Solving The Mystery Of How To Cook Shrimp

Tonight we went to Dayboat Cafe in Irvington New York for dinner. It's a New England Style seafood restaurant featuring fresh fish, shellfish and chowders. The raw littlenecks were super fresh, fried oysters were plump and juicy and better than many I've had in New Orleans. Lobster Pot Pie was chock full of lobster meat. Overall a great find. However, the scallops were slightly overcooked; which had me thinking about how rarely I order shrimp and scallops at restaurants and how easy they both are to over cook. There is a fine line between succulent and "rubber ball" resembling the ones that we played with as kids during a game of jacks. But a little attention to details and the ability to make perfect shrimp and scallops is demystified! Anyone can make really succulent shrimp and scallops and it baffles me as to why chefs have so much trouble with them.

Shrimp are really easy...you just have to remember the "C" for "cooked" and "O" for "overcooked" rule. A shrimp's shape gives away it's level of doneness every single time. And this is a foolproof method. When a shrimp first turns pink when you are cooking it, begin to pay careful attention to it's shape. When it curves into a "C" shape the shrimp is done. Take it out of the frying pan or sauce pan right away. If you let the shrimp turn into an "O" shape" or pretty much curl into itself then it's "overcooked" and you've just produced a rubber ball.

Scallops are not quite as easy and take a little more technique because it requires you to know a little about texture (it's trial and error). When you sear a scallop to a golden brown on the first side, flip it and after a minute start to lightly push the center. If the center is soft, wait about 30 seconds and then take the scallop out of the pan. Ultimately you want to make sure that when you touch the center it doesn't bounce back. If it does the scallop is overcooked. Remember the 2nd side always cooks much faster than the first side.