National Clams on the Half Shell Day

March 31st is National Clams on the Half Shell Day in the United States.

Clams are a type of bivalve molluscs. There are many different varieties of calms, from practically microscopic to the 200 kilogram or more giant clam, and they can be found in both marine and in freshwater habitats. Not all clams are edible, or eaten as food.

In North America, the term "clam" is usually used to refer to one type known as the hard clam which is native to the eastern shores of the continent, although it can also be used for some other edible varieties.

These clams are popularly served "on the half shell" in restaurants and clam boards in coastal areas of New York, New Jersey and New England. The clams are opened up with the top shell removed and served raw. They are accompanied with cocktail sauce with horseradish and frequently lemon.

National Turkey Neck Soup Day

March 30th is National Turkey Neck Soup Day in the United States.

This is another dish that is just what it sounds like. It's soup made with turkey necks.

This is the sort of recipe that would have originally been created to use up every bit of a bird, so that there is no wastage. The turkey necks wouldn't have been eaten with the rest of the bird, and probably would have been removed before cooking it.

Nowadays, turkey's often come pre-dressed, so the turkey neck may not even be included. Consequently, the necks are often sold separately - you can buy packs of frozen turkey necks. This makes it a dish you choose to have, rather than a way of getting the last bit of food from the bird.

Like most soups, the necks would be placed in water, along with some other vegetables, and simmered. The meat would be removed from the bones when it is tender enough, and the bones removed.

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day

National Lemon Chiffon Cake Day is on March 29th in the United States.

Lemon chiffon cake is a type of chiffon cake that has, not surprisingly, been flavoured with lemons.

Chiffon cake itself is a light cake - chiffon is a lightweight fabric - that can be made in different flavours. The base ingredients are baking powder, flour, eggs, vegetable oil and sugar. The vegetable oil is used instead of the butter used in other cakes, which means the texture of the cake is created by beating egg whites until they are stiff and folding them into the rest of the batter. This is a very moist cake.

Chiffon cake was first created in the 1920s - making it one of the more modern recipes - by Harry Baker, who kept the recipe secret for twenty years before selling it, to General Mills.

National Black Forest Cake Day

March 28th is National Black Forest Cake Day in the United States.

Black Forest cake, which is also known as Black Forest gâteau, is a cake that bears the name of the German Black Forest region, which is called Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte or "Black Forest cherry-torte." It is actually named after the cherry liqueur from that region.

This dessert is a layered chocolate cake. Between the layers are whipped cream and cherries. The cake is also decorated with yet more whipped cream, maraschino cherries and chocolate shavings. Sour cherries and the cherry liqueur kirsch are also optionally used, depending on the recipe used. The kirsch will be found in more traditional European recipes.

It is not known when this dessert originated, or even definitely where, but it seems to be quite a new dish. The earliest reference to it is in Berlin in the 1930s, although claims have been made making the dish older.

National Spanish Paella Day

National Spanish Paella Day is on March 27th in the United States.

It seems odd calling this "Spanish Paella" day as paella is a Spanish dish, so it wouldn't seem necessary to emphasise that fact.

Paella is a rich dish that is believed to have originated along the Mediterranean coast of Spain, particularly in the Valencia region, where rice became a staple foodstuff. The rice was then combined with other ingredients.

There are three main types of paella - Valencian, seafood and mixed, but there are many other types. Valencian paella is made from white rice, beans, seasoning (saffron being popular; this gives paella its distinctive colour), meat (usually rabbit or chicken), land snails and green vegetables.

Seafood paella has seafood instead of meat, and lacks the green vegetables and beans. Mixed paella combines ingredients from both. All are cooked in olive oil.

Even with these three basic recipes, they are often changes made to them. Land snails are unlikely to be found in Valencian paellas served in countries where snails are not regularly eaten for example.

National Nougat Day

National Nougat Day is on March 26th in the United States.

The name "nougat" refers to several related confections that are believed to have originated in Southern Europe, but has since become popular around the world. There are three main types of nougat, white, brown and Viennese or German.

The candies are made with roasted nuts - the most popular are macadamia, hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts and pistachios - whipped egg whites, sugar or honey (or both), and possibly with chopped candied fruit.

White nougat first appeared in Italy and is made with whipped egg whites and honey, and is the most common. Brown nougat lacks the egg whites. Viennese or German nougat is considered to be a chocolate and nut praline.

The nougat commonly called such in candy bars is not one of these types. Instead, it's a mixture of aerated sucrose and corn syrup, possibly with such as egg whites or gelatine. It's cheap to make and used as a filler.

National Lobster Newburg Day

National Lobster Newburg Day is on March 25th in the United States.

Lobster Newberg, or Lobster Newburg, was originally called Lobster à la Wenberg. It was created by a sea captain called Ben Wenberg in the late nineteenth century. The manager of the well know Delmonico's Restaurant in New York City, Charles Delmonico, added it to the restaurant menu after he was shown it. The dish was renamed after the two argued and it was removed from the menu. In order to bring it back to satisfy customers, it was now called Lobster à la Newberg - Newbery being an anagram of Wenberg.

The lobster is cooked with Cayenne pepper, sherry, eggs, cream and butter. A close relative of the dish is Lobster Thermidor, which appeared shortly afterwards. Another variant is Crab Meat Newburg.