Scallops are really delicate flavor things and my favorite seafood. We used to get them directly off the boat in Kodiak frozen in 5# muslin bags. For some reason when we sent the girls to do the buying we got a MUCH better deal! They were younger 25 years ago, too!
We have been known to take a bag out of the freezer and pry scallops off as the block thawed and eat them raw dipped in soy and wasabi. Many a 5# block disappeared in an afternoon that way... If I remember correctly at least a few beers disappeared with them.
Seeing as I love them raw the notion of cooking them too much is a problem... I would get the smoker boiling with smoke and no heat and place the raw scallops in a foil boat, nothing anywhere near them to interfer with the flavor. After about 30 minutes in the smoke I would grill them on skewers, very hot and VERY briefly. Dip in sauces for flavor, but the seared surface texture is just amazing! The centers would be essentially raw, very glassy looking. My mother when visiting would not eat them that way... Insisted we burn some for her! :icon_wink:
When doing them in bacon I parboiled the bacon so it would cook very fast on the grill... We like them glassy in the middle, too.
Just dropping a bunch in very hot rosemary garlic butter in a skillet, very briefly does not suck either.
Back in the day the scallops were so big you have to have seen them to believe just how big they were. They were exactly the same taste and texture no matter the size, too. The crew usually kept a stack of the biggest shells and the girls often came home with several to stacks of them for use in cooking. The biggest were often bigger than a large dinner plate.
Clam patties baked on scallop shells were a regular meal item then, too. It all makes me hungry!
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