Pit cooking is a festive way to prepare a blowout seafood dinner, New England–style, said Mark Gaier and Clark Frasier in Maine Classics (Running Press). In Maine, the Penobscot Indians passed the tradition on to early European settlers, but “every indigenous culture seems to have had a method of cooking that involved burying the bounty of the land and sea, and cooking with hot rocks, wood, and whatever else was around for fuel.” The Penobscot dug pits into clay soil, lined them with stones, and layered aromatic leaves above the fire and the food, thus enhancing the flavors of the meat and seafood.
The concept lives on in Maine in what’s called a clambake or shore dinner. Pits are dug in the sand or in a yard, filled with coal or firewood, then packed with layers of clams, lobsters, mussels, potatoes, sausage, and, last but not least, seaweed. Since not everyone lives near a beach they’re allowed to cook on, some Mainers maintain fire pits in their yards or settle for a stove-top “New England clam boil.” We’ve come up with the following “middle-of-the-road version,” which requires only a patio kettle grill. Well, that, and up to 10 pounds of seaweed. If you’re unable to gather your own, ask your fishmonger to throw some in with your shellfish order.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
