Yesteryear Collection Verbatim from a mid-century Pismo Beach community cookbook. Language, measurements, and spellings preserved as printed.

Clam Rarebit

Contributed by Helene Noreen.

Contributor: Helene Noreen(as printed: Helene Glidden Noreen) Source: Pismo Beach community cookbook Page: 11-12 Recipe ID: R035
Yield
Serves 10 or 12

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. chopped green pepper
  • 1/2 c. chopped celery
  • 6 Tbsp. fat
  • 3 Tbsp. flour
  • 3 c. milk
  • Toast
  • 1/2 lb. Cheddar cheese
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 Tbsp. horseradish
  • 1 tsp. mustard
  • 1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 tsp. paprika
  • 1 pt. clams

Method

  1. Cook green pepper and celery in fat until tender.
  2. Stir in flour, add milk and cook until thickened, stirring constantly.
  3. Add cheese, which has first been broken, seasonings, and cook over hot water, stirring until cheese is melted.
  4. Simmer clams in their own liquor until tender.
  5. Add to cheese mixture and serve at once on hot toast. Serves 10 or 12.

Notes from the transcription

  • Or pour mixture into casserole and top with small baking powder biscuits. Bake in hot oven, 400, for 15 minutes.

About this recipe

This recipe is transcribed verbatim from a spiral-bound community cookbook produced in Pismo Beach, California. The book was a fundraising publication of the type common to civic groups, church auxiliaries, and fishing communities on the California coast in the mid-twentieth century — recipes contributed by named cooks, illustrated with hand-drawn section dividers, and printed locally.

Spellings, measurements, and ingredient lists are preserved as they appeared in print, including typographic quirks and any inconsistencies. Where an ingredient is used in the method but was missing from the printed ingredient block, it has been added to the list here so the recipe is self-contained; every such addition is taken word-for-word from the printed method.

The full yesteryear collection preserves 123 recipes from this book. The modern collection is open to new contributions from today's Pismo clammers.