Sous vide scallops.
WOW! That’s pretty much what came out of my mouth, when I tasted the sous vide scallops I cooked a couple of days ago.
I went to my fishmonger on Wednesday, I had ordered a side of salmon and I was going to pick it up. The salmon headed to a brine for later smoking, but that another article. While I was there I spotted some diver scallops and couldn’t resist. I love scallops they’re so sweet and succulent. I remembered a post on Jean-François’ blog about sous vide-ing scallops so I though “why not?” I bought 5 or 6 of them, Ian my fishmonger added pretty much the same number for free – that’s why you need to be friend with your fishmonger or butcher.
The first step was to find a way to vacuum seal them without squashing them, scallops are quite delicate and full on pressure would transform them into scallop Carpaccio. Luckily my vacuum sealer has a pressure control valve* allowing me to vacuum at lower pressure. I just sealed them with some kosher salt, black pepper and a drizzle of olive oil, nothing more.
I looked around to find what will be the best temperature to cook the scallops at. I found various temperature ranging from 49°C to 51°C, I decided to split the difference and set my circulator to 50.5°C.
After 35 minutes I took the pouches out of the water. I had a rocket hot pan standing by, I patted the scallops dry and seared them very quickly, even though I was careful to not use too much pressure when vacuum seal them they wouldn’t stand in the pan, so I didn’t get the usual top and bottom sear you get with the traditionally cooked scallops. To plate them. I made a salad of spinach leaves with a simple dressing of olive oil, lemon juice and balsamic vinegar I also added a very thick, very good quality balsamic vinegar glaze. I used the salad as a bed for the scallops, I served the whole thing family style.
OK, scallops are good, pretty much any way you’re cooking them, they going to taste good, I will go further and say that I had overcooked scallops that beside having the texture of rubber still tasted good. So what’s the deal with sous vide, what the “WOW!” from the begining of the article was about? It’s wasn’t just for the taste, even though they tasted amazing and I could swear they were sweeter than usual, but that could just be those particular scallops I can’t be sure. I could have gotten that taste if I cooked them in a pan. No, it was for the texture. Incredible creamy texture. Texture that I never experienced before, creamy and soft, I don’t really have the words to describe it, it was just out of this word.
There is a couple of things this experience is pushing me to do, first I need to find a way to keep the shape of the scallops when vacuum sealing them, if any of you guys have a trick to do that, please leave a comment. The other thing is to repeat the experiment but this time keep a batch to cook traditionally in a pan to do a fair comparison.
*Vacuum sealer La.va V.300 www.la-va.com
English
French
Casquette,
When I had the idea to try scallops sous vide my girl friend made so much fun a me! She thought it was a stupid idea an that nothing would come out of that experiment.
I totally agree with your conclusion (my sweet heart as well), the texture is excellent, almost no loss of juice… Above all, with this cooking method, everybody can succeed preparing scallop with an excellent result.
Regarding the shape of the scallop, I wasn’t very bothered by that.
I think 50.5°C is a good choice.
Cheers,
Jean-François
Bonjour Nico,
Si on a pas tous l’appareil pour faire du sous-vide ; qu’estque st-jacques et que l’on a envie de les réussir comme tu l’indiques sur la recette : qu’est que tu proposes pour que les coquilles st-jacques soient aussi bonnes que dans ta recette? DJAZ
Here is a post where the author made sous vide burgers. In order to keep the desired patty shape, he just vacuum sealed a metal patty form in with the meat. Maybe something like that could be done with the scallops.
http://blog.medellitin.com/2010/05/fresh-meals-magic-turkey-burgers-sous.html
Yes, it’s a pretty good idea. I’ll have a look at my restaurant supply store for small ring mold and will give it a go.
Thanks for the link.
N,
I haven’t tried to maintain the shape of scallops, but I would think that a ring mold should provide adequate protection from the la.va. You can always just use small, washed out can (like a tuna can, if you eat canned tuna fish) as a trial.
I haven’t made scallops in awhile, but you’ve convinced me that it’s time. I also like searing scallops with a blowtorch because i think it is easy to overcook by searing in a pan.
What about freezing them before sealing?
I wouldn’t think of freezing scallops. They’re too delicate. They would become soggy and almost inedible. I though of using an edible circle mold. could be a flat piece of carrot or something similar.
Nicolas
All store bought scallops are frozen.
I’m working on this as I type!! Mmmmmm!!!
You asked for some advice:
“first I need to find a way to keep the shape of the scallops when vacuum sealing them, if any of you guys have a trick to do that, please leave a comment.”
Well, just don’t “vacuum seal” them. Put them in a ziplock bag with whatever seasoning, then lower them in a stockpot of warm water and carefully seal it as the air is expunged. This way you’re not squeezing the scallops. This works great for dishes containing some liquid, which is a problem for most sealing machines. Ziplocks are made of pure polyethylene, just like a proper sous vide bag, and are far cheaper. I use them whenever I can.
Sorry, what do you mean? I don’t your comment has been sent whole.
An easy way to vacuum seal scallops or fish without having the seal alter the texture is to merely make sure your sealer (I use a FoodSaver) stops vacuuming and switches to sealing just before the bag starts closing down around your food. This won’t remove all the air but will remove enough without compressing the protein.
I also wanted to point out that at 50.5 degrees Celsius you’re not pasteurizing the scallops. While it gives you a product with a less-firm texture (and one that I prefer), you are taking a chance with contracting a food borne pathogen. I’m willing to take this chance for myself but feel it’s necessary to get informed consent from anyone I’m cooking for. Otherwise, I cook fish and scallops at 60 degrees Celsius (and even then one’s taking a chance with Hepatitis A).