I am very much looking forward to eating grilled littleneck clams at a beach-fire barbecue in Truro, Massachusetts.
They’re delicious, littleneck clams, with zero adornment. A squeeze of lemon at most. Fresh clams are one of the most perfect foods, alone in their essence, requiring nothing but themselves to eat. They basically poach themselves, inside their shells, in their own brine. Takes less than a minute on a well-hot grill; they’re small. You know when they’re ready because they pop right open for you when they’re done.
And then there they sit, in their own little serving dishes (again: their shells), waiting for a spoon to bring them directly to a mouth. (Well, in another minute or so – careful not to burn your tongue! That brine is likely to be bubbling.)
Or maybe there’s not even a spoon at your beach barbecue on Cape Cod. Maybe someone forgot to bring spoons. Maybe it was you, you’re always forgetting stuff like that. You’re a very irresponsible person. If that’s the case, you can just eat them with your fingers. But really, I usually just scoop them out with my teeth and my tongue anyway.
You can buy them at Mac’s Seafood, the little outdoor mall in the town center.
