Physical Description
Sea scallops are sorted and priced according to size. While retailers sometimes use terms like medium, large, and jumbo, buyers and sellers in the wholesale and restaurant trade usually specify sizes numerically, such as 10-20, 20-30, or 30-40. These numbers represent the number of pieces it takes to make up a pound; thus the smaller the number, the larger the individual scallop meats.
Scallops have a slightly opaque white meat are round in appearance. Sea scallops range anywhere from 1" to 2 1/2 " inches round.
Colors: white
Tasting Notes
Flavors: sweet
Mouthfeel: Meaty, Chewy, Firm, Buttery
Food complements: Garlic, Cream, Tarragon, Coriander, Chilies, Tropical fruit
Wine complements: White wine
Beverage complements: Beer, Brandy, Cognac
Substitutes: Bay scallops, Halibut cheeks
Selecting and Buying
Choosing: Look for ivory or creamy-colored meats, even as dark as a light tan; a stark, bleached white can be a sign of heavy phosphate treatment. There should be little or no milky liquid in the tray, another sign of heavy soaking. In fact, the best dry-packed scallops are often a bit sticky. A fairly strong sweet-briny aroma is also not a problem, but a fishy or sour smell indicates spoilage.
Buying: Scallops are available fresh or frozen, but can most often be found frozen in any supermarket.
Procuring: Scallops are fished throughout the year, mostly by dredging the bottom with a large rake that gathers the shellfish into a chain net.
Preparation and Use
Unlike clams, oysters, and other bivalves, scallops cannot survive long out of the water, so they are usually shucked on the boat shortly after harvest and the meats are kept chilled until delivered to shoreside processors.
Cleaning: Place a scallop on the table open side up. Look inside the scallop for the big white muscle that holds its shell closed. With the tip of your knife slice through the muscle as close to where it attaches to the shell as possible.
Once you’re completely through, the shell will almost pop open. Separate the shell halves and remove the innards. Cut the scallop meat free from the other shell and you’re done. If there are any tough white strips along the short edge of the scallops, remove them.
Conserving and Storing
Scallops are best kept chilled or frozen until ready to use.
Social/Political
Atlantic sea scallop population levels are high, and overfishing is not occurring.
Scallops are managed using a combined approach of effort limitation and rotating harvest areas, which maximizes scallop yields while protecting beds of young scallops.
Scallops are a good low-fat source of protein and are high in selenium and B vitamins.
The U.S. sea scallop fishery is extremely important to the economy and is the largest wild scallop fishery in the world. In 2008, 53.5 million pounds of sea scallop meats worth $370 million were harvested in the United States. The majority comes from Massachusetts and New Jersey.
History: The scallop shell is the traditional emblem of James, son of Zebedee and is popular with pilgrims on the Way of St James to the apostle's shrine at Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Medieval Christians making the pilgrimage to his shrine often wore a scallop shell symbol on their hat or clothes. The pilgrim also carried a scallop shell with him, and would present himself at churches, castles, abbeys etc., where he could expect to be given as much sustenance as he could pick up with one scoop. Probably he would be given oats, barley, and perhaps beer or wine. Thus even the poorest household could give charity without being overburdened. The association of Saint James with the scallop can most likely be traced to the legend that the apostle once rescued a knight covered in scallops. An alternate version of the legend holds that while St. James' remains were being transported to Spain from Jerusalem, the horse of a knight fell into the water, and emerged covered in the shells.
