Grilled Beer Butter Scallops with Cherry Salsa

12.07.2019 Jackie Dodd-Mallory (Senior Editor) 2 Comments

Grilled Beer Butter Scallops with Cherry Salsa, with a grill or a grill pan!

Let’s talk scallops for a second. I know, I’ve given you this lecture before but it’s been a while. And I can’t just go around assuming you remember everything I say, I forget half of what I say on a daily basis. 

I know the reason your home-cooked scallops don’t taste as good as the ones you buy at a restaurant, and it’s a really easy fix. There are two ways to buy scallops: “wet” and “dry.” A wet scallop with be soaked in a phosphate solution to preserve it. This makes it taste soapy and gives it a bit of a rubbery texture. Unfortunately, the vast majority of scallops sold in US markets are wet. Dry scallops are more expensive, harder to come by, but infinitely tastier.

If you can’t find dry scallops, the best way to treat a wet scallops is a quick brine. If you aren’t sure if your scallops are wet or dry (or your fish guy gives you a vacant stare when you ask) they’re probably wet. Just assume they’re wet unless you know for sure they aren’t. 

Have you ever been cooking scallops, just minding your own business, and they start weeping out a milky liquid like they hate you? That’s the phosphate solution we need to get rid of, the extra step is well worth it. 

You don’t even have to tell anyone that you know the secret. You can just cook the best scallops they’ve ever had and just pretend like it’s your magic shellfish touch. I won’t tell.