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Scallops Scalloped

Scallops are baked in shells with a breadcrumb and white sauce mixture, topped with butter.

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 Scalloped

Oven, in the book's wordsA moderate oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a moderate oven”. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Prepare

  1. Wash and drain the scallops.

  2. Chop the scallops finely.

  3. Wash and dry the shells.

Make the filling

  1. Mix the chopped scallops with an equal quantity of breadcrumbs and enough white sauce to bind.

  2. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.

  3. Add the parsley to the mixture.

Fill and bake

  1. Butter the shells thickly.

  2. Sprinkle the shells lightly with breadcrumbs.

  3. Fill the shells with the scallop mixture.

  4. Cover the filled shells lightly with breadcrumbs.

  5. Add 2 or 3 small pieces of butter on top.

  6. Bake in a moderate oven at 350°F (175°C) until well browned.

  7. Serve the scallops in the shells.

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. Scallop + saucetop 10% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together130 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  3. Sauce + buttertop 15% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together15,338 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

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

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

  5. Scallop + buttertop 19% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together160 recipes

    Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).

Sauce and butter barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 15,338 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 filling and sweet, briny flavor.
Breadcrumbs
Absorb moisture and add body, and brown to form a crisp topping.
White sauce
Binds the chopped scallops and breadcrumbs together and keeps the filling moist.
Butter
Adds richness and promotes browning on the shells and topping.

The step that matters

Bake until just browned. Scallop muscle proteins toughen and turn rubbery when overheated, so the filling should be heated through and browned without prolonged baking.

“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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