the whole country suffered immensely. It took almost twenty years for America to climb out of the great depression. The depression made it’s way to New York and East Hampton. Now even though the depression hit East Hampton hard and people suffered the Bonakers survived by fishing and farming as they have always done. Living off the sea makes things easier than an urbanite who has to rely on the supermarket.
As with many small communities and groups of people the Bonakers were forced out of their traditional roles in the late 20th century and the now 21st. century and were forced to find work in the service industries as the area of East Hampton became a prime piece of real estate for the development of the tourist trade. The Bonakers were further displaced by the rising cost of housing in what is now called “The Hamptons” were the rich and famous of this country have their summer homes in “The Hamptons.” The culture of the Bonakers is now spread far and wide and they go where they can find work and afford to live. Enjoy the video and the recipe.
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 4 eggs
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 2/3 cup clam juice (reserved from clams)
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 tbsp. melted butter
- Pinch red chili flakes or cayenne pepper.
- 2 Tsp. Dried thyme.
- 2-4 scallions finely minced
- 2-4 Cloves of minced garlic to taste.
- 1 cup diced brown/red onion or shallot.
- 4 tbsp. finely chopped fresh basil or 2 Tbsp dry.
- 1 Tsp. Sugar (OPTIONAL)
- 8 dozen cherrystone clams or any clam will do shucked, drained, and coarsely chopped.
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Vegetable oil
- 2 bunches parsley finely chopped.
- 2 bunches cilantro finely chopped.
- 6 Tbsp. capers finely chopped.
- 4 cloves of garlic finely minced.
- 4 Tbsp. minced shallot or red onion will do.
- 3 tbsp. red wine vinegar.
- 2 Tsp. salt.
- 1 Tsp. red chili flakes.
- 2 Tsp. dried oregano.
- 1 Tsp. white pepper.
- 1 Tsp. cumin powder (optional)
- 1 cup olive oil.
- Some lime juice (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Sift together flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a mixing bowl. Whisk in eggs, lemon juice, clam juice, milk, butter, and cayenne or chili flakes, garlic, thyme, basil, brown/red onion or shallot, scallions and optional sugar and whisk until batter is smooth. Then season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
- 2. Add vegetable oil to a heavy skillet, to a depth of 1/8", and heat over medium heat. When the oil is hot but not smoking, spoon about 2 tbsp. of clam batter for each fritter into the hot oil. (Work in batches and avoid crowding the pan.) Fry until golden on one side, then turn fritters and continue frying about 2 minutes more. Drain on paper towels. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
- 3. Served traditionally with malt vinegar and either hot sauce or tartar sauce but today with chimichurri sauce.
- Put the finely chopped parsley, cilantro, capers, garlic, shallot, red flakes, oregano, and cumin in a medium mixing bowl and toss to combine. Add the vinegar, salt, red and black/white pepper and stir. Pour in the olive oil and mix until well combined. Let sit for 30 minutes so that the flavors blend. Or put all ingredients into a food processor and mix together well. You can opt for a smoother sauce or rougher sauce depending on how long your process.
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