Comments on: A lesson about scallops

By: paula

paula — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 06:54:20 +0000

Swirlingnotions - Thanks for the article and the tips. Seemingly this lesson about scallops is one a lot of us have learned the hard way.

By: swirlingnotions

swirlingnotions — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 23:37:05 +0000

Doesn’t that suck when you’re so looking forward to a meal and it disappoints?

I learned that sad truth about scallops when I was working on the Farallon Cookbook with Mark Franz. He brought these enormous diver scallops to the recipe testing one day, seared them and served them with a lobster broth and they were the best things I’ve ever tasted. When I asked him why I couldn’t get my scallops to brown like his, he told me about the whole chemical treatment thing.

I agree, if you can’t find dry, dayboat or diver scallops, go with IQF (individually quick frozen) ones (still though, dayboat or diver will be freshest, one thawed).

My fish guy at the farmers’ market just gave me an explanation of “day boat” that made me go, “duh. Why didn’t I realize that before?” He said that dayboats literally go out and back in a day, so their seafood gets back on the dock and distributed the same day. Boats that go out on longer trips can be out on the sea with fish (packed on ice) for several days before coming back to port.

I’ve got an article on sourcing sustainable seafood on my blog here, and some of the sources sell IQF diver scallops.

By: Miami Danny

Miami Danny — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 17:52:29 +0000

Glad you found the amchoor!

By: paula

paula — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 16:10:51 +0000

BM - I went back to my Casablanca post the day I wrote about the scallops to see if they were in the pictures and it did say $9.99 for sea scallops. If I’m not mistaken it also says Keys on the sign. Anyways, I learned my lesson.

L2M - In my research I also read several people recommending frozen. It may be a better option when you can’t get them that fresh.

By: L2M

L2M — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:49:21 +0000

In all honesty, how many scallops here are actually fresh and not previously frozen (I have a feeling most, including Casablanca)? And if they are fresh, which would be better, a scallop individually quick-frozen minutes after harvesting or a fresh scallop that’s been on a long trip down to Miami? Personally, I buy my scallops frozen (the ones at Costco are great), thaw them out in the fridge then dry them out as much as possible (sometimes between sheets of paper towels weighed down by a heavy plate for a few minutes). Granted, you lose something in the freezing but at least they’re not weighed down by water and chemicals and you can use them when you like. Otherwise, I agree with blind and you’ve got to take the time to look for dry ones.

By: Blind Mind

Blind Mind — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 14:44:04 +0000

You just reminded me that Ive wanted to hit up Casablanca since you posted about it but I still havent been yet. Thats on the “to do” list for this week.

I am a HUGE scallop fan and eat/cook them a lot. I recently had an experience with scallops as well, but it turned out to be something that was just in my head. When you buy scallops, its always a good idea to get “dry” scallops if you can. Another thing youll want to look out for (or smell out for) is a fishy odor. If it smells like dead fish, it aint good. They should smell like the ocean, obviously, but without a strong fishy odor.

To be honest though, finding sea scallops these days at $15.99/lb is a good deal. Milams used to occasionally have them on sale at $10.99/lb, but once Fresh Market moved in and started charging $19.99/lb Milams raised the prices as well. Now you can find them at Milams or FM for about $16.99/lb on a good day. I think I noticed in your pic from Casablanca that they were $9.99 which is a killer deal that Im going to take advantage of this week.

If you really like scallops, I encourage you to go to Matsuri at Red Bird Plaza and try the “Hotate Yake”. They sautee the scallops in garlic and leave the corals on which taste incredibly good.