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Scallops

Scallops stuffed in shells with breadcrumb mixture, baked until browned.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 7 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and pepper match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 2% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 34,122 recipes. Both carry 4'-methylacetophenone, which smells bitter almond. The science ↓

Scallops

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Open the scallops and remove the beards and black portions, keeping only the yellow and white parts.

  2. Wash and drain the scallop meat, then mince it.

  3. Mix the minced scallop meat with the bread crumbs, parsley, pepper, and salt.

  4. Clean the scallop shells and butter the insides generously.

Bake and serve

  1. Fill each shell with the scallop mixture, top with more bread crumbs, and dot with butter.

  2. Bake in a hot oven (400°F/200°C) until browned and heated through, about 15-20 minutes.

  3. Serve hot in the shells with vinegar.

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. Parsley + peppertop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Bread + buttertop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together27,232 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-decalactone (sweet, creamy).

  3. Parsley + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: trans-2-hexenal (green, leafy).

  4. Bread + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together8,588 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

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

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

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

What each ingredient does

Scallops
Provide the main filling, and their moisture and sweet flavour cook into the mixture.
Bread crumbs
Absorb moisture from the scallops and form a light, binding texture, with crumbs on top for browning.
Butter
Adds fat that helps the topping brown and enriches the filling.

The step that matters

Baking until browned and heated through. Scallop meat cooks quickly and turns rubbery if overcooked, while the crumb topping needs enough heat to brown. Watching the colour and heating the filling through balances both.

“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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