Nick

Short grain brown rice and lightly steamed spinach.

Report on last night's scallops and tonight's. Last night after Craig and Mutton left, I broiled the larger scallops wrapped with bacon. Delicious. Last night when Craig and Mutton were here all kinds of talk was going on. Winches, shrimp, scallops, fishing rules and regulations, what's happened to the taste of deer meat from one place or another, etc. At some point in all this, I heard Mutton say something about a way to do scallops. Craig and I both having our own businesses - he has two boats and a wharf and I a small steelworking business - we were discussing weighty matters. Mutton's thing about cooking scallops registered in the background with me. I called him tonight before I did the rest of the scallops. Make garlic butter to your liking and crush up some saltines with a rolling pin. Get the garlic butter to temp in the pan and add the crackers. Mix well and add the scallops. Cook until scallops are lightly browned. It's delicious. The cracker crumbs especially. Of course this recipe is only from a simple crewman and cooked by a simple steelworker. Might not suit the more refined palates of some members.

Awbrig, can't really help. I've frozen fresh scallops when I've had too many. I don't think they come close to fresh, but they're okay.

All this scallop talk got me to go out and buy some today. Yes, I actually bought some scallops. I went from place to place and finally found some I thought might be worth buying at our own supermarket here in town. In a little plastic container with a cover. No one was looking so I lifted the cover to have a smell. Just Right! A sweet scallop smell. Tomorrow maybe, the day after for sure, they'll be over the edge. If you buy seafood when it's really fresh it has no character. If so, let the character develop in your fridge until it arrives. The old Lion, Craig's father, taught me this. I used to get cod and hake right off Craig's boat the day it was caught - (one time I got a little tiny flat fish [flounder] still moving, sitting on top of a pile of shrimp in a five gallon bucket that were themselves still moving. I filleted the little flat fish and fried it in butter. It was delicious.) Anyhow, just by chance Craig and Muttonchops stopped by tonight and I uncorked the scallops for a smell. They agreed that these scallops were in their prime. Craig and Mutton are in their late forties and been fishing all their lives - except for a few stretches in state and federal facilities for various infractions of the law. The point I'm trying to get across is that seafood has to develop, age, to get to its prime. Everybody wants aged beef. Same thing happens with seafood only quicker. Oh yeah, Craig and I decided it's time for Gulf shrimp - with Cindy's pumpkin muffins. I'll be ressurecting the shrimp thread. Edit: Flatfish should be eaten fresh. It won't age like cod. Edit again: I shouldn't imply that all seafood "ages" with grace. My main experience has been with cod. That, I think, does improve if done right. I usually keep it in plastic so it doesn't dry out. And the fridge is kept at 33-35F. The aging time is measured in days. HB's post below also got me to thinking that this isn't for people who can't get truly fresh - like right off a day boat. Some of the stuff off the big boats has been treated with some kind of preservative (don't know if it's tri-poly) and it will never age. All you get is something that smells weird. Though I don't know much about cheeses, aging of cod and scallops, for instance, may be similar in developing a certain "ripeness".

My first experiences involved curry and chutney. They were probably not done right and so after that, I've never tried it (Indian) again. The same thing happened after I first tried Creole. A restaurant in Boston as I remember. I've never tried it again either. It's in the spices and whether they're put together in a way that a neophyte can understand.

Hey Nickg, This sure was fun! Couldn't help but do a little messing around after Basil brought it up. Basil - the fake roe story hasn't hit the street yet and I don't want to be first to tip the barrel. But, seriously, I wondered whether scallops over there were different in texture, taste, etc. Salinity, temp and stuff like that makes a difference. When I was looking for scallops for Nickg I found that some friends have one channel they can drag where they say the scallops are the best. Nothing in commercial quantity, just the best scallops for home eating. Dave, an arch punch is what the pic shows. Used for cutting round shapes from leather, rubber, cork, etc., etc.

You expect somebody to notice that?

Indeed they do. After getting out of the Navy, I spent a late summer and early fall cranking them out by the thousands with a 2" arch punch. Mario, a nice guy from the North End, set me up. Low cost operation. Punch, hammer, board, fish trays.

Right on, brother.

Basil, just got to thinking - are scallops different on your side of the Atlantic than ours? Assuming you've had both. Nick

I guess I've never had real bay scallops. Ten years ago or so supermarkets here tried selling Calicos as bay scallops. I fell for it. You're right. Not worth feeding to a cat.

Isn't it something how old guitar players will try to get to the bottom of anything?

Aeternum Checked out things. Don't see the red button. Hope they haven't eliminated that as a cost-cutting measure. Actually, I saw some new Aeternums a few years after I got mine and they'd changed - and not for the better I thought. But, they're probably still better than some.

I'm thinking about Slater's "Fast Food." I'm spending so much time here that I don't have time to cook.

My pressure cooker. An Aeturnum from Italy. In use for over twenty years with no problems. The red button is a stem that pops up when under pressure. Pushing on it with a finger gives an idea of the pressure that is more accurate than the sound of the "jiggler." The "jiggler" can be safely unscrewed (with bare hand) to release residual pressure after cooking if you don't want to wait for things to settle down. There is a rubber "blow off" under the band that will let go if things get out of control - for instance, if overloaded with beans. It's never happened with me, but if it had, the band will keep stuff from hitting the ceiling.

tomatocastles? in the air? Big Burpee? Can you explain this? Hop, you'll understand next year. Try some Brandywines. They get big and ugly. But, they've got flavor!

Well, I stopped by Fulton's yesterday on my way back from town and got the "right" ham end. Maybe, maybe not. Just took some pics of each, before and after boning. The end on the right is the one I got first - it's the shank end and has a smaller bone. But, now that I'm looking at things, it seems to be a better marrow bone. The one on the left is the rump end. It has a larger bone, but not so much marrow. Though it's clear that the meat from the rump end is better. Hmm. Egullet is an educational experience. I never would have gotten into this kind of detail before getting here. Stop me before I become even more deranged! The ends cost about $6 each with about 3# of meat. I used to use smoked hocks before the owners of Kohn's smokehouse retired. Hocks that weighed 2-3# and smoked in the European tradition.

Nick, I think that has more to do with who's doing the schucking than how they're caught. Since the divers might be more concerned with overall quality than quantity, they may also pay more attention in shucking. Whichever way they're caught, it depends on caring for what you're doing. On the big boats you can have guys that never went out before shucking for twelve hour shifts. About fifteen years ago a huge scallop bed was found offshore - about thirty miles long as I remember. We had boats coming from the Carolinas that had been into shrimping before they got here. I wonder what those scallops looked like after they were schucked.

Last I knew, there's no way to tell the difference between them. They're all sea scallops. Some are dived and most are dragged. In the drag scallops you get into the difference between big boat and small (day) boat. Big boat is out for 10-14 days with all that that means. As far as the difference between dive scallops and day boat scallops, there's no difference in the scallops as far as quality so long as whoever is doing it cares about what they're doing. Some people get into the environmental considerations of dragging vs. diving. I've got to get to bed, so I'll leave that alone.

"Same Day Dive Scallops...strictly fresh, NOT soaked in fresh water. $60 a gallon (8# gallon)delivered within reason distance. 832-6689, lv. message " Maine Dive Scallops Don't know if he'll ship and I haven't had his scallops (I usually get them free), but he has a good rep. I do them one of two ways - these are fairly large ones. 1) Cut them in half (in height), saute in butter until very lightly browned and serve with lemon slices to drizzle and some parmesan cheese to finely grate over them. 2) Wrap whole large scallops with good bacon secured with a toothpick and broil until done.

FG- Just checked back into this thread. You are right that most restaurant production ovens will keep a fire going in the back of the oven. I was thinking more of bread baking and home ovens when I said the fire would be let to go out. However, here's a quote from Fitzpatrick's that shows what can be done (breadbaking.) " I can fire up the oven the night before and bake without a fire the next morning. If I super saturate the thermal mass of this oven with the heat of several fires Friday and Saturday, I can baked bread without any additional fire all day Sunday and bake the family dinner Monday evening (almost 48 hours later)." As far as emissions from an oven, if they are fired right, with the right wood, I doubt there's a need for a catalytic converter. Of course, when codes are written they don't take the time to investigate this. In all this I can only offer anecdotal "evidence" from having made hardware for the ovens for the last fifteen or twenty years and learning from those who build them. And also, from having designed and built wood burning appliances for about thirty years and, with that, having given quite a lot of thought to the properties of fire and heat, its storage, and transfer. But, I'm on the periphery when it comes to using a commercial oven and would like to hear more from people that have. JD's shown more here than I can offer.

Well, like in the pea soup thread, i don't have anything written down. Start with a dry bean you like. I use Pintos or Kidneys, or most of the time a mixture of both. Pick out any little scraps on bean pod or earth and wash them til they're clean. When you're done washing, take the beans out of the washing bowl by hand. You'll notice that dirt remains in the bowl that would have gone into the cooking if the whole had been poured into the pot. I don't soak beans overnight. I bring them to a boil and let sit a hour. Most of the time I pressure cook the beans for 15-20 minutes (probably too long) with a piece of good smoked bacon end, a little bit of onion, sometimes a tiny bit of garlic, and usually some cumin seed. For the meat, I almost always use chuck. I buy a whole or half chuck at Fulton's shop and cut it into slices about 1# a piece. I don't buy a chuck at Fulton's unless I see a really good one. I put it into 1# pieces because I usually cook a pound of dry beans. One pound of meat to one pound of beans works good. From there on, it's a toss-up. The way I do the most is saute onions, peppers, and garlic in evoo. Take them out and add the cut-up pieces of chuck. I cut the chuck fairly fine as it expands when cooking. Also, after I have the chuck cut up, I sprinkle it with salt, black pepper, and chili powder. Good chili powder. Brown the chuck and then add some tomato sauce and cook a little longer. Can add cut up tomatos if you want. Then put back in the onion, etc. you took out earlier. Cook a little bit and mix around so the flavors get into everything. More spices if you want. Cumin, allspice, oregano (definitely oregano), and whatever. Put the beans and some of their cooking liquid in. Cook until you're happy with it. Add spices as desired ("correct the seasoning".) If it's too thin add masa harina to thicken. Not the most concise recipe. Off the top of my head. Edit: Now everyone can get an idea of my typing skills. When I started this there were no other posts.

FG - It's my belief, rightly or wrongly, that better cooking comes from heat that is being radiated from the walls, roof, and floor of the oven. Also, only my belief, this is best accomplished by having the fire within the oven which heats the surrounding stones or bricks to a fairly high heat and (most of the time) the fire is let to go out and it is the heat radiating from the mass that does the cooking. For more info See here. Jason, you think the New Haven bastards have something up their sleeve, stop in Waldoboro the next time you're going down the coast of Maine. I'll take you to pizza shop right in town. Dude retired after 20 years at Talley Industries (VP) and decided to cook pizza in Waldoboro. Not too bad.

Nick#1's right again. I said boil, he says simmer. Simmer. The main idea is to get some of that salt out of it. Simmer would be better. Maybe with a clove or two and some peppercorns? Edit: And maybe a bayleaf?

kitwilliams recipe is pretty close to mine. I use more garlic and cut the celery (if I put it in) and carrots coarsely. Whole slices from large carrots. I bought a ham end yesterday and was going to take a pic of what a ham end ought to look like for a pea soup. As it turned out, I got the wrong ham end. I'm going, "Fulton, is that all you've got for ham ends?" So he went out back and got another one. Same thing. There was just something that looked wrong, but I didn't realize what it was til I got home. Had a small bone. Lots of meat, but small bone. I'll try again next week. The right ham end has the bone in the center, not offset all the way to one side. It's bigger and you want a good flexible boning knife. I'll try again later, but in the meantime Kit's recipe is about the same as mine. Nothin' fancy.