Skallops (sic)

[DanM]

I found a can of Worthington Skallops at the market the other day. They are a vegetarian version of scallops. Scallops are not kosher, so I am not familiar with any traditional dishes dishes for them. Any thoughts on traditional dishes I can make with this product? I am tempted to wrap them in vegetarian bacon and sear them, but that would be too obvious.

Thanks!

Dan

[Chris Amirault]

Are they just TVP shaped into disks? Most classic scallop dishes rely on the rich flavor and meaty, tender texture of the bivalves, for which TVP isn't exactly known.

I wonder if steamed scallops with tofu and black beans would work....

[Fat Guy]

According to the Vegan Store website, they are TVP, MSG and some other stuff:

Ingredients: Skallops: Textured vegetable protein (wheat gluten, soy protein concentrate, water for hydration). Broth: Water, salt, monosodium glutamate, L-lysine monohydrochloride.

[fairfranco]

This is my first post so I apologise if it's not up to scratch!

My heart sank at the thought of something imitating the beautiful taste and texture of the scallop. Without someone who's eaten scallops commenting on the skallops from experience I'd find it hard to reccomend using them as scallops.

For a simple recipe you can do as you say and wrap streaky bacon/pancetta around them and then fry/griddle or grill. However if you do not eat bacon then that restricts it further. Does the vege bacon contain fat? The fat of the bacon is used to give flavour and aid in the cooking of the scallops when done like that.

You can serve them by themselves with additions such as black pudding, chorizo, pea purre. Also a lot of asian recipes use scallops try a ginger, seasame seed and chilli type sauce.

However it really depends on what the skallops can offer and weather they taste good enough to use.

I would happily eat scallops with nothing but a little seaoning added so maybe you should try like that and see what you think.

[weinoo]

According to the Vegan Store website, they are TVP, MSG and some other stuff:

Ingredients: Skallops: Textured vegetable protein (wheat gluten, soy protein concentrate, water for hydration). Broth: Water, salt, monosodium glutamate, L-lysine monohydrochloride.

I always knew vegetarian food was healthy; I just never realized how healthy it is.

[MSRadell]

I've tried many vegetarian items that were very good but I really don't believe that it would be possible to create anything near the texture and flavor of a real scallop. They may be good in their own sense but....

Because they obviously will be very different than a true scallop I think you're just going to have to play around a little to see how to prepare them. I think that limiting yourself to the same preparation methods used for traditional scallops you may not take full advantage of these Skallops.

[Peter the eater]

So what do they taste like?

I can try just about anything once, but Veggy Skallops doesn't sound promising. When ingredients misrepresent themselves as something they're not, the outcome usually sucks.

The proof is in the pudding.