Most for your money cookbook

1 QUART CLAMS, EITHER HARD OR SOFT 6 ALLSPICE 2 SLICES SALT PORK 3 CLOVES 2 ONIONS, DICED 6 PEPPERCORNS 3-4 POTATOES, DICED 4 PILOT CRACKERS I PINT MILK (optional) Let clams lie in cold water, wash well and scrub shells with a brush; place them in a kettle with 2 cups cold water and put over heat until shells open. Drain, strain liquid through cloth, and take meats from shells, remove any tough ends of necks, lay hard parts on a board and chop fine with a sharp knife. Dice pork and fry, strain out pork and slowly fry onions in fat until golden. Barely cover potatoes with boiling water and cook for 5 minutes and drain. Place pork in bottom of a kettle, and lay in alternate layers of potatoes, onions, crumbled crackers, and chopped hard parts of clams. Tie spices together in a bit of cloth so they may be removed at the finish. Cover with strained clam juice and simmer until potatoes are done. Add soft parts of clams and cook 3 minutes. There are several schools of chowder makers from as many parts of New England, where Indian squaws first taught pioneer housewives to make this dish. Some add heated milk just before putting in the soft parts of the clams, some thicken at the end with flour rubbed into butter and omit the pilot crackers, and some use a can of tomatoes in building up the chowder pot. These variations make pleasant changes which keep clam chowders acceptable throughout their long season, usually extending the year round. CREAM OF QUAHOG SOUP 20 HARD-SHELL CLAMS MINCED PARSLEY 1 ONION, SMALL I PINCH SUGAR y^ CUP CLAM JUICE SALT AND PEPPER 2 CUPS MILK I TABLESPOON BUTTER I TABLESPOON FLOUR Open and chop clams fine with very sharp knife. Put in double boiler with minced onion and clam juice. Cook a few minutes over direct heat. Add milk and sugar, salt and pepper, and return to low heat in double boiler. Thicken with butter and flour blended, and cook 3-4 minutes. Strain. When hot, serve with small rounds of toast and minced parsley in each cup. Quahog is the Indian name adopted in New England for round hard clams. Little Necks are small quahogs. QUAHOGS STEWED Open on grill or in oven, pour liquor out of shells, take out clams and let boil in own liquor. Season with pepper only, add butter and serve on toast. BAKED CLAMS Arrange clams on the half shell on a bed of salt in a shallow baking pan. Cut thin slices of bacon in two and lay a strip across each clam. Over that put chopped chives, a little paprika and bits of butter. Cook in a hot oven five or six minutes and serve immediately. CAPE COD CLAM CAKES OR FRITTERS 2 CUPS CLAMS iy2 TEASPOONS BAKING POWDER 2 CUPS FLOUR 2 EGGS, BEATEN LIGHTLY MILK Chop clams. Make batter with other ingredients, sifting flour and baking powder together and adding to eggs and milk. Stir in clams. For cakes, make batter thin and drop by spoonfuls on greased griddle and brown on both sides. For fritters, do not use so much milk; drop from spoon into hot deep fat and drain on paper. CLAM-POTATO FRITTERS I DOZEN CLAMS, CHOPPED I TABLESPOON CLAM JUICE yi CUP MASHED POTATOES I TEASPOON BAKING POWDER I EGG, WELL BEATEN SALT AND PEPPER FLOUR