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Scallops, Fried

Fried scallops coated in a butter‑flour batter and served with sauce.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 10 ingredients
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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, Fried

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the batter

  1. Drain the scallops on a cloth.

  2. Sift the flour into a bowl and add a pinch of salt.

  3. Melt the butter, beat the egg, and stir both into the flour.

  4. Add the milk and mix until smooth. If too thick, add more melted butter or milk.

  5. Let the batter stand for about an hour, then stir in the chopped parsley.

Fry and serve

  1. Season the scallops with salt, white pepper, and cayenne.

  2. Dip the scallops into the batter and drop them one by one into hot fat.

  3. Fry until golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes, then drain on a cloth.

  4. Pile the scallops on a hot dish, garnish with fried parsley, and serve with lobster or tomato sauce.

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. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  4. Flour + parsleytop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together16,675 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. White pepper + parsleytop 14% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together1,451 recipes

    Shared aroma: myrcene (balsamic, herbaceous).

Butter and flour barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 124,287 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
The main ingredient, which is coated in batter and fried until golden.
Egg
Binds the batter and adds structure as it sets in the hot fat.
Butter
Adds richness and flavour to the batter and helps it brown when fried.
Flour
Forms the body of the batter, giving it structure so it coats the scallops.
Milk
Loosens the flour and egg into a smooth batter that clings to the scallops.

The step that matters

Fry until golden brown, about 5 to 6 minutes. Fry in hot fat so the batter sets and browns quickly before the scallops overcook. Frying too cold makes the batter greasy, while too long a fry dries and toughens the scallops.

Swap the white pepper

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

  1. Nutmegfits better
  2. Tarragonfits better
  3. Capersfits better
  4. White pepperthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against scallop, egg, butter, flour, milk, pepper, 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.

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