# Scallops



## Uncle Bob (Dec 14, 2006)

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


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## Andy M. (Dec 14, 2006)

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.


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## stargazer021 (Dec 14, 2006)

*scallops*

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


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## AllenOK (Dec 14, 2006)

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.


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## goboenomo (Dec 14, 2006)

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.


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## ironchef (Dec 14, 2006)

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.


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## goboenomo (Dec 14, 2006)

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.


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## BreezyCooking (Dec 14, 2006)

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.


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## ChefJune (Dec 14, 2006)

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!


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## college_cook (Dec 14, 2006)

ironchef said:
			
		

> 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.


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## Steve A (Dec 14, 2006)

Scallops are easy to cook but TOO easy to overcook.  For those who cannot buy dry scallops, set them in a colander and let them drain.  After you've done that, pat them dry with paper towels.  This will allow you to sear them properly.

There are three types of scallops: sea scallops, bay scallops and calico scallops.  Sea scallops are the largest of the lot.  There is a large membrane on the side of the scallop which attaches the scallop to the shell.  It is easily removed.

Bay scallops and calico scallops are all smaller.  Because of that the amount of heat required to to cook them is minimal.  I've found in many of my recipes if I _have_ to use those scallops, I'll toss them in raw and let residual heat of the food cook them up.

Goboenomo,
I remember a *huge* Chinese buffet called Mandarin in Oshawa.  Is that the place you're talking about??  That was part of a chain, wasn't it?

Ciao,


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## Uncle Bob (Dec 14, 2006)

The ones I have gotten out of the Gulf are called (I Think) Calico scallops..more in the line of Bay scallops in size...Have also gotten the larger sea scollops (deep water) probably brought in from the East Coast...Pan-seared would be my favorite...But honestly.. I never had the fried ones.


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## Steve A (Dec 14, 2006)

Fried scallops are pretty good as well.  However, like fried oysters, it's in the hands of the fry person.  Too long and you've got fried scallop pucks.  Too short and the batter or breading is raw or doughy.

Some places (with buffets) have been known to pawn off surimi scallops.  You can easily tell they're fake.  The all look identical.

Ciao,


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## Uncle Bob (Dec 14, 2006)

Yep fake they are! Made from Alaskan pollock me thinks.


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## Andy M. (Dec 14, 2006)

Uncle Bob said:
			
		

> Yep fake they are! Made from Alaskan pollock me thinks.


 
I heard somewhere that they are made from skate wing.


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## Nicholas Mosher (Dec 14, 2006)

One inch?  I get dry-packed sea scallops whenever I can, and the ones I get usually dwarf a golf-ball and can approach the size of a tennis ball.

I'll eat 'em almost any way.  Pan seared, pan-fried, grilled, deep-fried, steamed, or even lightly simmered/poached in a light but zesty broth.

My favorite seafood hands down!

Pet peeve would of course be the overcooked hockey-pucks some people churn out.  Such a shame... such as shame...


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## JohnL (Dec 14, 2006)

The scallops that I get are the IQF sea scallops from Cosco. These are much better than the ones that our local grocery stores. I like mine wrapped with bacon


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## Uncle Bob (Dec 14, 2006)

Andy M....

I have heard the same thing about skate/ray wings...kinda made cookie cutter style.. passed off as scallops...don't have any facts however..


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## Steve A (Dec 14, 2006)

Skate/ray wing is almost pricier than scallops now.  I heard 'back in the day' (and I'm dating myself by saying, "When I was young in the 60s") that was the case.  Pollock is what's used now.

Ciao,


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## ChefJune (Dec 15, 2006)

Uncle Bob said:
			
		

> Andy M....
> 
> I have heard the same thing about skate/ray wings...kinda made cookie cutter style.. passed off as scallops...don't have any facts however..


That used to be true until skate got trendy, now it costs as much as scallops, and I'm sure "they" have found some other poor fish to try to pass off as scallops....


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## boufa06 (Dec 15, 2006)

I love scallops but they are not available here.  Back home when I could get them, I stir fry them with asparagus or kai lan (Chinese kale).  However, I do have some dried ones (not the ones available elsewhere) that are used strictly as flavouring in soups, rice porridge and stir-fry veggies.


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## Nicholas Mosher (Dec 15, 2006)

Pollock is also what that imitation crab meat is made from... you know, those massive hunks of "crab" with the fluorescent orange stripes... 
-----
The mainstream always puts lobster tails and filet mignon up on the pedestal as the ultimate surf n' turf.  I'll take a couple big dry-packed sea scallops and piece of boneless prime rib-eye myself...


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## BreezyCooking (Dec 15, 2006)

Yes - the "imitation" scallops cookie-cut out of skate wings was true a number of years ago when skate was still considered a cheap trash fish.

However, now that skate has come into its own as a "gourmet" product & just as expensive, if not moreso in some markets, as scallops, that's not done anymore.

And luckiily, these days seafood regulations are such that a market would have to be insane to try to pass off "imitation" scallops as the real thing.  While there's nothing inherently wrong with pollock "surimi", it must be marked as such, not as whatever it's "imitating".


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## Andy M. (Dec 15, 2006)

BreezyCooking said:
			
		

> ...And luckiily, these days seafood regulations are such that a market would have to be insane to try to pass off "imitation" scallops as the real thing. While there's nothing inherently wrong with pollock "surimi", it must be marked as such, not as whatever it's "imitating".


 
I agree.

I've only seen the fake scallops in a restaurant, never a market.  I've also seen surimi in a lobster pie.  These are the "never going back there again" restaurants.


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## kimbaby (Dec 15, 2006)

I love all seafoods, exept crab...
I fix my scallops in garlic butter yummy...


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## Candocook (Dec 16, 2006)

I think one thing that is necessary when fixing scallops is to get them as dry as possible (unless you  are fortunate enough to really have "dry" scallops). Put them between paper towels  with a light weight on them to press the excess water out. They will then sear nicely instead of exuding the excess water and "steaming".


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