No. 1076

Scallops a la Mariniere

Petoncles a la Mariniere

This simple dish is highly appreciated by amateurs of shell-fish. Cut the scallops up into quarter-inch squares; put them back on their deep shells; season with salt and pepper, dredge over some finely chopped fresh mushrooms, parsley and bread-crumbs, and lay on each a small piece of butter, also a teaspoonful of white wine. Cook in a hot oven from ten to twelve minutes, and after removing them, pour over a little lemon juice, then dress on folded napkins garnishing with sprigs of parsley.

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For the Modern Kitchen

A Ranhofer scallop gratin done in the shell, and about as simple as his book gets. The only real hazard is overcooking.

Hot ovenRead a hot oven as roughly 425-450F; Ranhofer gives no temperature. At that heat ten to twelve minutes is already generous for diced scallop; check at seven or eight minutes and pull them when the crumbs have colored and the scallop is just opaque.
Cut sizeQuarter-inch dice cooks fast and dries out faster. Sea scallops are the right choice here; bay scallops can be left whole rather than cut.
The shells"Their deep shells" means the cupped half of the scallop shell, which almost never comes with scallops sold in the U.S. today. Buy shells for baking, or use small gratin dishes or ramekins of about 1/3 cup capacity.
MushroomsChopped raw mushroom will shed water into the dish. Chop fine and either squeeze in a cloth or dry them briefly in a pan before dredging over the scallops.
Butter and wineA teaspoon of dry white wine per shell is the whole sauce, so it should be something you would drink. Do not flood the shells or the crumbs will steam instead of browning.
YieldRanhofer gives none. Figure two shells per person as a first course, three or four as a light main, and roughly 3/4 lb of scallop meat for four shells.
The napkin serviceFolded napkins on the platter were standard presentation, and would also help keep the shells from sliding and rocking. Coarse salt or crumpled foil under the shells does the same job and steadies them in the oven as well.

A Little History

Charles Ranhofer ran the kitchen at Delmonico's in New York and published The Epicurean in 1894 as a complete record of that restaurant's repertoire, which is why even a dish this plain arrives with a French name and a garnish instruction. A la mariniere means "in the sailor's manner" and in French cooking normally signals shellfish cooked with white wine and its own liquor; here the technique is closer to a gratin, the wine and butter doing their work inside the closed heat of the shell. Scallops in the shell were a natural for a New York restaurant of the period, since it was the Long Island bay-scallop fishery that was substantial in Ranhofer's day, and the deep valve made a serviceable individual baking dish. Ranhofer's aside that the dish is "highly appreciated by amateurs of shell-fish" uses amateur in its older sense of a devotee rather than a novice.