If you’re a clam fanatic, you absolutely must experience this dish—and the dramatic adventure that goes along with making it—at least once in your life. When you grow up on the Rhode Island shore, clams are a quintessential food staple, and when you grow up as David Cohen’s daughter, dad’s legendary clamboils and clam roasts are a sought-after annual tradition. My boys are now the next generation of roasted clam lovers, and they count down the days of summer until they get to have what they have come to affectionately name “Papa’s Clams.”
My dad officially refers to them as “Clams Like the Indians Used to Make”—and by Indians he unmistakably means Native Americans. So if you’re ready,…