I present to you . . . the clam ball.
This past Monday I covered the rededication of the Massachusetts Building at The Big E. I arrived at 9:45 a.m. for the event, which I thought was at 10. It was at 11. At first, to be honest, I groaned a bit realizing I had an hour to kill all by myself at The Big E. Then, I realized I had an hour to kill all by myself at The Big E!
There was only one thing on my to-do list: Clam fritters from the Rhode Island building.
I admit that I’m not into the Big E foods. I have never had the cream puff or the éclair. I very briefly regretted not trying the cheeseburger-on-a-donut a few years back. But the one and only thing I MUST have when visiting The Big E is the clam fritter.
I became a bit more giddy with excitement than I should probably admit. I headed into the building and made a beeline to the back left corner where Kenyon’s has been since, well, since I can remember. I got in line and noticed something was off. It looked a bit different somehow. Then I saw the sign – New Vendor. What? I thought there must be some mistake. Then I saw the other sign – Clam CAKES. Not fritters, cakes. And they were sold by the half-dozen or dozen. What? I wasn’t even sure what this meant. Then when I tried to place a small order, I was told I had to pay first all the way to my left.
So not only were my beloved clam fritters gone, I had to relearn how to pay and how to stand in line. I thought I’d give them a try. After all, I’d been given the gift of an hour all by myself at The Big E. Maybe they would be just as good, or even better.
So, I paid my $7 for a half-dozen and watched as the customer ahead of me received her clam cakes. They weren’t what I would call clam cakes, exactly. They weren’t the bite-sized fritters I was used to, either. They were what I could only describe as large clam balls.
The woman behind the counter placed six of the hot, freshly fried clam cakes in a waxed bag for me. I began to lament my clam fritters of years past. They, too, were fresh and hot and salted to perfection. Bagging them was an art form – they were piled high above the bag and the server took great pride in adding just one more, and then another, without spilling them all over the place. I admit they were mostly dough with bits of clam mixed in. But they were perfection. Salty, hot perfection.
So I left the Rhode Island building clutching my bag and found a bench. I sat and took out a clam ball, errr, cake. It was big enough that I had to eat it in bites, which was much different than the one-bite fritter.
I took a bite and noticed the texture of the dough was not quite the same. I took another bite and noticed a lack of clam. Disclaimer: I really do not like clams, per say. I like fried clam strips, baked clams and Kenyon’s clam fritters. No clam chowder, no clams on a half shell, and definitely no whole belly clam anything.
There was no salty fried goodness. There was really no flavor at all, actually. I tried one more before declaring them an extremely poor substitute for my fritters and tossing the remains.
Sigh. All was not lost, however, because I moved on to the only other “must-have” Big E food on my list – the vegetable tempura.
Ah, my old friend did not disappoint and I devoured the broccoli, cauliflower, squash and onion rings with much satisfaction, and a little ranch dressing. I will likely visit one more time before the fair ends and I plan to try something new – what are your favorite Big E foods? Send me your must-haves at [email protected].
