History

Clam cakes evolved out of New England fritter culture, with the Narragansett Bay quahog catch driving the local version. The fritters travel best fresh out of the oil and dipped into chowder. Rhode Island has its own clam chowder tradition: clear broth, not Manhattan's tomato and not New England's cream. Iggy's at Oakland Beach makes it the canonical shore-shack way and was featured on CBS's Best of America series for chowder.

Common allergens: Shellfish, Gluten, Dairy in some chowders

Make it at home

Yield Serves 4Hands-on 35 minTotal 45 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 200g chopped quahogs or chopped clams, drained, juice reserved
  • 200g plain flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 240ml clam juice (reserved plus bottled if needed)
  • 1 egg
  • Vegetable oil for deep frying
  • 1 medium yellow onion, diced
  • 2 tbsp salted butter
  • 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and diced 1cm
  • 500ml fish or chicken stock
  • 250ml whole milk or single cream (optional, for white chowder)
  • Salt, black pepper, fresh thyme

Method

  1. Make the chowder first. Render diced onion in butter in a heavy pot over medium heat until soft, 5 minutes.
  2. Add diced potatoes and 500ml stock. Bring to a simmer; cook 10 minutes until potato is tender.
  3. Add the chopped clams (plus any liquor not used for the cakes). Simmer 3 minutes. Off the heat, stir in milk or cream if making white chowder; for the RI clear style, omit the dairy.
  4. Season with salt, pepper and fresh thyme. Keep warm.
  5. For the cakes, whisk flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in a bowl.
  6. Whisk the egg and 240ml clam juice together. Stir into the flour mix to form a thick batter, then fold in the drained chopped clams.
  7. Heat 5cm of vegetable oil in a heavy pot to 180C (355F).
  8. Drop heaping tablespoons of batter into the oil in batches. Fry 3 to 4 minutes, turning, until deep golden.
  9. Drain on paper. Serve hot with cups of clear-broth chowder for dipping.

Tip from the editors. Dip the clam cake into the chowder before each bite; that's the whole point. Bottled Snow's juice works if you can't get fresh quahogs.

This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.

Where to eat clam cakes and chowder

Clam cakes and chowder in Providence

Hemenway's ★ 4.3

Chef Newport Restaurant Group$60-110 a la carteBook 1-2 weeks ahead

Hemenway's reopened March 5, 2025 after a refresh of the bar, raw bar and lobster tanks. Downtown riverside seafood since 1985 on South Main.

Order: The shellfish platter from the raw bar plus a one-and-a-quarter pound Maine lobster.

Tip: Raw bar walks in; book the river-view dining tables through OpenTable.

121 South Main Street, Providence, RI 02903

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