Clam Dip

Father’s Day is coming up this weekend and clam dip always makes me think of my father. He used to love to eat clam dip with potato chips and beer on a Sunday afternoon while he watched football.

Yeah, back in the ’60s and ’70s, you could still buy healthy clam dip in containers at the grocery store. Just clams, sour cream, mayonnaise made with eggs and olive oil. This was before the Soybean Oil Revolution. The potato chips were probably also fried in beef tallow. McDonald’s French fries were fried in tallow until 1983.

So even though my dad was eating junk food, actually, he wasn’t. What’s so bad about real foods like clams, sour cream, real mayonnaise, and potatoes fried in healthy grass-fed beef tallow? Nothing wrong with it at all. In fact, it’s really good for you!

It’s a damn shame we can’t find this sort of thing at the supermarket today.

Maybe you can make this clam dip for your father or husband this weekend. Be sure to serve it with some healthy chips or crackers, and a frosty mug of beer or root beer. Then tell him he can relax, put his feet up and watch the game.

Recipe Notes:

If you can’t eat the whole batch at once, this clam dip freezes well.

If you don’t eat pork, omit the bacon.

Clam Dip

Difficulty: Easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients

Bacon, pastured or humanely-raised, nitrate-free (4 slices)
Sour cream, grass-fed, organic (3/4 cup)
Mayonnaise, homemade (3/4 cup) — click here for my homemade mayonnaise recipe
Lemon (1)
Worcestershire sauce, additive-free (1 tsp) — if you’re on the GAPS diet, you can substitute homemade fermented fish sauce, or omit
Clams (2 cans, 6 1/2 oz each)
Scallions, medium (2)
Cayenne pepper, to taste

Equipment

Medium bowl
Small skillet
Optional:Food processor

Directions

1. Fry bacon until crisp in a small skillet over medium heat, about 6 to 8 minutes. Transfer bacon to paper towel lined plate.
2. Whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce in a medium bowl.
3. Rinse the lemon and cut in half. Using a lemon reamer or fork, squeeze the juice into the bowl.
4. Open the cans of clams, drain and finely mince — or pulse in the food processor . Add the clams to the bowl.
5. Clean the scallions, and thinly slice. Add to the bowl.
6. Crumble the bacon into the bowl. Stir to combine all together.
7. Season to taste with sea salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Chill until flavors meld, about 1 hour (or up to 2 days).
8. Serve with raw dipping vegetables, crackers or healthy potato chips (fry your own with grass-fed beef tallow or lard, or buy a healthy brand fried in avocado or olive oil or lard).

Photo credit: EadaoinFlynn on Flickr
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