Alternative names | Clam fritter |
---|---|
Type | Seafood |
Place of origin | United States |
Region or state | New England Rhode Island |
Clam cakes (also known as clam fritters) are a part of New England cuisine, most commonly found in Rhode Island although they can also be found in Connecticut, Maine, and Massachusetts. They are balls of battered clams which have been deep-fried. On the Maine Coast, clam cakes are formed into large, flat patties and fried.
Clam cakes are often served at take-out food outlets or other informal settings as finger food, as part of a meal consisting of several clam cakes, french fries, and cole slaw. This is often served alongside clam chowder. The cakes tend to be eaten dry, dipped in clam chowder, tartar sauce or ketchup. [1]
Clam fritters [2] are particularly popular during clamming season when clams are in abundance and it is legal during limited, specified periods for private citizens to dig their own. The surplus of clams must be used up quickly so they do not spoil. [3]
Hank Shaw described them as, "think clam beignet, or donut hole. Only savory. Crispy, golden brown on the outside, pillowy and light on the inside. Steam rises from the first bite. The slightest aroma of brine surrounds you. Tiny chunks of clam nestle themselves in the folds of the pillow, offering surprising bites of chewy meatiness as you down one of these little glories after another." [4]
Each clam cake is a deep-fried ball-shaped mixture containing chopped clam (usually quahog) combined with various other ingredients to give it a firm, hushpuppy-like consistency once fried. [5] The batter is made from flour, milk, clam juice, eggs and a leavening agent, typically baking powder. Some recipes may include cornmeal. [6]
Local legend holds that clam cakes were first served at Aunt Carrie's, a seafood restaurant in Narragansett, Rhode Island in 1920. According to this legend, Carrie Cooper invented clam cakes by adding fresh clams to her corn fritter recipe, thus inventing clam fritters. [7] Clam cake recipes are actually as old as the 19th century. [8]
New England cuisine is an American cuisine which originated in the New England region of the United States, and traces its roots to traditional English cuisine and Native American cuisine of the Abenaki, Narragansett, Niantic, Wabanaki, Wampanoag, and other native peoples. It also includes influences from Irish, French-Canadian, Italian, and Portuguese cuisine, among others. It is characterized by extensive use of potatoes, beans, dairy products and seafood, resulting from its historical reliance on its seaports and fishing industry. Corn, the major crop historically grown by Native American tribes in New England, continues to be grown in all New England states, primarily as sweet corn although flint corn is grown as well. It is traditionally used in hasty puddings, cornbreads and corn chowders.
Chowder is a thick soup prepared with milk or cream, a roux, and seafood or vegetables. Oyster crackers or saltines may accompany chowders as a side item, and cracker pieces may be dropped atop the dish. Clam chowder from New England is typically made with chopped clams and diced potatoes, in a mixed cream and milk base, often with a small amount of butter. Other common chowders include seafood chowder, which often consists of fish, clams, and other types of shellfish; lamb or veal chowder made with barley; corn chowder, which uses corn instead of clams; various fish chowders; and potato chowder, which is often made with cheese. Fish, corn, and clam chowders are popular in North America, especially Atlantic Canada and New England.
Tempura is a typical Japanese dish that usually consists of seafood and vegetables that have been coated in a thin batter and deep fried. Tempura has its origins dating back to the 16th century, when Portuguese Jesuits brought the Western-style cooking method of coating foods with flour and frying, via Nanban trade.
Clam chowder is any of several chowder soups in American cuisine containing clams. In addition to clams, common ingredients include diced potatoes, salt pork, and onions. Other vegetables are not typically used. It is believed that clams were used in chowder because of the relative ease of harvesting them. Clam chowder is usually served with saltine crackers or small, hexagonal oyster crackers.
Korokke is a Japanese deep-fried yōshoku dish originally related to a French dish, the croquette. Korokke is made by mixing cooked chopped meat, seafood, or vegetables with mashed potato or white sauce, usually shaped like a flat patty, rolling it in wheat flour, eggs, and Japanese-style breadcrumbs, then deep-frying this until brown on the outside.
A fritter is a portion of meat, seafood, fruit, vegetables, or other ingredients which have been battered or breaded, or just a portion of dough without further ingredients, that is deep-fried. Fritters are prepared in both sweet and savory varieties.
A crab cake is a variety of fishcake popular in the United States. It is composed of crab meat and various other ingredients, such as bread crumbs, mayonnaise, mustard, eggs, and seasonings. It is then sautéed, baked, grilled, deep fried, or broiled. Crab cakes are traditionally associated with the Chesapeake Bay, in the state of Maryland. Although the earliest use of the term "crab cake" is commonly believed to date to Crosby Gaige's 1939 publication New York World's Fair Cook Book in which they are described as "Baltimore crab cakes," earlier usages can be found such as in Thomas J. Murrey's book Cookery with a Chafing Dish published in 1891.
The hard clam, also known as the round clam, hard-shellclam, or the quahog, is an edible marine bivalve mollusk that is native to the eastern shores of North America and Central America from Prince Edward Island to the Yucatán Peninsula. It is one of many unrelated edible bivalves that in the United States are frequently referred to simply as clams. Older literature sources may use the systematic name Venus mercenaria; this species is in the family Veneridae, the venus clams.
Johnnycake, also known as journey cake, johnny bread, hoecake, shawnee cake or spider cornbread, is a cornmeal flatbread, a type of batter bread. An early American staple food, it is prepared on the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Jamaica. The food originates from the indigenous people of North America. It is still eaten in the Bahamas, Belize, Nicaragua, Bermuda, Canada, Colombia, Curaçao, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Saint Croix, Sint Maarten, Antigua, and the United States.
Potato cake is a name given to various shaped potato dishes around the world, including a patty of hashed potatoes, a fried patty of mashed potato, a fried and battered slice of potato, or a flatbread made with mashed potato and flour. In Northern England and some states in Australia, a thin slice of potato that is battered and deep fried may be called a potato scallop. In Australia and New Zealand, the terms potato cake, potato flip and potato fritter may be used.
Corn fritters are fried cakes of a dough or batter made of, or containing a featured quantity of maize (corn). Originating in Native American cuisine, they are a traditional sweet and savory snack in the Southern United States, as well as Indonesia where they are known as perkedel jagung or bakwan jagung.
Squid is eaten in many cuisines; in English, the culinary name calamari is often used for squid dishes. There are many ways to prepare and cook squid. Fried squid is common in the Mediterranean. In New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Canada, and South Africa, it is sold in fish and chip shops, and steakhouses. In Britain, it can be found in Mediterranean 'calamari' or Asian 'salt and pepper fried squid' forms in various establishments, often served as a bar snack, street food, or starter.
Bermudian cuisine blends British and Portuguese cuisine with preparations of local seafood species, particularly wahoo and rockfish. Traditional dishes include codfish and potatoes served either with an add-on of hard-boiled egg and butter or olive oil sauce with a banana or in the Portuguese style with tomato-onion sauce, peas and rice. Hoppin' John, pawpaw casserole and fish chowder are also specialties of Bermuda. As most ingredients used in Bermuda's cuisine are imported, local dishes are offered with a global blend, with fish as the major ingredient, in any food eaten at any time.
Aunt Carrie's is a seafood restaurant in the Point Judith neighborhood of Narragansett, Rhode Island, opened in 1920 by Carrie and Ulysses Cooper. In 1994, Carrie's grandson Bill died; since then, his wife and now their two daughters run the restaurant.
The Clam Shack is a seafood restaurant in Kennebunkport, Maine that serves its food for take-out. It has been in operation since 1968 and serves dishes from New England's cuisine. It is especially known for its lobster rolls. The shack has won accolades from magazines like Gourmet and Travel + Leisure. It is only open from May to October. Many celebrities have been spotted at the restaurant.