Cooking (or not) with frozen scallops

[Chris Hennes]

It's very hard (OK, impossible) to get fresh scallops here in Oklahoma. So if I want scallops I either a) fly to the coast or b) buy frozen. Option a requiring more commitment than I am willing to get into for a weeknight dinner, option b it is. I have heard that in the past decade freezing technology has improved dramatically; still, I'm skeptical. What about a ceviche? How do you cook frozen scallops? Has anyone tried them in raw applications? This landlocked cook needs to know!

Edited July 29, 2010 by Chris Hennes (log)

[Fat Guy]

Technology aside, a big change I've noticed has been the willingness of some companies to freeze high-quality dry-pack scallops. The wet/dry pack distinction seems to me to be the major point of quality differentiation in retail scallops. Costco, for example, is selling the dry ones frozen and they're pretty good. Add to that improvements in freezing technology, packaging, shipping, etc., and you can now get results with frozen that would have been unimaginable in the 1990s. Costco frozen scallops are not as good as fresh ones FedExed from Browne Trading in Maine but they're better than what a lot of retailers are selling fresh.

I recently used some Costco frozen scallops in a pasta dish and thought they were nice. That was an application where you go direct from the frozen state into a hot skillet. I also popped one in my mouth raw and it didn't have any off flavors or anything like that. If anything the texture suffers a little from freezing. Ceviche lives in a gray area between raw and cooked because it's chemically "cooked" so I don't know how it would work with frozen. I do know that I've had some pretty good ceviche in places where scallops don't really live.

[Heartsurgeon]

the problem, as you know, is that the flash frozen scallops shed tons of liquid as they cook. You end up with a poached/steam scallop, not a seared scallop.

With the diver's scallops, you can get a nice caramelized crust, with a translucent center that melts in your mouth, with a nutty flavor. Unfortunately, i on't believe you can get the same results with frozen product.

I started out in Indiana cooking frozen scallops, an never got close to the results i can get here in N. Carolina, with fresh scallops.

my favorite scallop recipe is mostly butter (and a small amount of olive oil) in a saute pan, drop the scallops in when the butter starts to brown, let'm sit for 2 minutes, flip'em over, 2 minutes on the other side..done.

deglaze the pan with champagne and lemon juice, add a dash of heavy cream......instant pan sauce..plate licking good.

[roosterchef21]

Scallops freshly grown on the lakes of Siberia.... Mmmm....

Not fresh don't use it. Plenty of other seafood around.

[KarenDW]

I have used frozen scallops on several occasions. Generally, my MO includes defrosting on a rack over a plate, in the refrigerator. Then, treat as fresh. Everything works just fine enough for us

[Pierogi]

the problem, as you know, is that the flash frozen scallops shed tons of liquid as they cook. You end up with a poached/steam scallop, not a seared scallop......

Not necessarily true in my experience. Maybe I just have low expectations, but I got a bag of IQF scallops at Trader Joe's about a year ago, that, once thawed and thoroughly dried (key word...thoroughly), worked as well, if not better, than any of the so-called "fresh" scallops I've purchased that have been pumped full of preservatives and plumping agents. Same deal as with frozen/pseudo "fresh" shrimp....

I was careful to note that the only ingredients on the label of the bag I bought was "scallops". Nothing else. I let them thaw overnight in the fridge, and then drained them on several layers of paper towels. I got 2 meals out of the bag I bought, and both times seared the scallops to a lovely crust, with no excess water. MUCH better than any mega-mart "fresh" scallops I've bought in the past.

Never tried as a raw application, so I can't comment, but if I saw the wild IQF scallops at TJ's again, I'd absolutely buy them in a heartbeat.

[Chris Amirault]

There's a lot of misinformation about scallops out there, and we have a company in New England that really puts the lie to prejudices against freezing. As with high-end sushi fish, the issue isn't freezing but handling after catch, technology on the boat, and chemicals or lack thereof.

Most scallop boats go out for a week or so and use sodium tripolyphosphate to treat the scallops, enabling them to retain more moisture over that long haul and to sit on ice for the long trip back home (or out to get more scallops!). Bomster scallops out of the Connecticut coast (read more here) are flash frozen immediately after catch and not treated with sodium tripolyphosphate.

The difference is remarkable. Bomsters are very rich and sweet, and you can sear them without them giving up all the water the sodium tripolyphosphate forced them to retain. (If you've ever suddenly found your pan full of water with your fresh scallops stewing in it, blame the sodium tripolyphosphate.) All of the high-end restaurants in the area use them by name.

The article I linked to above gives contact information for the company that distributes them. I bet you could get an order shipped overnight to OK.

One last thing. As the grandson of a Gloucester fisherman, I've learned not to fetishize "fresh" absent other sensory factors. Day boats are pretty rare these days, so "just off the boat" may mean "just off the boat where they sat for a week."

Edited July 29, 2010 by Chris Amirault
spelling fix and addition (log)

[ElsieD]

I have cooked previously frozen scallops as well. The trick, as others have noted, is to make sure they are perfectly dry.

[Chris Amirault]

That's only true if they haven't been treated with sodium tripolyphosphate. If they have, no amount of pre-sear drying will prevent the flood.

[Fat Guy]

Beyond just scallops, frozen seafood has improved dramatically in the past decade or so. You'd be surprised how much of what you get in even pretty good restaurants has been frozen.

[AAQuesada]

I've used Hillman IQF scallops on the halfshell raw and they were excellent. The benefit is consistent sizing and nice shells. They were excellent raw.

[budrichard]

A subject near and dear to my heart.

To rate/analyze the cooking of a scallop, one needs to have benchmarks, either fresh in the shell scallop or dayboat from a source such a Browne Trading. I purchase day boat scallops by the gallon can from Browne. When they arrive they are suitable for sashimi applications and simply the best I have ever had. Once in a while I can find scallops in the shell from a reliable source and they are very good but you have to know the source. Taylor Bay can be had in the shell in bags but they are small and we treat them more like an oyster but they are very very good. I have purchased frozen unadulterated scallops from various sources including Mitsuwa and that is what I assume I am eating in any usual sushi bar that serves hotategai. They are good but do not even approach day boat scallops from Browne.

Now we do freeze some of the Browne scallops for up to 6 months, its not flash freezing and the quality is related to the duration of the freeze. But being in the MidWest is like being in Oklahoma. so its the best we can do. I have local sources for scallops such as Bay of Cortez, Nantucket Bay and they can be very good and the purveyors know the difference between 'wet' and 'dry' scallops. Any time I happen to purchase a 'wet' scallop' its a shame because its essentially tasteless.-Dick