Sea Scallops

Know this

Most scallops in the case have been soaked in a phosphate solution so they hold water and weigh more. Those are wet scallops: bright white, slick, sitting in a milky puddle, and they will never brown because they steam in the pan in their own chemical bath. A dry scallop is ivory to pale pink, tacky to the touch, and sits in nothing. Ask, and if the counter cannot tell you, that is your answer. The size code is a count per pound, so U-10 means fewer than ten to the pound and those are the ones you want for searing. Chef secret: peel off the little rectangular side muscle, then salt the scallops on a paper towel for ten minutes before they go anywhere near a pan. The towel takes the surface water the sear would have had to boil off first.

Cook

A pan hotter than you think, a film of neutral oil, scallops down and left alone for ninety seconds. Flip once, add a knob of butter, thirty seconds more, out. The center should still be translucent. Four to a plate on brown butter and cauliflower is a holiday first course that takes six minutes.

Season

Atlantic sea scallops land year-round, and they are at their best and biggest from fall into winter.

Best pairings

Brown butter · Bacon · Cauliflower · Lemon · Peas · Chorizo

Also worth trying: parsnip, apple, corn, pancetta, citrus, hazelnut.

Recommended wine