The Biggest Mistakes Everyone Makes When Cooking Scallops

If you’re a seafood lover, chances are you enjoy a perfectly prepared scallop. With its smooth texture and mild flavor, a scallop can be quite a delicacy. Perhaps you’ve had this delectable seafood treat at one of your favorite restaurants and have decided to try your hand at preparing a dish yourself. You may have learned the hard way that it’s not as easy as it seems.

Are you struggling to do a scallop recipe justice? If so, you’ve come to the right place. These are the biggest mistakes everyone makes when cooking scallops.

#Scallops #Seafood #Cooking

Buying them 'wet' | 0:00
Forgetting to dry them | 1:06
Buying frozen ones | 2:01
Using regular butter | 2:55
Overcooking them | 3:46
Using powdered spices | 4:38
Strong sauces or flavors | 5:28
Moving the pan around | 6:16
Assuming you can only sear | 6:56

[MashedFood]

What's your favorite way to cook scallops?

[cleterjabe]

Cast iron skillet, kept at 450, "dry" dry scallops, 2 mins per side in thin layer of either peanut or avocado oil. Done to perfection. Expect to spend close to $30/lb today (2023) for U10 (jumbos). Worth the price, if you like a sea delicacy

[tyleyden]

High heat with olive oil. Once hot...1:30 on the first side..flip. 1:00 on the next and you're dunno. Just make sure you start that timer before you set the first one in and you place them one by one in a clockwise position so you know when its time to flip for the last minute. Melt butter for dipping (garlic optional).. feast.

[GodfreyMann]

3:06 there’s no problem using butter but only as an adjunct oil for taste not cooking…in other words add the butter 20-30 secs before they’re done and baste the scallops in the butter. This basting and short exposure time to heat will ensure the butter doesn’t burn.

[grampsradio]

3:07 - The smoke point of Avocado Oil is 500 degrees. You could always used "clarified" butter, as well.

[joemackey]

I love adding scallops to my winter cIoppino.

[joyouce]

It’s great, this is one of my favorites

[kerkiraz]

I regularly dive for scallops and sell them on to restaurants to cover my cost.
The thing is a lot will not take them unless they’ve been soaked in water to make them look bigger when served on the plate.

[cgravelle]

I like to cook so many things putting butter and olive oil in a pan.
It is also very tasty to put scallops in flour. I put some flour in a jar and add garlic powder, salt and pepper and shake the jar to cover the scallops.
The scallops turn out delicious and have a nice brown seared finish to them.
then you can make a, nice white sauce add garlic, cream and Some cheese if desired. You do not need to use any alcohol. I never drink alcohol so I do not miss that flavor.

[kenfourey-jones]

Never seen such boring seafood, l live in the uk and have the benefit of tasing the most mouthwatering scallops from Kirkcudbright in
Scotland. I would never want to eat a scallop without the coral! Most of us in Europe eat all of the Scallop, not just the heart.
Agree with not over cooking but cook with garlic on a slow heat in oil and butter for no more than 5 minutes! Awesome!
They are so rich. Who wants to go to a restaurant?

[beachbum]

Butter will get you into trouble given that it has one of the lowest smoke points at about 170-C about the same as olive oil (and most of the other oils) Gee which is butter with its dairy components removed has a smoke point of about 270-C = producing an easy predictable triumph every single time. It really is about having oil with a very very very high smoke point at least a start the scallops; having put in 6/12 well separated scallops because they take the heat out of the pan very quickly you can always turn the heat down until you get a bit of colour and are able to turn them over.

[johnvrabec]

Best way go cook to proper doneness is use an instant read thermometer like a Thermoworks and pull them at 140°F. Perfect every time.

[phxx]

Hell’s Kitchen comes to my mind when I see that thumbnail.

[TheNeeenha]

small bay ones make a great chowder or saveche

[JohnJohn-wrjo]

Unless I can buy scallops straight off the boat I pass on them. We love scallops but the last 30 years it has become progressively more difficult to find unadulterated scallops. We always cook them ourselves since most restaurants are clueless to how to cook and serve them. When cooking them we always keep it simple. Butter a little garlic and pepper and sear. One other tip. If u can't buy scallops of the same size/count. Cook them in batches of the same size so they cook uniformally. This seems to be a problem at a lot of restaurants. You end up with half cooked right and the other half overdone because of the variations in size. Nothing like a fresh scallop.

[wendeln]

Seared in clarified butter. Sometimes in restaurants after rinsing in cold water we would soak them in milk for a while - or actually store them in milk for service - which helped add a bit more sweetness and get rid of the chemical taste, dry them off before cooking. The best scallops, and seafood in general, was at places where we would get fresh seafood flown in directly from Boston. Also, do not crowd the pan and cook a few at a time. It always bothered me that in the U.S. they get rid of the red roe from the scallop (female scallops have a red structure as seen at 1:32 and 7:26) I only ever had this when I was in London and was able to have the scallops shucked in front of me and the fish monger kept the roe attached best scallops I ever had!!!!.

[DavidLLambertmobile]

Well made scallops are great! ✅ 90% of restaurants over cook 👨🏽‍🍳👩🏼‍🍳 scallops.

[daphnerodriguez]

THANKS YOU GOODNESS 🌟 DAPHNE COTTON ALWAYS 💜 AWESOME

[JDoors]

Scallops are in my top five favorite foods.

[mikey]

You really haven't tried scallops until you have floured and deep fried them. When they are done, they will float to the top.