New England Clambake

Soft Shelled Clams

Soft Shelled Clams

AoSHQ: Morning Report 05.19.26

Shellfish

AoSHQ: Morning Report 01.29.26

Non Traditional Stuffed Clams

AoSHQ: Morning Report 11.10.25

100 CLAMS 1 PIZZA

AoSHQ: Morning Report 10.17.25

Geoduck: What Does This GIANT Clam Taste Like?

Geoduck (GOO-ee-duk)

AoSHQ: Morning Report 08.11.25

Have Some Clam Chowder Today

It is Clam Chowder Day: Boston is proud of its chowder, but is the West Coast, the best coast? 

The article above about west coast clam chowder suggests that clams are smaller in the Pacific. That is nonsense. Still, there is an issue of availability: West Coast native horse clams and butter clams (both big and meaty like Atlantic quahogs) are not widely sold commercially--just manila clams (which are a hard little neck sized clam). If you are on the west coast and want to use horse or butter clams for chowder, you need to find a source or dig them yourself.  

Geoducks are definitely harvested and sold, but at the prices they command they typically don't end up in chowder. Same for razor clams.  If you have them though, they both make a great chowder (or great additions to chowder, especially the siphon of a geoduck).  

The best chowders (be it east or west) are made from clams from clean waters that you harvest and cook that day. Short of being able to do that, get the freshest best quality clams you can get. You can throw in fish and oysters too, but that is more of stew than a chowder. I say the more the better. 

I could also wade into the Manhattan vs. New England versions. Tomato based chowders are fine (and I could go either way at times), but go full cioppino if you are going tomato. Still, I love a really creamy well made chowder. You can also try this New Jersey variant cream chowder.  

And then if you are stuck in the middle of the country (like some of us), you might have to go with canned or frozen clams. While sometimes you need your clam fix, it is not the same. If you don't have fresh clams, alternatively have yourself a brandy old fashioned or Wisconsin beer to drown your culinary sorrows, then go with some aged Wisconsin cheese, brats, or walleye fish fry. You will be just fine. 

The Spruce: Types of Clams

Serious Eats: A Guide To Clam Types

Chowder Recipes: West Coast vs. East Coast 

GiGi Eats Celbrities: Not chowder, but clam sauce (she cheats with canned clams)

The Royals are advised no shellfish, but sometimes they break the rules!

West Coast Clam Chowder

FDR and Kate Hepburn having chowder

Amy Schumer gets chowder completely wrong (eat it, not dump it on your head...)

Rule 5 and FMJRA

Goodstuffs: BSC Media

Woodsterman : Libturds

357 Magnum: Sun Links

Hogewash: VA Democrat

The Right Way: Link-O-Rama

Proof Positive: Best Of The Web

The Feral Irishman: Nice Guns and Soon

Pirate's Cove: Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup

Animal Magnetism: Saturday Gingermageddon

Lem's Place: Help Lem and Nadia G's Bitchin Kitchen

Diogenes Middle Finger News: Middle Finger Symphony

American Power - Georgia Gibbs and Giada De Laurentiis

AoSHQ: Morning Report 02.25.19: My Big Fat Jussie Oscar

Political Clown Parade: Amy! and Flowing Curves of Beauty

A View from the Beach: This is your news on drugs and Emmy Rossum 

Mark Steyn: The Continental and A Cockwomble Reaches for the Hockey Stick

Knuckledraggin My Life Away - I’m sure she’s taken, men and I’ll leave you with this

Ninety Miles From Tyranny - Hot Pick, Girls With Guns, Morning Mistress, and Rule 5 Links

TOM: CPAC: Guilt by Association, In The Mailbox: 03.01.19,  CPAC: Getting the Big Ticket, In The Mailbox: 02.27.19, CPAC: ‘The JOOOZZ!’, CPAC 2019: #FightOn Video, CPAC: Another Day, Another Deadline, In The Mailbox: 02.27.19, CPAC 2019: Wednesday Scenes — Don’t Hate Me, I’m Only the Media.  CPAC 2019: Great Minds Think Alike, Cohen to Testify Before Congress, In The Mailbox: 02.26.19, SJWs Ruin Everything: Knitting Bloggers in Meltdown Mode Over ‘Social Justice’, WHOA! PayPal Working With SPLC to Enforce Ideological Conformity?, ‘Gender’ and the Question: Why?, Bee stinks, cult violence, and MAGA hats, Unleash 'The Tone'!, ‘Transgender Women of Color’, Never Trust a Bisexual, In The Mailbox: 02.22.19, and Is The Bible Hate Speech?

A collection of sites known for appreciation of Rule 5 and clam chowder:   

TOTUS

Egotastic

Dust bury

HeroPress

Hogewash

Theo Spark

Daily Gator

O.K. Corral

Daily Caller

Wired Right

Pirate's Cove

Woodsterman

Proof Positive

DryBonesBlog

The Right Way

RULE 5 SITES

Blazing Cat Fur

MissK's World...

By Other Means

American Power

Irons In The Fire

Guns and Bikinis

SayanythingBlog

Raconteur Report

Doubletroubletwo

Angrymikes hood

The Last Tradition

Adrienne's Corner

The Feral Irishman

Camp of the Saints

Animal Magnatism

Maggie's Notebook

The Classic Liberal

The Rio Norte Line

Randy's Roundtable

A Nod To The Gods

Small Dead Animals

Grouchy Old Cripple

Raised On Hoe Cakes

Political Clown Parade

24 Femmes Per Second

The Vulgar Curmudgeon

A View From The Beach

Diogenes' Middle Finger

Your Crazy Uncle Bubba

Old Retired Petty Officer

Ninety Miles From Tyranny

Knuckledraggin My Life Away

In a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

GOODSTUFF'S CYBER WORLD (RIP)

New England Clam Chowder

I am not particularly into the game today or a fan of the Patriots, but I do love New England Clam Chowder.  This is a recipe from a southerner Ryan Hardy on Martha's Vineyard that is promoted by the James Beard Foundation.  It is easy to make and a perfect winter meal.  

EBL: Revolutionary War, Olivia Culpo, and Marissa Van Noy

Clam Digging Into Sand

I usually advise some one to stop digging,
but if you are a razor clam it makes sense to keep digging...

EBL: Geoduck: The biggest clam of all (as beach mud clams go). 

There are those giant ocean clams.

Okay, here is some bonus shellfish:

EBL: Coconut Crabs

Italian Christmas Eve Dinner: Stuffed Clams and Cioppino

National Clams on the Half Shell Day

It is not just Easter...there are just so many holidays today to celebrate!

Photo from here

Enjoy the holiday!  

NYT:  Clam bars in New York and New Jersey (this is a very incomplete list)  Obviously there are people in New England, California and the Pacific Northwest that would have other picks.  While not completely true, most good oyster bars will also serve clams.  Although on the west coast, clams are more often than not steamed and not served raw on the half shell.

Sadly no more...

West coast clams are great.  Just don't make a wrong turn at Albuquerque!

Giant Pacific Clam,Tridacna gigas (these really are the biggest clams of all)

These clams are enormous, reading four feet long and over 400 lb.  They are becoming rare due to over harvesting.  They are taken for their shells, for meat, and for the aquarium trade.  The brilliant colors of the mantels are due to algae that live symbiotically with the clam.  The algae help generate food for the clam, the clam opens exposes them to sunlight during the day and protects them in the shell at night.

Geoducks: The biggest clam of all...

And it is pronounced gooey-duck.  Well they are big but not bigger than these guys (which can weight hundreds of pounds), but the geoduck is the biggest clam in North America.  They can be three feet long.  For some reason they are prized delicacies in Asian markets (can you guess why):

Is that a geoduck in your pocket or are you just glad to see me?

They are actually delicious.  In China the syphon is the most prized part (it is crunchy and fibrous), but the most tender and tasty meat is the ribbon of mussel inside the shell.  Here is a recipe.

And given that these clams can sell for $100 each, there is a thriving black market in geoducks.

National Clam Chowder Day: You know what you need to do...

Make some chowder!  

Photo from here

West Coast Clams (just don't make a wrong turn at Albuquerque)