As much as I like pork goodness, there is no meal on this blog as good as a lobster, clam, and mussel bake. This also happens to be one of the easiest meals to make and it will feed an army. For this meal we used a fire pit and cooked a couple dozen lobsters, 4 dozen clams, and 3 dozen mussels. The food tasted just like the beach based lobster bakes from my childhood.
Note: If you can get a grate that covers the inside of the fire pit, this will aid in cleaning the seaweed. Add the grate over the rocks and before you add the seaweed. This way when the fire cools you can remove the grate and most of the seaweed will also come out. Otherwise you will either have to remove a bunch of seaweed or wait until it dries and burn it.
The hardest part of this meal (if you have a fire pit) is to find the needed seaweed or kelp. We were able to find this ingredient at a local Asian mega-mart. In addition to the seafood, and fire pit, you will also need a tarp, about 1-2 dozen large rocks, a couple burlap sacks, butter, and wood.
You will need about 12 pounds of seaweed or kelp. This imparts a nice mineral taste along with a general taste of the ocean.
Keep the lobsters in the refrigerator before cooking. Do not purchase the lobsters before the day of the bake.
A few hours prior to cooking, fill a 30 quart pot with cold water, about 3 cups of salt, 1/4 cup of baking soda, and ice. Add the mussels and clams to the water. The salt water and baking soda will (1) cause the mussels and clams to open up and discharge the sand in the shells, and (2) allow you to see which of the clams/mussels are dead. Throw out any of the clams/mussels that float or are chipped or damaged. While these might not be dead, it is best not to take a chance because eating already dead shellfish is a good way to get really sick. Soak the clams/mussels for a couple of hours and then take a knife and remove any beards that are visible.
While the mussels/clams are soaking, start your fire. You are going to need a nice roaring fire to get the needed embers. Let the fire burn for about an hour until all the wood is glowing embers. Then add the rocks to the top of the embers. The rocks will heat up and will be a heat sink that will hold the heat when the wet seaweed is added.
While the fire is burning, soak all the seaweed and burlap sacks in water.
After the rocks have been on the embers for 45 minutes place 1/3 of the seaweed on top of the rocks/embers. Then add the lobster. Add another 1/3 of the seaweed on top of the lobster, then add the clams and mussels. Then add the last of the seaweed and cover with the burlap sacks.
The water in the burlap sacks and seaweed will immediately cause the seafood to start to steam cook. You will want to add the tarp so that it totally covers the fireput and add some rocks to the edges of the tarp. The fire should be steaming like crazy now, so the rocks will help hold in the steam. The tarp may melt a bit because the steam is so hot, so if you can preorder a fireproof tarp on you will not ruin the tarp. However, these are quite expensive, and tarps are cheap, and can be reused even if they melt a little.
and plate.
Melt the butter and serve.
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