CLAM Bake! (w/ PICS)

KiterTodd

Nothing simpler than a sack of clams.  You can cook them so many ways and it's nice to just sit back, pick the clams and enjoy whatever broth you've cooked them in, if any.   I decided to do a simple clam bake tonight on the egg.  This is a first time for me and you can switch it up as needed.  I think it'd be tough to mess this up.   Good fun, quick, and great flavor...

A couple finished pics and then I'll give you the rundown -

The finished clam bake, inside in better light;


A small plate, just to give 'er a taste...  



Okay, First I sauteed some garlic, onion and celery in a bit of coconut oil.  I would have added green peppers if I had 'em, as I was going for a pseudo creole theme with the seasoning, thin roux and ingredients.  More on that later...


I did the first part of this on the stove, but it could have just as easily been out on the egg.  Anyway, once I had the veggies how I liked them, I added some flour, let that mellow out a little bit and added my smoked sausage.  Just cooked that enough to start to plump and then I spooned in some chicken stock I had cooking on the stove.



You could use wine or whatever you like.  Even water would work as there was so much flavor from everything else.   A few ladles of stock and a splash of pumpkin beer on hand did the trick.  I seasoned with some creole seasoning I had as well.   Dumped in the clams and headed outside to the egg.
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My dutch oven lid fit the skillet like a glove!
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I closed up the egg, set the table, cut the bread, called the family, and checked the skillet.  I'm not sure how long it was on, probably 10-15 minutes.   And I opened the lid to find this!
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Smelled and looked great!

I served it in bowls with clams, sausage, and plenty of liquid from the pan to sop up with thick crusty sour dough bread.  It was awesome!

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And then I roasted some oysters, for desert. 
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Roasted oyster, juice from the shell, a little garlic butter and hot sauce.   Perfection!
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SGH

I got to ask, are you one of the Clam Gods? Spectacular looking grub brother. This easily earns the double SGHSOP:

NC_Egghead

Looks fantastic! Oysters for desert; nothing wrong with that!

blind99

Seriously WTF?!?! That is stupendous. Thanks now I'm starving and all I want is a giant bowl of clams, sausage, oysters.... 

KiterTodd

SGH said:

I got to ask, are you one of the Clam Gods? Spectacular looking grub brother. This easily earns the double SGHSOP:

The double SGHSOPper!?!?!  That is an honor.   And I thought the birth of my children was a proud moment...  

Thanks much for the kind words and encouragment.  I do love seafood on the grill and am always looking for fun ways to do it.

jaydub58

@KiterTodd, that is a double drooler! 

Mickey

One of the best looking cooks from the forum. Outstanding post. 
Have one question: when you put on the Egg you covered it up. When you uncovered it you pulled it off. Where did the Egg do its magic? This is a cook I want to do soon. 

Smoker317

Outstanding!!!

SmokingPiney

Killer!

bgebrent

Excellent job!!  That looks delicious!

Jstroke

That right there is an awesome money shot. Full heel clicking salute right there

KiterTodd

Mickey said:

One of the best looking cooks from the forum. Outstanding post. 
Have one question: when you put on the Egg you covered it up. When you uncovered it you pulled it off. Where did the Egg do its magic? This is a cook I want to do soon. 

Thanks for the compliment, @Mickey !

This time I really used the egg as an oven.  If you do that it provides a good excuse to roast oysters afterwards.     Sometimes as dutch ovens burp and breath they'll still pull in some egg goodness flavoring, but this cook was too quick for that.

If you wanted to do the egg right I'd brown the sausage on the egg first or in the pan, on the egg.  In that case, then remove the sausage and use that grease to stir fry the veggies.  I'll do that next time.   Likewise, you could do the final clam part uncovered, with grill closed, to try to get some lump flavor in there.  But I usually do clams covered and the heavy CI lid was too nice to pass  up.  But you could do it uncovered, keep any eye on it though so you don't boil away all that delicious clam juice and stock.

So yeah, grilling the sausage first, then slicing it to add to the final covered cook I think is the best way to get what you're looking for.   

bluebird66

Awesome cook!

GregW

That looks great. I do a lot of oysters on the egg. I shuck the oysters and add garlic and butter. Unfortunately I'm not really good at opening them. Demand always exceeds my ability to grill them. My son will eat a dozen before I can sit down at the table.

I've never done the clam's on the egg, they look great and I will have to give them a try. 

KiterTodd

I had the leftovers tonight (yes, there was a bit left), and it was even better.  Broth matured into a rich flavorful stock and the clams were still tender.  Highly recommend trying this one out.

GregW said:

That looks great. I do a lot of oysters on the egg. I shuck the oysters and add garlic and butter. Unfortunately I'm not really good at opening them. Demand always exceeds my ability to grill them. My son will eat a dozen before I can sit down at the table.

@GregW I don't think there is a bad way to serve an oyster, but try them simply roasted sometime.  Much less work so it's nice when you are making a lot of them.  If you have a couple dozen or less, do them like I did above.  Lay them flat on the grates, spoon side down, but don't go crazy trying to get them perfect.  When you notice half them starting to open, take them all off the grill, add your garlic butter.  Awesome!  And the ones that lose their oyster juice are still great. 

If you are making more than a couple dozen, just put them in a big pile and don't stress about it.  The ones on the bottom will be well done and the ones on the top will be rare.  Open the grill when you see steam which is a sign the oysters are opening up.

Or, if you stick to your method.  Don't spend more than 15 seconds on each oyster.  Put all the difficult to open ones aside and just throw them on the grill whole.  They'll open on their own.   

GregW

KiterTodd said:

I had the leftovers tonight (yes, there was a bit left), and it was even better.  Broth matured into a rich flavorful stock and the clams were still tender.  Highly recommend trying this one out.

GregW said:

That looks great. I do a lot of oysters on the egg. I shuck the oysters and add garlic and butter. Unfortunately I'm not really good at opening them. Demand always exceeds my ability to grill them. My son will eat a dozen before I can sit down at the table.

@GregW I don't think there is a bad way to serve an oyster, but try them simply roasted sometime.  Much less work so it's nice when you are making a lot of them.  If you have a couple dozen or less, do them like I did above.  Lay them flat on the grates, spoon side down, but don't go crazy trying to get them perfect.  When you notice half them starting to open, take them all off the grill, add your garlic butter.  Awesome!  And the ones that lose their oyster juice are still great. 

If you are making more than a couple dozen, just put them in a big pile and don't stress about it.  The ones on the bottom will be well done and the ones on the top will be rare.  Open the grill when you see steam which is a sign the oysters are opening up.

Or, if you stick to your method.  Don't spend more than 15 seconds on each oyster.  Put all the difficult to open ones aside and just throw them on the grill whole.  They'll open on their own.   

I will try your suggestion to put them on the grill unopened. The kids love the oysters, so much so they they try to make a meal out of them. The most I have shucked at one time is 5 dozen. Not many for a professional, but for me it takes a while.

Your method would eliminate a lot of work.
Thanks for the tip.