Friday, February 26, 2010
The Great Scallop Taste Mystery
You, like me, may be reluctant to order scallops went you’re out to eat. You remember great tasting scallops you once had long ago, but since then the taste has been off or even just plain bad. You’ve wondered to yourself, “Is this the way scallops taste now or should I send this dish back?”
On every seasonal menu since Za Restaurant opened in 2006, we have featured a seared, fresh day-boat scallop dish. On the current menu we offer Coconut Snow Scallops.
Did you know New Jersey’s deep ocean waters offer some of the world’s best scallops? They have been large, plentiful and sustainable for decades, a species named Placopecten magellanicus.
You’ll find scallops on many East Coast menus, but all scallops are not the same. The primary differences are ocean and bay; fresh and frozen; and day-boat (dry) and preserved (wet).
Ocean scallops are larger then bay scallops. They can be both tender and tasty if they are neither frozen nor preserved. Bite sized, bay scallops lack the flaky texture and meaty month feel of their deep water sibling.
Though frozen scallops may be of excellent quality, mishandling, especially in during the thawing process serves up an inferior morsel.
But my wrath is saved for those processed scallops that are preserved (soaked) with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP), in order to keep their moisture content high during processing and shipping. But, unfortunately, this treatment leaves an offensive side effect.
Have you ever had scallops that taste soapy or like iodine? Then you’ve had preserved (wet) scallops. Buying fresh scallops? If they’re as white as a toothpaste model’s smile and swimming in liquid, they’re probably preserved.
Here’s the problem, many places play the game of passing off preserved scallops as day-boat scallops.
This switch can happen at the fish market, wholesale distributor, at a local restaurant or restaurant chain. It’s been going on for years. The reason is cost and availability.
I admit to being wary of ordering scallops, especially when the price is out of whack with what a true, fresh, unpreserved day-boat scallop should cost.
Here’s why they call them day-boat and why they cost more: Simply put, they haven’t been on the boat for more than a day.
Day-boats are the last scallops caught before the scallop boat returns to port. Then, they are packed dry, no preservatives, and delivered fresh to the wholesaler.
True day-boat scallops can’t travel far and they won’t last long. So, we order only what we know we can sell quickly and we’re fortunate to be just hours from the Jersey scallop boats.
At Za, we test each delivery of day-boat scallops to make sure they’re just that. We know, just by how they cook, if they have been treated with STP.
Diners at Za have asked how long we will have these wonderful fruits of the sea on our menu. The answer is as long as we can assure we have the real thing.
Mystery solved. We hope you’ll come and give real scallops a second chance.
Chef Mark Valenza, FCI
On every seasonal menu since Za Restaurant opened in 2006, we have featured a seared, fresh day-boat scallop dish. On the current menu we offer Coconut Snow Scallops.
Did you know New Jersey’s deep ocean waters offer some of the world’s best scallops? They have been large, plentiful and sustainable for decades, a species named Placopecten magellanicus.
You’ll find scallops on many East Coast menus, but all scallops are not the same. The primary differences are ocean and bay; fresh and frozen; and day-boat (dry) and preserved (wet).
Ocean scallops are larger then bay scallops. They can be both tender and tasty if they are neither frozen nor preserved. Bite sized, bay scallops lack the flaky texture and meaty month feel of their deep water sibling.
Though frozen scallops may be of excellent quality, mishandling, especially in during the thawing process serves up an inferior morsel.
But my wrath is saved for those processed scallops that are preserved (soaked) with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP), in order to keep their moisture content high during processing and shipping. But, unfortunately, this treatment leaves an offensive side effect.
Have you ever had scallops that taste soapy or like iodine? Then you’ve had preserved (wet) scallops. Buying fresh scallops? If they’re as white as a toothpaste model’s smile and swimming in liquid, they’re probably preserved.
Here’s the problem, many places play the game of passing off preserved scallops as day-boat scallops.
This switch can happen at the fish market, wholesale distributor, at a local restaurant or restaurant chain. It’s been going on for years. The reason is cost and availability.
I admit to being wary of ordering scallops, especially when the price is out of whack with what a true, fresh, unpreserved day-boat scallop should cost.
Here’s why they call them day-boat and why they cost more: Simply put, they haven’t been on the boat for more than a day.
Day-boats are the last scallops caught before the scallop boat returns to port. Then, they are packed dry, no preservatives, and delivered fresh to the wholesaler.
True day-boat scallops can’t travel far and they won’t last long. So, we order only what we know we can sell quickly and we’re fortunate to be just hours from the Jersey scallop boats.
At Za, we test each delivery of day-boat scallops to make sure they’re just that. We know, just by how they cook, if they have been treated with STP.
Diners at Za have asked how long we will have these wonderful fruits of the sea on our menu. The answer is as long as we can assure we have the real thing.
Mystery solved. We hope you’ll come and give real scallops a second chance.
Chef Mark Valenza, FCI
Posted by Za Restaurant, Pennington NJ at 9:45 PM 0 Comments