Scallops are entry level seafood. They're sweet, slightly briny, a bite like a good rare steak and an overall meatiness that you would never think could come from a shell. The texture initially falls apart but once you start chewing you get a good mouthful to sink you teeth into. Forget that it's seafood; it's possibly the truest surf/turf hybrid of the culinary world.
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| Pure wads of delicious fleshiness |
They do usually come with an orange sack, which is the roe. Perfectly edible, but with a bit more of an oceanic flavour; perhaps avoid it if you are literally using scallops as a gateway food to the sea as I wouldn't want that putting you off. Don't get me wrong, I think you'll grow to love it but, like good wine, it's an acquired taste.
Although you can do fantastic things with scallops in elaborate recipes I prefer to keep them Spartan; lightly cooked in butter and oil with basic seasoning. They do not need long in the pan; 1 or 2 minutes. This may seem worrying as seafood is, unfortunately, synonymous with illness when undercooked but if you cook it any further than a golden coating you're going to have something chewy and unappetising. When it comes to a scallop flavour is king and texture is queen so you need to pay attention.
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| Go ahead, convince me you're not at least intrigued |
I cannot stress enough how game-changing this food is. If you have a fish-squeamish friend who refuses to eat creatures of the deep due to a bad experience with some flabby oyster that made them sick, this is THE food I would use. If, after eating a perfectly cooked scallop, they still don't appreciate seafood I would simply nod my head and give up. You owe it to yourself as a human being to enjoy these nuggets of perfection.
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| Cocktail sticks make it a canapé. I promise |
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