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Spindled Scallops
Drain and dry medium-sized scallops, dip them in melted butter, to which juice of an onion has been added and dash of pepper; slip each scallop on buttered skewer, with small piece bacon between each scallop. Broil under a brisk flame, basting once with buttered mixture. When done slip scallops from skewers onto slices hot buttered toast and turn over them remaining butter sauce.
A skewered scallop-and-bacon broil of the sort that filled the "grills" chapter of interwar menu books. Everything depends on getting the bacon cooked before the scallops overcook.
- "Spindled" means skeweredThe spindle is the skewer; the dish is what other books of the period call scallops en brochette. Metal skewers are easiest to butter and to slide the scallops off afterwards.
- The bacon is the problemScallops need two to four minutes under a broiler; bacon needs eight or more. Render thin bacon pieces most of the way in a pan first, then thread them, or the scallops will be dry before the fat has melted.
- Juice of an onionHalve an onion and grate it on the fine side of a box grater, then press the pulp through a sieve. A large onion yields roughly a tablespoon of juice. The recipe gives no butter quantity, so scale the juice to however much melted butter you need for dipping and basting.
- "A brisk flame"A broiler at full heat, with the rack set 3 to 4 inches below the element. Turn the skewers once and pull them the moment the scallops turn opaque at the centre.
- Dry them properlyWet scallops steam rather than brown, and dilute the butter. Blot them on a towel and leave them uncovered on the towel for a few minutes before dipping.
- Buttered toastCut thick, toasted and buttered at the last moment so it does not go leathery under the sauce. Two slices per person is a reasonable base for six to eight scallops.
- YieldThe original gives none. Figure 1/4 to 1/3 lb of scallops per person as a main course, two skewers each, or one skewer as a first course.
- The remaining butterWhatever basting butter is left will have separated. Warm it and whisk in a squeeze of lemon before pouring, or it will look broken on the plate.
Scallops wrapped or alternated with bacon appear across American cookery of the period under a run of names -- en brochette, on skewers, and here "spindled." The pairing works because scallops are lean and faintly sweet, and the rendering bacon supplies both the fat they lack and the salt that sets off that sweetness. Onion juice, made by grating and straining rather than chopping, turns up repeatedly in recipes of the era for getting onion flavour into a butter or a sauce without visible pieces.