I just saw a "chef" on the cooking segment of the local news making vanilla
scallops. He sauteed the poor things in butter, oil and vanilla extract for 20
minutes. One of the anchors tasted the dish and said "Mmmmmmm, it's really nice,
kinda sweet." She said nothing of the texture, though. It must've been like eating
hockey pucks! Yuck.

AT wrote:
> I just saw a "chef" on the cooking segment of the local news making
> vanilla scallops. He sauteed the poor things in butter, oil and
> vanilla extract for 20 minutes (snip)
It must've been like eating hockey pucks!
> Yuck.

I suppose it depends on the size of the scallops and the temperature of the
butter/oil. No way would I add vanilla to an already sweet-tasting scallop.

Jill

AT wrote:

> I just saw a "chef" on the cooking segment of the local news making vanilla
> scallops. He sauteed the poor things in butter, oil and vanilla extract for 20
> minutes. One of the anchors tasted the dish and said "Mmmmmmm, it's really nice,
> kinda sweet." She said nothing of the texture, though. It must've been like eating
> hockey pucks! Yuck.

20 minutes??????? "poor things" is an understatement. I like to plonk them down on a
hot pan and sear them on each side and eat them while they are still a little raw in
the middle. I just can't imagine a scallop being edible after 20 minutes, even if
cooked on low heat for that long.

AT wrote:
> I just saw a "chef" on the cooking segment of the local news making
> vanilla scallops. He sauteed the poor things in butter, oil and
> vanilla extract for 20 minutes. One of the anchors tasted the dish
> and said "Mmmmmmm, it's really nice, kinda sweet." She said nothing
> of the texture, though. It must've been like eating hockey pucks!
> Yuck.

Unless they cook tener afdter a time. Calamari is like that. Either do it
very fast or very long and it will be tender. In between it is like eating
a rubber band.

I've never heard of long cooking time on scallps though. Nor am I going to
try it at $10 a pound.
--
Ed

http://pages.cthome.net/edhome

Ed wrote:

> I've never heard of long cooking time on scallps though. Nor am I going
> to try it at $10 a pound.

In the generally-excellent cookbook _Chopstix_, by Hugh Carpenter, there's a
recipe for a long-simmered scallop soup called "Scallop Blossom Surprise".
After that prolonged cooking, the scallops disintegrate into lots of little
threads, leading the author to comment, "The sea scallops are simmered in
chicken broth for 1 hour, which causes them to break apart into tender
threads -- that's the surprise!"

That doesn't sound appealing to me at all; I've never tried the recipe. But
I'll post it if anybody wants it.

Bob