(This is a guest post by Bob Pendock, emailed to [email protected].)
Last night we treated a group to a clam bake on the beach in front of JW Marriott Residences. This particular style is called “Almegas (al-meh-has) Tatemadas (ta-tey-ma-das)” They are absolutely delicious with a light smoky flavour and the best part is you don’t have to “dig” them out of the shell. The baking process loosens and causes the clams to expand.
Assuming you have already have the “chocolata” (named for their dark brown color) clams ready to go, the first step is to prepare the surface with a uniform layer of gravel (or rocks if you can find enough about the same size) about 6 inches thick.
The next step is to place the clams, wide side down in the gravel, tightly spaced together.
Then a few more…
And a few more…
Then it is time to cover the clams with a 2 inch layer of gravel.
Once the clams are encased in gravel, cover them with ramerios (ra-meh-ri-os) which are basically branches of semi dry bushes. Light the fire and allow the clams to bake in their own juices for about 45 minutes.
Remove the ashes, scrape away the top layer of gravel and voila! The clams are ready to serve. The “chef” recommended a white cream sauce however I prefer hot sauce with plenty of cerveza to cool the fire.
Enjoy!
Bob Pendock
