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Fried Scallops

Fried scallops coated in bread crumbs and egg, cooked in lard until golden.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Pepper and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 7% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 13,015 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Fried Scallops

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare

  1. Wash the scallops and wipe them dry with a clean cloth.

  2. Beat the egg until the yolk and white are mixed.

Coat and rest

  1. Dip the scallops first into the egg, then into the seasoned bread crumbs.

  2. Lay the scallops on a dish, ensuring they are separated to allow air to dry them.

  3. Let them sit for an hour or more.

Fry and serve

  1. Fry the scallops in boiling lard until golden brown, about 3 minutes, shaking constantly to ensure even cooking.

  2. Drain on a sieve or paper in the oven and serve hot, garnished with parsley and lemon.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Pepper + nutmegtop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together13,015 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4'-methylacetophenone (bitter almond).

  2. Bread + eggtop 13% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together22,662 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e)-2-octenal (fatty, green).

  3. Bread + nutmegtop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together5,997 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  4. Bread + peppertop 16% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together20,964 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).

  5. Egg + nutmegtop 17% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together24,744 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

Egg and nutmeg barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 24,744 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Scallops
Provide the main tender seafood filling that the coating surrounds.
Bread crumbs
Form a crisp, golden coating that browns during frying.
Egg
Acts as a binder so the bread crumbs stick to the scallops.
Lard
Conducts heat for frying and encourages browning of the coating.

The step that matters

Letting the coated scallops rest. Resting the coated scallops in a single layer lets the surface dry, so the coating adheres and crisps rather than steaming or falling off in the hot fat.

Swap the nutmeg

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (scallop, bread, egg, pepper):

  1. Parsleyfits about as well
  2. Nutmegthe original
  3. Tarragonfits less well
  4. Turmericfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against scallop, bread, egg, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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