Serious Eats' How to Sear Scallops

The few times that I tried to cook scallops I never could get them beyond looking pale, limp and soggy. I found the following explanation very interesting. 

Disclaimer:  All of the below is copied and pasted portions (including the photo) of an article from the site Serious Eats. It is written by Managing Culinary Director J. Kenji López-Alt.  Here is a link to the full post: The Food Lab: How to Sear Scallops





The first problem with scallops occurs before you even buy them. Many scallops are treated with sodium tripolyphosphate (STP), a chemical that, while perfectly safe to consume, wreaks havoc on your ability to achieve a proper sear. STP loosens the structure of proteins in scallops, causing them to suck up excess moisture like a sponge—up to 30% of their original weight. 

Dry scallops, on the other hand, are untreated and therefore expel less moisture as they cook. Sure, they're pricier—they have a much shorter shelf life, and their price per pound isn't artificially deflated with excess water weight—but they more than make up for it in superior quality, flavor, and ease of cooking. 

Once you've got yourself the right scallops, your battle is 90% won. But there are still a couple of small obstacles in the way. Even though dry scallops expel far less moisture than wet scallops, they can still throw off a dangerous amount of water as they cook, forcing you to use up precious energy from the pan for the massively inefficient process of evaporation.

My favorite technique is to simply salt the scallops and let them rest on a paper towel–lined plate. The salt draws liquid out of the scallops, and the paper towel wicks it away. Your scallops will be dry to the touch in just about 15 minutes.

We're on the home stretch here—all that's left to do is sear them. You want a pan that is large enough to hold the scallops and leave enough room to allow the moisture to evaporate rapidly. Once the pan is smoking, the scallops go in.

I cook them without moving them until a little peek underneath reveals a deep golden crust. If you've followed all of the drying steps properly, and if you started with a screaming hot pan, you should have no problem crusting up both sides of those scallops on even the most average of home ranges.

Beads by Laura Sparling

I think lampwork beads are so pretty. I once thought about ordering the equipment and supplies and try to learn to make them, but I changed my mind. I got scared that I might accidentally set fire to myself or my home. 

So I've settled for just oooh-ing and aaaaah-ing while looking at beads that others have made. These are made by Laura Sparling.

Wendell's Squash with Chicken and Watercress

Wendell found this recipe a couple of weeks ago in the Dining In and Out section of Wednesday's Star-Advertiser. It was veeeeeery tasty. Not sure if you're supposed to drink the broth, but I did 'cause it was yummy.

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

3 tablespoons minced fresh ginger

4 to 5 cloves garlic, minced

2 to 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch cubes 

1-1/2 cups chicken stock or broth 

8 cups hyotan (green summer squash), cut into 1-inch cubes 

Salt, to taste 

1/4 teaspoon white pepper 

Half-bunch watercress, cut into 1-inch pieces 

3 to 4 green onions, finely chopped

In deep pot, heat oil and saute ginger and garlic about 1 minute. Add chicken and cook until no longer pink. Add stock/broth, hyotan, salt and pepper. Cover and cook over medium heat about 20-25 minutes. Stir in watercress and green onions; cook another 1-2 minutes. Serve over hot rice. Serves 6.

La Tour Caprese Salad

This is a portion of the Caprese Salad that I got from La Tour.  It was $9.90 and went a long way. I had it for lunch, dinner and for lunch again the next day.

Cara Cara Oranges from Costco

Wendell picked up this bag of Cara Cara oranges from Costco for me the other day. He said it was around $7 or $8. The can of beer is there just to show you the size of the bag.



I had a good feeling when I plucked the first orange outta the bag.


And yup . . . it was sweet and very juicy.

Kalua Pig and Green Onion Hash

Here is another dish that Wendell made following a recipe that he saw in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. This one is by Betty Shimabukuro.  Because I'm low-carbing, I only ate half a patty, but it was good.

Kalua Pig and Green Onion Hash 

1 pound russet potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 ounce (2 tablespoons) butter

1 pound kalua pork, cooked, roughly chopped

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup chopped green onion (green part only)

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

1 cup vegetable oil

Cook potatoes in boiling salted water until soft, about 20 minutes. Drain and let dry 10 minutes, then lightly mash. A few small lumps are all right.

Meanwhile, saute onion in butter until soft and light brown, about 5 minutes.

Mix mashed potatoes with cooked onion, kalua pork, egg yolks and green onions. Taste and season with salt and pepper. Form mixture into 8 patties. Press panko onto both sides of each patty.

Heat oil in skillet to 350 degrees. Fry patties until golden brown on both sides, working in batches. Drain on paper towels. Serves 8.

Salty Lemon Drink

This past weekend me and my sisters went to Chinatown to check out the festivities.  Sweetie got this soooo interesting drink from Summer Frappē.  Guess what the stuff on the bottom is.



Preserved lemons!! Did your salivary glands just tighten up?


The drink is called Salty Lemon and it was $3.75. I liked it a lot! 


Summer Frappē is on North Pauahi Street. 

Tofu Salad Sauce

Around 20 years ago, I ate a most wonderful tofu salad at the home of Wendell's friend Steven. It was the sauce that made it so ono. He gave me the recipe at that time, but being the non-cook that I am, I never made it and eventually lost the recipe. 

I emailed Steven a few days ago and he immediately responded with the recipe for the salad. I only had the ingredients for the sauce on hand, but that's all I really wanted to make for now anyway. 

Tofu Salad Sauce

1/4 cup salad oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup shoyu
1/2 cup green onion, finely chopped

Heat oil and add garlic. Heat until garlic browns. (Steven advised me to do this very gently, so I set the burner on low). Turn off heat and discard garlic. Add shoyu and green onion. Cool. 



Here's the rest of Steven's recipe for the salad portion.

Tofu Salad

1 1/2 blocks of tofu
1 medium onion, chopped
1 can salmon or tuna
1 medium tomato, diced

Slice tofu into cubes and lay on platter. Layer chopped onions, tomato and salmon. Refrigerate. Pour sauce over salad and serve.

THANKS STEVEN!!

On the Ground

Crossing the street by my working place I saw this spoon on the ground. I thought it seemed strange to see a spoon on the ground.



When I looked closer I realized that some druggie person musta lost it. I imagined that he musta been bummed when he realized that it was missing. 


But probably not as bummed as the person who lost this purple thing that my sister Didi saw on Beretania. Warning: Enlarge at your own risk. 

Just Tofu

Am I defeating the healthiness/dieting factor of tofu by frying it in oil? I am, yah. But after a month of salads salads salads and tofu tofu tofu, I just gotta. It helps keep me from going beeezerk. If you forget how I fry up tofu, you can check out here. 



This was my lunch a couple of Saturdays ago. I further enhanced the fried tofu with some of that aburage pupu that I told you about, a little bit of taegu, some konbu, pickled radish and nori.