A Divers Guide To
Scallops
or
What To Do With Them Now?

A collection of recipes for the diver who has harvested some of these fine shellfish, with a guide to cleaning and preparation.

During many years pursuing my hobby diving I have met many others who love to harvest scallops and other shellfish from the seabed. Unfortunately in this time I have also met many divers do not know how the make the most of these delicious fruits of the sea, ruining them by frying them to a charred piece of rubbery nothingness.

These pages should go a little way to giving you some help with the cleaning and preparation of scallops, and then offer you a number of simple recipes to increase your enjoyment of them. More importantly, they provide a stepping-stone to creating new recipes to suit your taste and cooking style.

SCALLOP or great scallop

Pecten maximus

Portuguese: Vieira	French: Coquille St Jacques	Dutch: St Jacobsschelp
German: Kammuschel	Swedish: Kammussla	Spanish: Vieira
Norwegian: Kamskjell	Danish: Kammusling	Russian: Grebeshok
Welsh: Cragen gylchog	Isle of Man: Tanrogan	Normandy: Godfiche
Icelandic: Horpudiskor	Other: Escallop, Scollop

Maximum diameter about 15 cm. It is illegal to take scallops under 10 cm in diameter from the seabed in British waters. The shell is usually whitish brown, brown or pinkish, sometimes with attached plant growth and worm casings or other molluscs, flat on the underside, rounded on the upper side. Range from Norway to Iberian Peninsula

Scallops are fairly common in our coastal waters in depths over 15 m, found lying on the sea bed, usually in slight depressions they have created in sand and fine gravel. They don't burrow so they don't need the large 'foot' that is used for movement in other shellfish. Instead they have a very strong adductor muscle, which is used to open and close their shells rapidly. In doing so they propel themselves through the water, giving the effect of flying in pulses over the seabed

Scallops are hermaphrodites and contain both an orange/pink female roe (or coral) and a whitish male testis. It is usual to eat these as well as the main adductor muscle. The scallop does contain bits that are not good to eat, these include a ring of about 50 eyes on stalks between the two halves of the shell. Inside the two shells there are digestive system, gills and a mantle, a slimy film lining the inside of the shell. All of these must be discarded when cooking leaving only the white adductor muscle, red roe and cream testis.

Scallops have few enemies underwater apart from starfish and some other molluscs that are able to prise the shells apart. The scallop's only means of escape is by flying through the sea placing it many metres away from the danger far quicker than these enemies can move.

Opening and cleaning.

Opening a scallop requires a short, sharp and stout knife and a live scallop. (As long as the shell is very tightly shut you can be fairly certain that it is alive). To open a scallop and clean it at the same time, hold the scallop in the flat of your left hand with the rounded half of the shell downwards and the hinge facing away from yourself. On the right of the hinge as you now view it where the shell begins to bulge there will be a slight gap between the two shells. Place the point of the knife (blade pointing away from you) in this gap and push the blade upwards and in towards the centre of the shell. Then keeping the blade pressed against the inside of the upper flat shell, cut through the adductor muscle where it joins the shell moving towards the hinge of the scallop. When the muscle is cut you will feel the two halves come apart.

In the same motion lift the flat shell upwards to reveal the contents (unfortunately you will probably see the muscle and other organs pulsating at this point). With one motion cut behind the testis and roe right around to the adductor muscle to separate the edible parts from the eyes, gills and mantle. Cut the bottom of the adductor away from the rounded half of the shell and you should be left with good edible parts. Discard everything else except the shell.

There will be a small dark tube (gut) around the rear edge of the adductor muscle which needs to be scraped away, as do any remaining bits of mantle or eye that are left. Then the scallop needs rinsing off in cold water and cooking as soon as is possible.

Remember that the shell can be used as well, so don't discard it with the rest. The rounded half when cleaned out makes a perfect cooking and serving dish for many of the recipes given in this booklet. They also make good ash trays, side dishes, play things for children, garden ornaments, ground up are good for laying chickens... The list goes on.

Cooking.

It is possible to freeze the scallop at this stage but they loose something special when used later. I would suggest only using fresh scallops for the following recipes. Scallops should be cooked very gently as they loose their sweetness and delicacy if overcooked, especially the coral, which is why it should be added late on in the cooking process if possible. Too many people fry scallops until they are blackened on the outside and rubbery in the middle, this is a terrible waste as the beauty of scallops is their sweetness and very delicate flavour.

Scallops make a very filling and rich meal, and at most 4 to 6 should be enough for even the most hungry of you. Because scallops are also only at their very best when fresh please only collect enough for your immediate needs. Remember to only take those big enough (over 10 cm diameter). It is also important to find out your local fisheries byelaws that may prohibit the harvesting of scallops during certain times of the year.

Queen or queen scallop

Chlamys opercularis

The Queen scallop is a much smaller member of the scallop family. They are usually found in deeper waters of 35 metres or more and are normally only about 6 cm in diameter. Queens are NOT young scallops and so do not take small scallops in the mistake of thinking they are queens.

Queens vary considerably in colour, being anything between pink, yellow, orange, red, purple and brown, often spotted or blotched. They are perhaps more circular than scallops and have about 20 ribs to their shell which is rounded on both sides.

They are just as good to eat although being smaller you will require more of them, and a more gentle cooking method. Otherwise all the recipes for scallops can be applied to queens.