Rocky Point Clamcakes - My Favorite!!!

By Addie

One of my fondest memories of Rhode Island is the Rocky Point Amusement Park (circa 1840-1995) located in Warwick, Rhode Island. Whenever we visited Rhode Island, usually between my dad’s rotations with the Army, we made sure we got our Rocky Point fix. Besides the usual thrill rides like the roller coaster, the Flume, the Corkscrew Loop, or the Freefall, Rocky Point had good eats: fried dough, sausages, clam chowder, pizza, and legendary clam cakes.

Ingredients

• DRY STUFF:
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (the gluten will add to the chewy texture).
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (Rumford's is my choice - plus the lid is made for leveling... way cool).
• 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (1 teaspoon if table salt)
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• OPTIONAL: I know it's not in the original recipe, but if you'd like them with a little more, I dunno... Oomph, a few shakes of Old Bay is really nice.
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• WET STUFF:
• 1 egg
• 6 oz. minced clams (I shouldn't have to tell you fresh quahogs would be best)
• 1/2 cup clam juice
• 1/4 cup Milk
• NOTE:
• Your wet stuff should be cold. Cold batter fries up better. It's a relativity thing. Make sure everything is chilled before you start.

Preparation

Step 1

Sift the dry stuff into the wet stuff while mixing. The more mixing, the more gluten is formed, the chewier the cakes will be. I remember them being chewy, that's how I like 'em, so Mix away. When it seems like everything has come together in a big sticky mess, start frying.

You did remember to heat up some peanut oil to 360 degrees, right? No? Well, then you can put the batter, covered, in the fridge. It'll keep for up to 24 hours, if you need. In fact, if you chill the batter for an hour before you start, all the better for your batter.

Use a pair of wet spoons to scoop the batter (one to scoop, one to scrape the first) into the oil. Fry until Golden Brown and Delicious, and drain on a cooling rack. Season them with fine salt (pickling salt works great) as soon as they come out of the oil.
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MY NOTES:
I discovered that these clam cakes are MUCH better if you make the batter a day ahead, just leaving out the baking powder. Mix it into the batter just before you fry the clamcakes. Not only do they have more FLAVOR after sitting overnight but the clam cakes are much chewier and nice!