It was the last evening of our recent trip to the shore, and we found ourselves on the way back from the seaside boat ramp covered in rank black mud, with a pile of clams. We had caught our limit of rockfish (striped bass for everyone not from the bay area) earlier that day, and wanted to get a few clams to take home. We set out on the mud flats at low tide with a borrowed pair of rakes, looking for keyholes but mostly just randomly raking hoping to get lucky. (Although we probably found just as many with our feet as we did with the rakes.)

Digging clams on these flats is an all-in kind of proposition. You either get covered in mud and dig clams, or you stay in the boat and stay clean. Luckily, neither of us mind getting dirty looking for food. Being knee deep in sticky mud and probing around with your feet and hands looking for something you cant see is one of the more wholesome and childish activities we do, and it's a blast. 

After a few passes on the flats, we had as many clams as we wanted to carry, so we headed back to our camp. We wanted to bake a few on the grill like our Ham Clams from a few days prior, but didn’t have much in the way of ingredients.

We stopped at the local Royal Farms gas station- the only place open at the time- and picked up some bacon and ritz crackers. We had an onion leftover from making pico de gallo earlier in the week and that was about it. We rendered the bacon, cooked the onion in the fat, and mixed it all together with crushed up ritz crackers. We topped off the clams with this mix and cooked them on the grill. The end product was a super rich, extremely decadent baked clam, something that reminds you of clams casino or royale, not gas station food.

Though we generally shy away from recipes that are overwhelmingly bacon-y, the clams hold up to the abundance of smoke, salt and fat from the pork. And you feel like someone who can afford to stay at the Ritz eating them, despite being covered in marsh mud and mosquito bites.

Clams a la royale farms

This recipe is about as simple as it gets, and you can probably find all the ingredients but the clams at your local gas station. And depending on how close to the coast you live, you might even be able to find the clams there too! Instead of shucking our clams raw, we opted to steam them on the grill for just a few minutes until they opened (we didn’t have a shucking knife).

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

2-3 dozen clams

1# raw bacon, diced

1½ cups crushed ritz crackers

1 small onion, diced

3 tbsp parsley, minced (optional)

Method

Preheat grill or oven to 400F+.

In a sauce pan over low/medium heat, render the bacon for 8-10 minutes until almost crispy and most of the fat is rendered. Add diced onion and cook for an additional 2-3 minutes until onion is fragrant. Remove from heat and add in crushed ritz crackers. Mix well.

Place clams in a preheated oven or grill (close lid) for 3-4 minutes. When the clams have opened slightly, remove from the oven or grill. Using a clam knife or thin butter knife, pry open the clams, cut the adductor muscles and remove one side of the shell. Cut the adductor muscle on both sides of the shell to make eating them easier.

Top clams with bacon mix. Return to the oven or grill for 5-6 minutes until golden brown on top. Serve immediately.