Skip to main content
Main

Scallops

Baked scallops in shells topped with breadcrumbs, mustard, cream, butter, and fried parsley.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Pepper and parsley 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 brisk oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a brisk oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Fill the shells

  1. Remove the gills from the scallops and cut the scallops into small pieces.

  2. Place two scallops into each shell.

  3. Sprinkle the breadcrumbs over the scallops and season with salt and pepper.

  4. Add 1 teaspoon of mustard, 1 tablespoon of vinegar, and 1 tablespoon of cream to each shell.

  5. Top each shell with a small lump of butter.

Bake and serve

  1. Bake in a brisk oven at 400°F (200°C) until nicely browned.

  2. Arrange the shells on a hot dish garnished with fried parsley and serve.

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 + parsleytop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together34,122 recipes

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

  2. Mustard + parsleytop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together2,588 recipes

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

  3. Cream + buttertop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together41,516 recipes

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

  4. Pepper + mustardtop 9% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together15,430 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-isopropyl-3-methoxypyrazine (earthy, pea).

  5. Butter + parsleytop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together28,563 recipes

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

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

What each ingredient does

Scallops
Provide the main seafood filling, which turns tender and opaque when gently heated.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb juices and form a crisp, browned topping in the oven.
Butter
Adds fat and richness and helps the topping brown.
Cream
Adds moisture and richness, keeping the filling from drying out.
Made mustard
Adds sharp flavour that balances the richness of the cream and butter.

The step that matters

Bake until just browned. Scallops cook quickly, and prolonged high heat squeezes out moisture and makes the flesh tough and rubbery. Pull the shells once the topping is golden and the scallops are opaque.

Swap the mustard

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (scallop, pepper, cream, butter, parsley):

  1. Potatofits better
  2. Shallotfits better
  3. Spinachfits better
  4. Mustardthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against scallop, pepper, cream, butter, parsley. 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.

You might also like

Cheese ScallopCheese Scallop19 recipesTomato SoupTomato Soup526 recipesBrown BreadBrown Bread461 recipesMutton BrothMutton Broth292 recipes