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There's nothing like a New England clambake for cooking fresh seafood, including lobster, crab, mussels, clams, and quahogs. Often the seafood is augmented with onions, carrots, corn, sausages, potatoes, and more. The New England Clambake is generally held to mark special occasions all over the shoreline of New England.

The classic recipe for a New England Clambake starts with gathering seaweed along the shore; it's a vital ingredient for helping to prepare the food. You will need a container large enough to hold the seaweed and a goodly amount of sea water. You will also need several round stones, medium in size, to be heated in the pit. Stones, or often cannon balls, are used to absorb and radiate heat in the cooking process.

Finally, as expected when steaming food, a cover is applied to trap the heat and steam which will completely cook the food. Sea water-soaked potato sacks or canvas tarps are frequently used for this purpose as they will prevent the majority of air from escaping, therefore allowing the food to cook thoroughly.

When you cook using steam, it causes the juices of each individual ingredient to mingle as they collectively heat. What results is a grouping of tastes which cannot be achieved through any other means. It is important to consider the preparation time for each ingredient when placing them within the pit. Fish usually requires the least amount of heat, followed by shrimp, then squid which takes the most. Careful placement allows the steam to prepare everything, without overdoing any single ingredient.

For a truly great clambake, you must have the freshest seafood. A New England Clambake and a Cape Cod Clambake are very similar. Both include basically the same ingredients. The Cape Cod Clambake is cooked in the same fashion as the New England, too.

Are you one of the people who think that a clambake is the best thing in the world? Although I tend to argue about culinary preferences, I just don't have anything to say about whether a clambake is one of the greatest eating experiences for a seafood lover or not.