Living at the ocean’s edge means ready access to many rare treats local fishermen bring in. When friends arrive for summer suppers, the ones I like best, because they’re at once spectacular and simple to prepare, are fresh dayboat sea scallops. While Atlantic sea scallops are available most of the year, in winter the weather can interfere with harvesting. The calmer spring and summer months mean the boats can more easily and safely go out and back within about 24 hours.
That kind of “dayboat” fishing done by Cape Cod fishermen is the source of “dry” scallops — they’re the ones you are looking for. Dayboat scallops that have been frozen are also very good. What you don’t want are so-called wet scallops, the ones treated with a chemical solution (sodium tripolyphosphate) as a preservative. This is done by the industrial-scale boats that are fishing for the mass market and out at sea for extended periods.
Sea scallops are about the size of your hand in their shells, which are brown or reddish brown on one side and white on the other. We aren’t the only ones who love these bivalves. Many sea creatures, including sea turtles, lobsters, crabs, flounder, wolf fish, cod, and snails enjoy eating scallops. To defend themselves, they deploy up to 200 eyes near the edge of their shells to watch out for predators; unlike most bivalves, they can escape by opening and closing their shells to swim short distances.
All that is not enough to protect them from us, though. Efforts at sustainable management begun in the 1980s have brought them back from decline, and 2024 looks like a good year, according to Chris Merl, a scallop fisherman who works out of Provincetown Harbor on his boat the F/V Isabel & Lilee. Merl has been at it for 30 years, so he watches the ups and downs. The catch, he told me, “was 25 percent less every year for the last three years.” But with the numbers up, fishermen are permitted to take more: “We’re on the upswing,” he says.
So, with good supply and good weather for fishing, it’s time to get cooking. I usually prepare scallops the way my mother — she got her scallops from the Jersey Shore — always did, pan-fried with a few breadcrumbs, tartar sauce on the side.
But since we’re talking about Cape Cod dayboat scallops, I asked local cooks what they think is the best way to cook this regional delicacy, including a scallop fisherman, his partner who handles the landward side of the business, a shellfish wholesaler, and a home cook who works with me at the Indie.
Alex Hay, who owns the Wellfleet Shellfish Company and with two friends just opened a new version of the Wicked Oyster in Wellfleet, couldn’t decide between two favorite techniques. “Either searing them in cast iron with butter to get a really nice dark caramelization on top,” he says. “Or slicing them thin and pounding them a bit to flatten them, drizzling with a bright EVOO.” He finishes the crudo with a squeeze of lime and a pinch of sea salt.
Being from Oklahoma, Teresa Parker, my colleague in the food department at the Independent, didn’t grow up eating scallops. But later she lived in Spain, where they come from Galicia on the Atlantic coast. “That’s where I saw them seared on a plancha,” again, cast iron, she says. “I like that crispy caramelization in contrast to the unctuous interior, sauced with a parsley dressing made with olive oil, and maybe served with coins of potato.”
The technique Teresa and Alex recommend is easy enough, though there are a few things to know about searing and caramelizing: First, pat the scallops dry and season them lightly with salt and pepper. Heat the pan, preferably cast iron, then add enough olive oil (or butter) to just glaze the bottom of it. When the oil shimmers (or the buttery foam subsides), add the scallops. Take care that the fat doesn’t burn. Cook the scallops over high heat until the bottoms are well caramelized, about 3 to 4 minutes, then turn them and cook briefly on the second side until they are just done, 1 to 2 minutes. Remove the scallops to a plate and serve them simply.
At home, Hugo makes a quick pan sauce by removing the seared scallops and adding a splash of white wine to the juices in the pan. He simmers it for a minute or two until the alcohol burns off, stirs in capers, then drizzles the sauce over the scallops. But how do you know when scallops are cooked without cutting one in half? I ask him. Hugo learned to cook this delicacy years ago as a culinary student at an inn near Washington, D.C. He pokes them: “Just take a fork and if you can gently pass it through the center of a scallop,” he says, “it should be done.”
At the inn, he says, the scallops were seared in cast iron on one side and then, without disturbing the caramelization, placed in a 500-degree oven for a few minutes, which turns the scallops a beautiful mahogany color as they finish cooking. “Out of the oven,” he adds, “you flip the scallops just to kiss the top side — and you’re ready to plate up.” The inn’s ovens ran all day so that was convenient, but the stovetop method works just as well.
My conversation with Chris Merl was a short one. Me: “I hear that you like eating scallops raw….” Chris: “Yes.” Me: “How do they taste?” Chris: “Like scallops!”
Denice Lapierre is Chris’s partner in life and business, handling orders for Poor Boy Fisheries, the seafood company they created. She’s also a great cook, always sharing tips and recipes with customers. In summer, she tells me, one of her favorite ways to serve scallops is in a chowder with corn.
I think that this Poor Boy-inspired chowder is going to be my summer go-to. As easy as it may be to sear a few scallops, summer at our house means more people at the table. I stay away from à la minute cooking when the family arrives. Now’s a good time for a pot of chowder, and whether with local scallops or clams, or both, it can be readily scaled up for a crowd of hungry house guests.
‘POOR BOY’ SCALLOP CHOWDER
Makes 6-8 servings
2 tsp. olive oil
3 slices bacon, cut in small pieces
2 Tbsp. butter
2 heaping Tbsp. flour
1 medium-size onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
8 oz. bottled clam juice
2 cups chicken broth
3-4 potatoes, diced in bite-size pieces
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp. minced fresh tarragon or parsley
1 lb. sea scallops, quartered
One cup fresh corn kernels
- Heat the olive oil in a pot and cook bacon until crisp. Add the butter and stir in the flour, cooking for a few minutes so the flour loses its raw flavor.
- Add chopped onion and cook on low heat for 2 minutes, then add the celery and garlic and cook about 2-3 minutes more, until the vegetables soften.
- Add the clam juice, chicken broth, potatoes, and corn. Simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 12-15 minutes. Taste before seasoning with salt and pepper: depending on how salty the broth and clam juice are, you may need a little more salt.
- Add the cream, tarragon, and scallops. Gently stir and simmer for about 5 minutes until the scallops are just cooked through, turning tender and opaque. Taste again for seasoning and serve.
Note: For a brothier chowder, omit the flour and butter and replace the cream with 8 additional ounces of clam juice.
