The clam pie was a revelation, as local delicacies go. Not a sloppy, briny mess, as the uninitiated (yours truly) may have imagined it, but firmly held together, larded up to the tune of four tablespoons, with cornmeal, potatoes, pork, and sage, the clam itself presumably rendered less mollusky by coming straight from the grinder.
It was quite the dish, and it was the handiwork of one Brian Collins, a Long Islander with a historical bent who, when not manning a pit for Ma’s BBQ catering, its logo a smiling pig with a corncob pipe, leads programs like the colonial holiday dinner Friday night at the Nathaniel Rogers House in Bridgehampton.
In his pre-meal talk, Collins pointed out the area’s New England orientation — architecturally, culturally, in vowel-bending accented speech — out here within paddling distance of Connecticut and a hundred miles from New York. Indeed, the opener was a New England anadama bread: brown, dense, the snap of molasses. As the recipe handout put it, “an Americanized treacle bread.”
“Anna, damn her!” So goes the lore surrounding the origin of the name and a fisherman’s mealtime exasperation.
Savory oyster dressing (er, stuffing) paired with turkey rounded out the meal, with samp on the side, its corn once upon a time pounded into meal by a log turned battering ram suspended from a buoying branch.
But leaving off the gastronomical for a moment, thanks for this convivial food-and-drink get-together has to go to Connor Flanagan, the Bridgehampton Museum’s still-newish director, who has really upped the programming game. (Beer & Blacksmithing comes to mind.)
Inside the Rogers House, there’s a slot-car track as part of a Bridgehampton Race Circuit display, and the geometrical fabric art of Helen Hoie is on the walls through Dec. 21. Attention should be paid.
“Happy Thanksgiving!” enthused one visitor at our communal table. It’s never too early to hear it.