Customer Reviews

The New England Clam Shack Cookbook: Favorite Recipes from Clam Shacks, Lobster Pounds & Chowder Houses

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I bought The New England Clam Shack Cookbook for 2 reasons. First, I have several of Brooke Dojny's cookbooks and know the recipes to be easy and reliable. They do work. Second, I live in Maine and my family has a great fondness for clam shacks. Now, during the winter, when the clam shacks are closed, we can have fried clams and chowder at home. The bonus is the wonderful descriptions of the people who cook all of that great food.

One year before I moved to Maine, I was visiting a friend in Yarmouth and we went for seafood at Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster. I was hooked! The meal consisted of 2 lobsters, fries and fresh native corn. The place was also packed, itself a tribute to the popularity of the food served there. The fried clams are dipped in batter which the people 'from away' aka tourists, seem to prefer. You can also purchase fresh shellfish for the home clambake or lobster boil.

I am a SCUBA diver and the cove near Two Lights Lobster Shack is a great place at high tide. And no dive could be complete without a lobster roll from the Lobster Shack. In fact, the opening and closing dates for this establishment are announced in the local paper...sure signs of the arrival of spring or fall.

Clam shacks are 'real' seafood restaurants. They aren't fancy but the food is outstanding. Brooke Dojny has captured the essence of this New England cuisine and provides a wonderful insight to this uniquely Yankee culinary tradition. Lest you think that this book is only about seafood, there are chapters about chicken, sides and desserts. After all, what's a seafood dinner without a good cole slaw?

Ms. Dojny also covers in detail the differences and preferences of various regions within New England. For instance, Maine folks prefer chowder made with soft-shell clams and milk(with a little cream for a thicker base) while in Massachusetts, hard-shell clams called quahogs are used along with milk and flour for thickening. Southern New England features clear or red chowders with hard-shell clams and tomatoes. Mainers consider it heresy to serve 'that red stuff' and you won't find it unless you make it yourself.

Chowders aside, the book is easy to read and a wealth of information about New England. Did I say that the recipes are great too? There is even a recipe for Whoopie Pies!! No cook in this region is without a recipe for them and if you haven't tried one, buy the book or stop by Harraseeket Lunch and Lobster for a scrumptious treat!

In short, buy the book! That way you won't have to wait until spring to enjoy this delicious fare.

Great, fun book for those of us who know and love New England clam shacks. It's fun to read and to look at, brings it all back to you about what fun those places are, and what a vanishing breed, and if you care to make some of the recipes, why they're there as well. Excellent book, in every aspect, and would be a fun gift book or memorabilia from travels to New England. Just love it. Very light-hearted content and lovely visual presentation, but informative as well. Nothing boring here.

If you are going to new England this summer, be sure to take along this book. It's a combination of tour guide, restaurant guide and beach read. Following the clam shack trail provides a perfect itinerary for the trip. I can't say that I ate in all of the places suggested, but enough of them to recognize that Ms. Dojny knows what she's talking about. This stuff is the perfect summer food. (and cheap!)

You'll also find the edit informative and fun. I recommend it highly. Hope that she does New Jersey next.

Brooke Dojny's latest cookbook is a joy! It took me right back to my many childhood summers on Cape Cod--fried clams eaten with a wooden "prong," sitting at a wooden picnic table under an umbrella with the roar of the tide in the background. The recipes are great, but even if you don't cook one thing out of the book, it's worth it for the down home culinary tour of the Northeastern shore. Can't wait to follow its clam shack route up to Maine this summer. Fun! Fun! Fun!
P.S.: If you don't have Dojny's last, "The New England Cookbook," you're missing out on some great cooking (and eating).

As a transplanted New Englander I am thrilled with this cookbook. I have access to all the products, but just couldn't make them taste the way I remembered. My mom sent me this cookbook and now I am making Spanish lobster taste like Maine and Spanish clams taste like steamers. And to people here clam chowder is a revelation! I am using these recipes at dinner parties and my friends here think I have created something new! Little do they know this is just exactly what it tastes like on the East Coast!

The Clam Shack cookbook is like taking an entertaining and nostaligic, New England road trip - without leaving home! And if you do leave home in pursuit of the ultimate summer eating activity, this book directs you to the right places for the real clam shack experience. Nothing is more disappointing than stopping at a sea food eatery that looks authentic and then finding leathery lobster rolls and greasy fried clams! Brooke Dojny has done the leg work and identifies where to find the best summer seafood- from CT to Maine. This book is not only a fun read, with cute illustrations and fascinating back ground stories on the Clam Shack families, but it is also a serious cook book. These recipes really work! I'm not an experienced cook and I found them realistic, easy to follow and delicious. I was immediately inspired to make the clam chowder and it was excellent. I was also pleased to find sections on seafood basics like the best way to cook lobster. I thoroughly recommend this book for your kitchen and think it would make a delightful summer hostess gift.

I am absolutely delighted with Brooke Dojny's new book. It's a perfect compliment to her New England Cookbook (which I also highly recommend.) One of my favorites is Nana's Haddock Chowder and the geographical listings in the back of the book will make for a perfect clam shack-filled vacation up the coast. Wonderful recipies and terrific anecdotes - Dojny has done it again!!

Just what you might expect. Buttery cholesterol laden food that almost everyone loves! 'They' now tell us now it might kill you, but what the heck? It is a review of reicpes from many roadside eateries in coastal New England. I find much of it repetitive, after all, how many ways are there to deep fry a clam?
If you love this vacation food, it is fun. As a cookbook, it is very limited.
DOC

Good product at a good price. Fast shipping. I had one of these and lost it. I'm glad to find another.