flipGrilled Tasmanian scallops with butter
Grilled Tasmanian scallops with butter
Why this dish? Tasmania, Elizabeth Blackburn's home island, is renowned for its cold waters and exceptional shellfish. A dish of local scallops is exactly what you'd serve for a memorable meal in Hobart — the sea of childhood on the festive evening plate.
Just-seared scallops, coated with a lemon brown butter, set in their shells. Pearly flesh, slightly sweet-salty, clear marine umami. A few seconds too long of cooking ruins it: it's a dish of precision, like a successful experiment.
In Tasmania, we have the coldest, cleanest sea there is, and you can taste it in the scallop flesh: sweet, almost sugary. The only real danger is overcooking — a few seconds on each side in foaming butter, no more, otherwise they become rubbery and it's ruined. A squeeze of lemon at the end, a pinch of salt, nothing else: a good product doesn't need disguising. When I went back to see the family, it was always a pleasure to rediscover that taste of home.
- •Fresh Tasmanian scallops — a few per person (main ingredient)
- •Butter — a good knob (cooking and sauce)
- •Lemon — one (acidity)
- •Sea salt — a pinch (seasoning)
Grilled Tasmanian scallops with butter
Just-seared scallops, coated with a lemon brown butter, set in their shells. Pearly flesh, slightly sweet-salty, clear marine umami. A few seconds too long of cooking ruins it: it's a dish of precision, like a successful experiment.
Why this dish? Tasmania, Elizabeth Blackburn's home island, is renowned for its cold waters and exceptional shellfish. A dish of local scallops is exactly what you'd serve for a memorable meal in Hobart — the sea of childhood on the festive evening plate.
In Tasmania, we have the coldest, cleanest sea there is, and you can taste it in the scallop flesh: sweet, almost sugary. The only real danger is overcooking — a few seconds on each side in foaming butter, no more, otherwise they become rubbery and it's ruined. A squeeze of lemon at the end, a pinch of salt, nothing else: a good product doesn't need disguising. When I went back to see the family, it was always a pleasure to rediscover that taste of home.
Ingredients (period version)
- Fresh Tasmanian scallops — a few per person (main ingredient)
- Butter — a good knob (cooking and sauce)
- Lemon — one (acidity)
- Sea salt — a pinch (seasoning)
Ingredients
- Fresh scallops (with coral if possible) — 3–4 per person (main ingredient)
- Butter — 40 g (cooking and sauce)
- Lemon — 1/2 (acidity)
- Sea salt and pepper — to taste (seasoning)
- Chopped flat-leaf parsley — 1 tablespoon (freshness (optional))
Method
- Pat scallops dry thoroughly with paper towels: they must be very dry to sear.
- Heat a pan over high heat, melt half the butter until foaming.
- Sear scallops for 1 to 1½ minutes on one side, without moving, until a nice golden crust forms.
- Flip, add remaining butter, and cook for only 30–60 seconds more.
- Deglaze off the heat with a squeeze of lemon, season with salt.
- Arrange in cleaned shells or small warm plates, sprinkle with parsley, serve immediately.
How it was made : Tasmania has harvested its shellfish since the Palawa Aboriginal peoples, great seafood consumers evidenced by huge shell middens. In modern times, Tasmanian aquaculture and fishing (oysters, abalone, scallops) are a local pride. The minimal butter cooking reflects 20th-century Anglo-Australian home cooking, which values product freshness over complex sauces.
The contemporary twist : Serve on a bed of coarse salt to stabilize the shells, and name the dish "Sea Telomeres" — each nut protected by its shell, like the end of a chromosome by its telomerase.
Elizabeth Blackburn · Charactorium
