Sunday, July 5, 2009
Dry Scallops
I was whining to BFD, chef extraordinaire, about how I can't seem to sear scallops the way restaurant chefs do. She told be that is because my scallops have too much moisture and she told me to buy 'dry' scallops. As you know, I'm eating up the food I already have in my freezer and pantry and so I did not allow myself to buy new scallops. I did have a bag of frozen Japanese scallops from TJ's though. So I thawed them and then dried them very, very well. I patted them with paper towels until I couldn't detect any moisture. Then I sprayed them with olive oil, salted and peppered them and tossed them in a very hot pan. It worked! They were brown on the outside and tender on the inside. I served them up with some jalapeno rice - rice I cooked in water that I had added one diced jalapeno to. With a some soy sauce it was perfect!
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5 comments:
That's very interesting! Sometimes whining pays off--don't tell the kiddies. Thanks, Debbie!
Karen
We had shrimp tacos last night. Warm, soft corn tortillas with shrimp, whole black beans (heated up), feta cheese, corn (cold and freshly cut of the cob) and avocado.
I dried the shrimp very, very well, seasoned them and threw them in a HOT cast iron pan (with a little oil) and they browned up nicely and were tasty.
verification word:
"clocksit"
1) Pretty easy gig, if someone will pay you to watch their clock for them
I meant "freshly cut off the cob"
verification word
"bisona"
the buffalo in front of bisonb when they line up alphabetically
corn of the cob!
Wet scallops are commonly treated with STP (sodium tripolyphosphate), which is a preservative. When scallops are soaked in STP, they absorb water making them weigh more and thereby costing you more. The absorbed water evaporates during cooking and, in turn, shrinks your scallops leaving them smaller, dry and somewhat tasteless. Furthermore, the added water does not let scallops brown properly during cooking. It is generally easy to discern treated scallops as they will usually appear snow-white in color.
Dry scallops are all wild and natural. They are not treated with any chemicals whatsoever. They should have a natural vanilla color.
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