Coquilles St Jacques - Parisienne or Provencale

[pAitch]

I'm cooking for a group of 20 soon and planning to do Coquille St. Jacques. After looking through dozens of recipes, I'm still torn between the a la Parisienne and Provencale styles. Serving with a crustless asparagus quiche and pea shoot salad.

As a spring event I want the scallops to be somewhat light and fresh. Your comments and suggestions please.

[rotuts]

Always Always a la Parisienne. however, lighter might be better in your case. Still, a la Parisienne is the BEST!

[Dave Hatfield]

100% agree! Parisian every time.

[ChrisZ]

As a spring event I want the scallops to be somewhat light and fresh. Your comments and suggestions please.

At the risk of infuriating traditionalists, I was thinking about how to modernise the Parisienne technique.

The recipes that came up with a simple Google search were generally similar - you cook the scallops separately, then make a sauce with stock, wine, mushrooms & cream that is thickened with a roux. The scallops and sauce are topped with Gruyere cheese and grilled. Some recipes have mashed potato as an accompaniment.

This sounds delicious and the recipes are making my mouth water, but they don't sound 'light and fresh'. So here are some suggestions on a more modern approach:

- Brine the scallops and cook them sous vide. You will get perfectly cooked scallops every time. I use the technique of lining the scallops up in a row and wrapping them in cling film so they look a bit like a sausage, then vacuum bagging them. I've had good results cooking them at 55 degrees C for about 30 minutes. The suggested temperature and time for sous vide scallops vary according to where you look, but I've been happy with that combination. Then pan fry in butter - they will caramelise very quickly. No need to worry about overcooked or undercooked scallops, and brining + sous vide really brings out their flavour too.

- A traditional roux based sauce will be heavier than it has to be, especially if cream is added too. To make it lighter and fresher you want no flour and no cream- same underlying logic as the modernist cuisine 'mac and cheese' recipe. With no flour or cream to mask flavours, I'd add the gruyere to the sauce so the flavour is there but the scallop isn't covered in it. As per the MC 'mac & cheese' recipe, I'd make the sauce by starting with the wine and stock, adding sodium citrate to help emulsify the cheese, and adding the gruyere to the liquid. Iota carrageenan would thicken and add 'mouth feel' if the sauce is too thin.

- Adding the gruyere to the sauce removes a textural element from the dish. You could still sprinkle more Gruyere on top and grill for a traditional look, but I think it's a shame to cover up a gorgeous caramelised scallop. You could add a parmesan crisp on the side instead to add some crunch.

- If you go for the mashed potato option, then you can try using the 'retrograding' technique to help keep them "light and fresh". Retrograding mashed potatoes is usually discussed when referring to a rich potato puree, but I've found that when done with floury potatoes that are gently mashed with a ricer, the resulting mashed potatoes are very light and fluffy.

Just some thoughts off the top of my head - I realise that these may not be the types of suggestions you're looking for. But seriously - the traditional recipe is not exactly 'light and fresh' so I think modernising the Parisienne recipe is an interesting but reasonably simple challenge. I'll have a go myself and I'll post back results and photos!

[Keith_W]

ChrisZ, great post. You have given me many ideas. When I get around to making my Coquilles using your suggestions, I will make a post here to say "thank you".

[pAitch]

Thanks for the resounding vote for a la Parisienne. And ChrisZ, thanks for the good ideas for lightening the dish. I think I may sous vide the scallops. I'm using bay scallops so time and temp should be OK at 55C for 30 minutes. Hoping to get as much prep work done the day before as possible. Parm crisps is a good idea.

[rotuts]

Im sure you know this already, but I did not for a while:

look at each scallop and peel off the thick tendon that may or may not be on some of your scallops. If you look carefully at each you will see it.

if they are the smaller Bay's they still might have it, those will ruin your dish re chewy-ness

Of course , if you have a cat like mine ( see pic Right ) I give them to him

he loves scallops and only gets the tendons.

he sings and purrs at the same time he eats them

no joke!

[Ptipois]

That can no longer be called "à la parisienne". It can be called otherwise. Could be great, but it will be something entirely different.

The roux-based sauce of the original recipe is not "heavier than it has to be" since it has to be the way the recipe originally intended. If you still want to call it a parisienne, that is.

Do whatever you wish to classic preparations, that's perfectly OK, but do not believe that they are "not the way they have to be" because they've been waiting all along for the lights of modernity, or rather modernistity, to shine on them at last.

It's not a matter of what should be done and what should not, it is only a matter of terminology.

Edited May 13, 2012 by Ptipois (log)

[pAitch]

Ptipois, good comments, well put.

I decided to do the classic "a la Parisienne"

and it was just fine with asparagus flan with sauce mousseline and a pea shoot salad.