“Today, no summer is really perfect for the New Englander until, napkin under china, he has eaten his fill of fresh steamed clams, dipped in broth and then in melted butter.’’
— From Secrets of New England Cooking (1947), by Ella Shannon Bowles and Dorothy S. Towler.
Alas, it’s much harder these days to find restaurants that serve the disappearing (because of environmental changes) soft-shelled clams that we called “steamers.’’
“Clamming” {in Maine} (1887), by Winslow Homer.
“Clamdigger” (bronze), by Willem de Kooning.
