Interview: Carolyn Wyman, “The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide”

My friend Kate knew just where to take us to dinner when we visited. The exterior of the Governor Francis Inn in Warwick, Rhode Island didn’t convey much. But when we stepped inside surrounded by wood paneling and golden lighting, I felt like I’d been here a hundred times before. A stone-clad gas fireplace in the corner added to the ambiance. We settled into a half-booth, upholstered in a vintage floral straight out of an 80s hotel room.

Most importantly, we achieved our quest for the day and ate some damn clam cakes.

Kate had informed me well before our visit that I needed to eat a clam cake, and so, as we spent a day meandering in Providence, we stopped by two different places. Our timing was off and both were closed.

But no matter: Clam cakes and chowder were on the menu for dinner. I expected something like a hush puppy but instead, I was greeted with a light and fluffy interior, more like a funnel cake with little bits of clam throughout.

I’ve thought of those clam cakes from time to time in the months since our vacation. Because here in Maryland, there’s nothing quite like them. And because of the wisdom of bringing your out-of-town friends not to some novel foodie destination, but to your mainstay; take them to the place you go to all the time.

When Carolyn Wyman contacted me about her new book, “The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide: Why We Love Them, How to Make Them, and Where to Find Them from Maine to Virginia,” I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it for the recipes alone.

But the book is more than recipes. A history of clam cakes traces them back further than I’d have expected – well into the 1800s. And the pancake-like clam cakes of Maryland and Virginia make an appearance, with a sideline into Mrs. Kitching and Smith Island Cake. The little town of Saxis Virginia is represented, and the Chincoteague Firemen’s Carnival. Up and down the shore, people have found ways to stretch the flavor of clams into cakes and fritters.

Wyman’s book also includes a guide to clam cake and fritter destinations. Next time I find myself in Rhode Island, I have even more options to look into. One could even take a bike tour of clam cake establishments, with a stop for ice cream.

I interviewed Wyman about the book, and I made the classic clam cake recipe found in the book.

Do you have early memories or associations with clam cakes?

Growing up I primarily ate clam cakes as part of all-you-can-eat chowder and clam cake feasts at the Crescent Park and Rocky Point amusement parks in R.I. These were times when I got to eat as much as I wanted, before going on amusement park rides and swimming in Rocky Point’s big salt-water pool in the summer when I was on school vacation — so how could I not have positive feelings about this food? That they were fried and tasted great was just icing on the (clam) cake!

Can you describe for my readers the different kinds of regional clam cakes/fritters and their differences?

Rhode Island clam cakes are like savory doughnut holes flavored with clam juice and only a few minced bits of the toughest clams. Virginia fritters are like clam pancakes, griddled in a pan on the stovetop, sometimes (especially at the festivals) in a lot of grease. Maine clam cakes look and eat like crab cakes, containing lots of pieces of clam bound together with a souffle-like batter and deep-fried like the best schnitzel.

Did anything in your research into the history of clam cakes surprise you?

That clam cakes in R.I. were originally a commercial food (served at clambakes) and only afterwards embraced by home cooks. That clam cakes’ popularity in Southern New England predated the widespread popularity of fried clams by many decades, though fried clams became the more popular fried clam dish New England regionwide after the turn of the 20th century. That different forms of clam cakes/fritters are also loved and eaten in Maine and down your way — this will also probably be a revelation to most other Rhode Islanders who read my book and used to think, like me, that Rhode Islanders had a lock on this dish.

There is a lot of humor in the book, from the discussion of the controversial legislature to some light-hearted treatment of the passion for clams and clam cakes. Can you say a little about those events and people’s strong feelings about these things?

Food is the only part of our culture that literally becomes part of us and so it’s not surprising that people can feel strongly about it. All the more so when you are talking about a food that people associate with vacation, the summer, the shore, amusement parks and good times in general. And also a food that people from elsewhere might see as odd or outdated — certainly my friends where I live now in Philadelphia don’t see the appeal of a clam-flavored doughnut hole — lends clam cakes and fritters a kind of insider status. For instance, calling a clam cake a “fritter” in Rhode Island would immediately peg you as a know-nothing outsider (though I found in my research that historically the term fritter was sometimes used in the state — another thing that surprised me).

You included some information about Mrs. Kitching and Smith Island Cake – did you visit?

I was going to but sadly I couldn’t find any restaurant there currently serving clam fritters (other than I think one annual fundraising event, that I didn’t think would be that useful to my readers).

Do you have any insights into the culture of Smith Island in relation to clams (since it and much of the bay are so associated with crabs and oysters generally – did/do clams have importance?)

I think clams were an important catch in the area at one time, but less so now both for reasons of scarcity and popularity (i.e. as far as fish goes, younger people are more interested in crab and lobster and even shrimp and salmon). Maybe partly because clams with bellies are more strongly flavored and visually (i.e. Instagram!) not all that appealing. The taste for clam dishes is even waning in New England. That storied local frozen clam cake brand Harmon’s of Maine also makes crab cakes now and they’re more profitable for them.

I take it you did some traveling for this book, including to the Eastern Shore of Virginia. How was that experience? Did you enjoy traveling and discussing clam cakes/fritters? How did you decide where to go?

It seems to me that clam fritters are more of a home and festival food on the Eastern Shore — not that many restaurants seem to offer them. And clam fritters’ wild popularity as a fundraising tool both at the firemen’s carnivals and smaller-scale fundraising dinners makes me think people aren’t making them at home as much anymore. One neat thing about the fritters there is how they’re using whole local clams (not the case with Southern New England clam cakes). The black specs from the bellies aren’t that visually appealing — but what flavor!
I loved the authenticity/eccentricity of the few Eastern Shore restaurants I was able to find that were making the fritters: J.D. Marshall of Captain E’s walking crabs across their driveway for cooking and saying he’ll go clamming himself if he can’t get local from a supplier; the “show” that was Martha’s Kitchen, though sadly, she just lost the lease on her place. A couple of the most interesting and eccentric clam shops in Rhode Island have similarly closed in the year since I visited, reminding me that clam cakes/fritters are indeed history that we need to eat to keep alive.

The Great Clam Cake and Fritter Guide is out now on Globe Pequot Press