I love all seafood, but I love shellfish the most. Whether it’s oysters on the half shell, king crab legs, whole Maine lobster or good seafood chowder. But nothing says Fall like a big pot of steamed mussels and clams. Some people say that eating shellfish is way too much work or that clams and mussels are too chewy — I say fine, more for me.
When my parents would visit me in Arizona, their favorite place to go was The Fish Market restaurant. My go-to lunch at The Fish Market was called Ducket’s Bucket, an assortment of steamed clams and mussels brought to the table in a large saucepan. My mom would taste the broth and claimed that it tasted like somebody had soaked their dirty socks in it. She wasn’t entirely wrong.
Once I realized how easy they were to steam, I started making clams and mussels at home. The first time I made them I didn’t have any wine at the house, so I substituted beer. Lo and behold the sauce no longer tasted like feet, as it was the wine that was creating the acetic taste in the broth at the Fish Market. I added a couple more non-traditional ingredients to the mix and friends would invite themselves over for the broth at the end as much as the mussels and clams.
