Topical Guide 1021
Mark Dorset
Clams, Fried
Leaving Small’s Hotel, Chapter 47:
Dinner that night was a medley of my favorites: clams casino, clam fritters Harold, baked stuffed clams, clam chowder, fried clams the way my grandfather used to make them, linguini with clam sauce (white and red), and sautéed spinach with onions and ginger.
I will repeat myself, from Topical Guide 35:
I know that Kraft’s paternal grandfather, Edward Daniel Kraft, often made fried clams, and I know that the fried clams he made are the originals of the clams in the passage above. I also know that Kraft asked his grandfather for the recipe, many years later, and received a handwritten response that he found astonishing in its simplicity. I know, too, that at my request Kraft has tried to find that handwritten recipe and failed. (Make that “at my request Kraft says that he has tried to find that handwritten recipe and failed.” See “History: Nature of, Alternative Versions of, Distortions of, Personal Version of,” above.) Pressed, Kraft claimed that the recipe was nothing more than: “Put a couple of handfuls of flour into a brown paper bag. Add some pepper. Add a handful of shucked clams. Shake well. Drop the clams, one by one, into a deep pot of boiling oil. Fry until brown and crunchy.”
See also:
Clams TG 21; Clams: Cherrystone TG 32; Clams: Fried TG 35, TG 38; Clams: Littleneck TG 32; Clams: Seed TG 32; Clams: Antigona lamellaris and Tapes literatus TG 46; Clams: Babbington Clam Council, The TG 5; Clams: Babbington Clam, the packing plant TG 3; Clams: Clamshell Driveways TG 3; Tridacna gigas: TG 785
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