Preparing for the Perfect Game

Before a recent Giants home victory, we served Manila clams as the first course of our tailgate picnic in the Giants Stadium parking lot. Clams are the perfect tailgate food — just fire up the grill, throw on the clams, and they’ll be ready before the first beer is gone.

For those who don’t know: The clams are alive; keep them on ice. Don’t use any that are cracked or already open. Put them on the grill, and when the shells open up, they’re ready to eat. It helps to have forks or picks available for your guests to remove the meat. The broth may be sipped right from the shell. I like to melt butter to dip the clams in just before eating. I don’t bother to clarify the butter; I just put a teaspoonful or so into small stainless cups, one for each guest, and put them on the grill to melt the butter. My cups have plastic lids, so any leftover butter won’t spill on the way home to the dishwasher.

Small clams are the best. I like littlenecks, but they’re getting expensive. Wild Edibles had manila clams—small and sweet—for $10.99/lb. There were about 30 manila clams to the pound. A half dozen per person is good for an appetizer course.