[Sca-cooks] scallops

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius said:

<<< At the risk of overstating the obvious, it might be worth noting  
that
in most of the US, what we actually are getting is the sliced or whole
adductor muscle that has been carefully removed from the shellfish we
know as the scallop. The entire beastie is edible, except for the
shell, and the period recipes are presumably speaking of the whole
animal, as are many recipes from outside the US... >>>

Oh! Duh. It might be obvious to some, but it didn't occur to me until  
seeing Johnnae's message you were replying to and your message that  
there was a connection between the round one inch or 1/2 inch chunks  
of white flesh i was seeing at Sam's and other groceries and the  
stereotypical shell pattern used by the Shell Oil company and even  
the "scalloped" edging around period style pavilions.

I almost asked what animal these round chunks came from. :-(  It also  
makes clear how easily obtained these probably were in period, at  
least if you lived near the seacoast.  I imagine one reason they are  
so expensive now is that easy collection has caused them to be over  
harvested and harder to find now.  I wonder if they can be farmed.

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas           
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
**** See Stefan's Florilegium files at:  http://www.florilegium.org ****