Recorded Books Inc. - The New England Clam Shack Cookbook

... delightful reading that eliminates the guesswork out of finding the best summer seafood shacks and houses and features many sought-after recipes .

Alice L. Bilello

Any cookbook authored by Brooke Dojny is going to be a favorite. No one knows New England cuisine as well. This cookbook is one of her finest works.

Karen Landry

What wonderful Americana! Makes me want to take a road trip to the New England area and when I do, Ill know where to eat! This book is pure fun and inspiration.

Nancy Ott

Greatly put together by Brooke Dojny... her suggestions were right on the money!

Dee Foerst

*All comments submitted by readers of the 1st edition.

To Susan Maloney,
good friend and clam shack connoisseur

I would like to especially thank and credit the 29 restaurant owners/chefs named in the restaurant descriptions, all of whom were so generous with their time, their expertise, and their recipes. Many people provided tips on their favorite secret clam shacks, lobster pounds, and chowder houses and shared knowledge of history and cooking techniques. Thank you to Skip Atwood, Dale Burmeister, Barney Butler, Debi Callan, Chowhound.com , Phyllis Corcoran, Peggy Coyne, Maryann and Dick Douglas, Jean Higgins, Steve Gertzof, Elinor Klivans, Barbara and Prescott Keyes, Keith Maloney, Connie McCreery, Sandy Oliver, Chris Schlesinger, Paul Skorupa, Jane and Michael Stern, Lee White, and Steve Woodman.

Thanks to all the people at Storey Publishing who worked on the first edition, most especially editor and primary creative force Dianne Cutillo. This time around, thank you to Pam Art and Dan Reynolds, and to Margaret Sutherland, who guided the project with good judgment and suggestions and excellent clam shack radar. Jessica Armstrong art directed and added fabulous and fun visuals, and Lizzie Stewart did a great job of project editing, and Ilona Sherratt worked as the all-important illustration coordinator to get the new maps and other art in place.

As always, my agent, Judith Weber, did a masterful job. And I thank my husband, Richard, for sharing some of the fun (and acquiring, along with me, a bit of additional poundage) during the travel/research phase of the project.

In The New England Clam Shack Cookbook, I take great pleasure from revisiting places and a culture I know and love so well. As I read through Brooke Dojnys friendly descriptions, I remember the sheer happiness of walking into a lobster pound and, amid the gurgling of the lobster tanks and the clanking of the boat rigging, choosing from among different items on the uniquely regional menu. I relive with her the delicious Portuguese-influenced seafood dishes in Massachusetts, the clear chowders of Connecticut and western Rhode Island, and the creamy rich chowders of Maine. I love the way she has unearthed contemporary dishes that play on tradition, too, like the stuffed quahogs of The Back Eddy in Westport, Massachu-setts, and the mussel chowder at Thurstons in Bernard, Maine, with its sunny carrots and orange bell peppers.

You, too, will love Brooke Dojnys guidance during this delicious journey on New Englands hidden roads and byways, which are replete with deciduous woods and sea swells, bays dotted with lush islands, and charming characters. As you accompany her to the best clam shacks, lobster pounds, chowder houses, and out-of-the-way classic spots for sampling the finest seafood New England waters have to offer, you will feel the New England summer breezes riffle your hair, and you will smell the clear, clean, briny coastal air. Whats more, on your return you will be able to prepare the foods you have just experienced, following the recipes that Brooke has gleaned from each establishment.

Perhaps even more than the recipes and homey locations in The New England Clam Shack Cookbook is the deep appreciation Brooke gives us for fragile seacoast traditions. Not one of the places in this book could exist without the strength and vitality of the New England fishing fleets and the courage, pride, and hard work demonstrated each time a skipper and a crew takes out a fishing boat or a diver suits up to go down under. Fishermen and -women are the backbone of the New England seaboard, the strength of its communities, the force that gives it its charm. By celebrating the food of this beautiful and abundant region, Brooke celebrates the industry that makes it all possible.

She further illuminates the region with informative sidebars intended to clarify certain New England mysteries, like that surrounding chowder (red, white, clear which is the best?) and clam varieties. Upon reading this book, you will visit New England armed with plenty of inside knowledge!

The New England Clam Shack Cookbook will appeal to anyone who has ever been to New England, has dreamed of going, or has lived there for any length of time. Brooke Dojny has a warm corner in her soul for New England culinary and social traditions, and we must all thank her for sharing it in this delicious book!

Susan Herrmann Loomis Author of The Great American Seafood Cookbook and On Rue Tatin

Seafood, the jewel in New Englands culinary crown, is nowhere showcased to more glorious advantage than in the informal, summer-only, eat-in-the-rough clam shacks and lobster pounds that are distributed over Yankee highways and byways, and in the year-round chowder houses that are institutions of long standing in New Englands larger towns and urban areas. These straightforward, honest Yankee establishments carry the torch of culinary tradition by consistently serving up some of the very best food to be found anywhere in the United States.

Although these classic eateries have long been an established part of the New England landscape, the sad fact is that we can no longer necessarily take for granted that they are permanent and immutable. Developers press to gobble up plots of prime real estate that some of these establishments occupy. Family-run places may not have a member of the rising generation who can take over the operation. Trendiness exerts a force to be reckoned with.