Scallops

[Uncle Bob]

I don't see alot of scallops here...but when I do... I love them lightly sauteed in butter..with a small pinch of salt, just wee bit of lemon...nothing to mask their sweet flovor. Isn't it scallop season along the east coast? Please share your experiences

[Andy M.]

We prefer the larger sea scallops. We also look for dry scallops as they brown up better. Scallops can have as much as 25% water added.

I brown them in butter and serve them with lemon.

[stargazer021]

Hi Bob,

I live in Michigan and love sea food. I don't know much about cooking scallops. What is the difference between bay scallops and sea scallops?

Karen

[AllenOK]

Bay scallops are smaller than sea scallops. Sea scallops, in the shell, are huge. Once you shuck them and remove the undesired flesh, you can have a scallop as big, or bigger, in diameter as a quarter, and up to an inch tall.

[goboenomo]

I live in Canada, I have seafood all the time. I love it!
We have a chinese food buffet called Mandarin that serves pretty much every type of seafood, including scallops. They are breaded and fried and very tasty. I have also had them in a little seafood mix bag my dad got for me. It had scallops, cuttlefish, shrimp, calamari, muscles, and octopus.

[ironchef]

Scallops are one of my most favorite seafoods due to it's versatility. You can impart the flavor of pretty much any cuisine with scallops and it will hold up to it. My favorites are U-10 scallops and I will pan sear 90% of the time and grill them 10% of the time. Any other cooking method with scallops just doesn't bring out the flavor in them.

[goboenomo]

The bag my dad picked up for me I cooked on a pan with some butter and a little garlic, and I thought they tasted fantastic, much better than the fried ones for sure.

[BreezyCooking]

I only buy dry-pack scallops. Unless the scallops you buy are designated "dry-pack", they are soaked in a solution to increase both their shelf-life & weight. When you cook them, at least half of the weight you paid for oozes out of them as liquid in the pan (which you should definitely pour out).

As far as how I cook my dry-pack scallops, my favorite way is to grill them on my cast-iron grill pan & then top each of them (I'm talking sea scallops here) with a dollop of freshly-made basil pesto. I serve them with a side of orzo pasta drizzled with some white truffle oil.

Other favorites? Just to grill them & serve them over mixed greens or small pasta.

[ChefJune]

There are more than two types of scallops... Scallops are my single most favorite food in the world, and I probably have around 500 recipes for them. I love their sweet, delicate flavor, and their texture. They take very little time to cook. I don't like when they are prepared with tomatoes in the recipe, because imo the tomatoes overtake the flavor of the scallops. The scallops I have enjoyed in their shells are quite small... shell may be 2 to 2 1/2 inches across, and meat is small and pinkish. Scallops are very tasty served raw with just a touch of Maldon Sea salt and lime or lemon juice. Tangerine juice is good with them, too. My favorite scallops are in season only from Nvember to February, in years when the Cape waters (Cod) are not too riled up. They're known as Nantucket Cape Scallops, and they are medium sized -- maybe as big as the top joint of my thumb.

When shopping for scallops in the market, be careful NOT to get any that are sitting in whitish water. Most of those have been treated with chemicals, and the seafood will taste like soapsuds. That's not a taste I want from anything!

[college_cook]

Originally Posted by ironchef

I will pan sear 90% of the time and grill them 10% of the time. Any other cooking method with scallops just doesn't bring out the flavor in them. [/font]

I agree completely. I almost always pan-sear my scallops; I think its hands down the best way to bring out their flavor.