Q. “How can you tell if scallops are cooked through without cutting them?” —Grace, Appleton
A. Like most seafood, scallops are very delicate and can be overcooked very quickly if we aren’t careful. There are a couple of ways that we can monitor the doneness of a scallop. One is by observing the amount of shrinkage of the scallop muscle during the cooking process. The combination of heat and time will dictate how fast the muscle of the scallop will retract or shrink. Scallops cook so quickly that I just try to sear both sides and at that point, they meet my standard for doneness. Another thing a cook can do to determine doneness is the touch method. This takes a little more practice and experience, but the further a muscle is cooked, the tougher it will become, and scallops are not an exception. Another method that can be used is to insert an instant-read thermometer to get the internal temperature of the scallop. Most seafood starts to be overcooked beyond 140° F, so once it reaches about 130°, we should remove it from the heat and allow carry-over cooking to take it the rest of the way. The bottom line is to do your best not to overcook scallops.