Clambake primer

To celebrate Independence Day like a Rhode Islander: 1) Find a beach with rocks and sand and seaweed. (Easier said than done, which is why Rhode Island, teeming in native seaweeds and Narragansett Bay-bred shellfish, and the place where rocky beach segueys into sandy beach along the Atlantic coast, is clambake nirvana.) 2) Make sure that lifeguards won't throw you off the beach you've chosen. 3) Dig a hole 3-feet deep and 4 to 6 feet across. 4) Line the hole with round rocks, each a little bigger than a duckpin bowling ball. (They should be igneous, to hold in the heat. If you don't know from igneous, consider yourself a local.) 5) Build a fire in the hole to heat the rocks using driftwood or hardwood. Let it burn for 4 hours. To test if it's hot enough, take some saltwater out of the nearby ocean and sprinkle it on the rocks, which should sizzle on contact. 6) Once the rocks are white-hot, rake out the ashes and any remaining wood. 7) Cover the bottom rocks with 4 to 6 inches of wet seaweed. (Hindsight tip: While the rocks were heating, you should've been out collecting seaweed.) 8) Add layers of the following, more or less in this order: tightly shut clams (previously cleaned), more seaweed, live lobsters, more seaweed, small new potatoes, more seaweed, chourice (a Portuguese hot sausage), more seaweed, unhusked corn, and a final thick layer of seaweed. (Careful if you live in Barrington, where illegal seaweed collection is subject to a litany of fines.) 9) Cover hole with wet tarpaulin or canvas and anchor it to the ground so the steam doesn't escape. 10) Let it steam for an hour or so. (Check under the cover with a stick, found on site. The bake is done when the clams are open, the lobsters are bright red and the potatoes can be skewered easily with a fork.) 11) Serve with melted butter and black pepper. Tabasco optional. 12) Wash down with a Narragansett lager or, if you're a hophead like me and prefer a bit of bite to your beer, a Trinity Brewhouse IPA.