I made scallops a few ago (https://www.reddit.com/r/sousvide/s/ZnieAHXKXF) and there was some debate in the comments about using SV vs just directly into the pan.
This time I made the majority in the SV + pan (123 x 45m), and a couple in the pan alone with the same seasoning – salt pepper chipotle flakes butter, and the SV ones came out WAY better. The texture of the pan only ones was rubbery and tougher and the taste was fishy. The texture of the SV + pan group was tender and the flavor was much better.
The sauce for both was brown butter lemon miso
by quesoconroyale
8 Comments
I’ll have to try this, thanks
Nearly all retail frozen scallops are impossible to brown in a skillet, or a pan as you say, because they are loaded with preservatives. In the fridge, I lay them on paper towels with salt for a little while to draw out moisture. But they still cook fast, like 1-3 minutes, in a hot pan for my fave seafood pasta.
what time and temp did you use?
Thank you for doing this experiment! I love the texture of sous vide shrimp, even when I finish them in the pan, and that’s also a super quick cook that some people insist is a waste of time to sous vide. Have some scallops that I need to make, will absolutely try this. Texture can be complicated, but since it can also make or break a dish, I have no problem doing some hands-off cooking to improve it
Fishy taste that one scallop could have been on the verge of getting bad.
Definitely trying this too. My scallops tend to come out rubbery on the pan, hopefully this’ll make it easy to make good scallops!
🙂
I honestly love the taste of seared scallops on the stove top. I must not be cooking them very long because I love the texture. I must be doing seafood wrong in sousvide because when I think of “good” texture for seafoods it’s always with a good sear in butter. And doing that from raw usually produces a good medium to medium rare centers that I am happy. I think it may be personal preference, best beef is sousvide for sure, but seafood I like the traditional methods. Only thing that may change my mind is for meal prep and storage benefits. Though I am always weary of storing seafood that is not flash frozen.