AKA "doughboys". Now, Chris, if you lived in NM, certainly your tender Midwestern palate learned to adjust to everything drowned in chile, red, green, or "Christmas"! How much worse could a clam cake be? Do you even know what a clam cake is?
For those poor souls who've never experienced the joy of clam cakes, they are a coastal RI tradition. They're made with a basic fritter batter that is made with clam juice, seasoned with a bit of black pepper and nutmeg (though that's a subject of debate, of course) and loaded with fresh minced clams. The batter is scooped out with an ice cream scoop and dropped into smoking hot oil where it deep-fries to a golden brown, golf ball-sized bit of goodness. Most folks like them sprinkled with a good hit of malt vinegar. And they must be eaten while still tongue-searingly hot!
Now, true connoisseurs of the clam cake know one further secret: The best clam cakes are had late in the season, at the clam shacks that haven't changed their grease all summer. The well-aged grease gives the clam cakes an extra subtle layer of flavor!
Now I ask you, what's so disgusting about that?
