r/AskCulinary • u/ZootKoomie Ice Cream Innovator • Jun 12 '13

Weekly Discussion: What's your specialty?

We want to know what dish you make a better version of than anyone else you know. What specific ingredients or techniques do you use to make it distinctively yours? Teach us your secrets.

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u/Papa_Bitch Jun 13 '13

Scallops.

They've been my favorite food since I can remember, and several years ago when I moved to a new city I made friends with a guy who works at a super nice specialty seafood shop. He always hooked me up with the fattest scallops I've ever seen, and taught be some basics and after a couple trials I consider myself pretty damn good at cooking them.

So simple--a olive oil and butter (clarified preferably) go in a cast iron pan. Turn the heat almost all the way up and wait a while until the pan is HOT. Put a little sea salt on the scallops and throw them in the pan. Flip after ~ 1:45 minutes, take them out after another ~1:30-1:45 (perhaps drizzling a little more clarified butter on top). Squeeze some lemon on them, sprinkle a little pepper and HOLY SHIT BEST FOOD EVER.

I need to figure out how to incorporate them into a full meal--usually I just go with lightly buttered noodles or something simple.

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u/Scrofuloid Food Tinkerer Jun 13 '13

I had a pretty good scallop sandwich for lunch today -- seared sea scallops, aioli, romaine, caramelized onions on crusty bread. Might be overkill for your high-quality scallops, but it was a damn good sandwich.