Home › Entrees › Devilled Scallops
Devilled Scallops
1 quart scallops 1/3 cup butter 1/3 teaspoon made mustard 1 teaspoon salt Few grains cayenne 2/3 cup buttered cracker crumbs Clean scallops, drain, and heat to the boiling-point; drain again, and reserve liquor. Cream the butter, add mustard, salt, cayenne, two-thirds cup reserved liquor, and scallops chopped. Let stand one-half hour. Put in a baking-dish, cover with crumbs, and bake twenty minutes.
Crab Meat, Terrapin Style 1 cup crab meat 2 tablespoons butter 1/2 small onion, thinly sliced 2 tablespoons Sherry wine 1/3 cup heavy cream Yolks 2 eggs Salt and cayenne Cook butter and onion until yellow; remove onion, add crab meat and wine. Cook three minutes, add cream, yolks of eggs, salt, and cayenne.
A simple baked scallop dish whose success hinges on how little you actually cook the scallops. The original text runs straight on into a second, unrelated recipe for crab meat.
- A quart of scallopsShellfish were sold by liquid measure; a quart of shucked scallops works out to roughly 1 3/4 to 2 lb, enough for about four as an entree. Bay scallops need no cutting, sea scallops should be chopped as directed.
- Made mustard"Made" mustard means prepared mustard from the jar, not dry mustard powder. English or Dijon suits the devilled seasoning; the quantity given, a third of a teaspoon, is very restrained for two pounds of scallops and can reasonably go to a full teaspoon.
- The heating stepBringing the scallops just to the boiling point is meant only to release their liquor for the sauce. Take them off the moment the liquid trembles; scallops held at a simmer tighten and turn rubbery within a minute or two.
- Oven temperatureNo heat is specified. A hot oven, 400F, is right for a crumb-topped shellfish dish of this kind.
- Twenty minutes is too longWith the scallops already brought to the boil, twenty minutes in a hot oven will overcook them badly. Bake only until the crumbs are brown and the dish bubbles at the edge, 10 to 12 minutes, and run it under the broiler for colour if needed.
- Buttered cracker crumbsCrush plain soda or water crackers and toss with about two tablespoons melted butter per two-thirds cup of crumbs. Panko behaves similarly but browns faster.
- The half-hour standLetting the seasoned scallops sit is a short marination that lets the mustard and cayenne penetrate. It also lets the creamed butter loosen into the reserved liquor, so stir once before it goes into the dish.