Continue reading »]]> For the past several years, my extended family has been gathering in [Steinhatchee, FL] during the first weekend of August to partake in our annual [Argopecten irradians concentricus] hunt. Getting the Tober mob all in one location at the same time during a regular holiday is impossible so our scalloping trip is an oportunity to catch up and spend some quality vacation time with everybody.

Sounds fun right? Probably not as exciting as big game hunting in Africa but there are the occasional moments of panic when you grab something slimy in the eel-grass or maybe get harassed by a passing [Remora]. We did hear reports this year of a 4ft Hammer-head shark sighting but those are pretty rare (juvenile sharks of various Gulf species come into the shallows to feed). I think the biggest risk is getting a nasty sunburn or maybe letting one of the little buggers nip your finger (some of the shell edges can be razor sharp).

Since the locals mentioned they hadn’t had much rain all summer, the Gulf decided to kick up a low pressure front and sit it on top of Steinhatchee for the first part of our weekend. We had a steady drizzle all day Friday and most of Saturday with the occasional downpour whenever you thought it would start to clear up. In Steinhatchee, if you can’t fish or scallop the only thing left to do is hang out at the Tiki Bar and drink. Which we did.

In typical vacation weather fashion, it was clear and sunny on Sunday since we had to leave but we managed to sneak in a couple of hours of boating in the morning. Overall we had a great time and we’re looking forward to next year.

Continue reading »]]> What does it take to hunt the wily [Argopecten irradians concentricus], a.k.a the Atlantic Bay Scallop you ask? Surprisingly not much. Snorkel gear, a boat, at least one working arm/hand and something to put your captured scallops in while you swim around looking down on endless acres of eel-grass. Gulf bay scallops can be found in water up to ~10ft deep but with snorkel gear, the best depth is 3-4ft. All it takes is a bend in your waist to drop you low enough to grab the scallop and you aren’t constantly brushing the grass with your body. Anything deeper and it becomes more of a diving expedition rather than snorkeling.

Ok so you’ve got your [limit] of scallops so now what? Well, you gotta shuck the little suckers ’cause these aren’t oysters and I wouldn’t recommend eating them raw (as a general rule, I avoid eating anything that survives in the wild by filter-feeding but some people do eat these guys right off the half-shell). There’s an old saying that goes “if you make an omelet, the chicken is involved. If you make a chicken sandwich, the chicken is committed“. Well it’s the same thing with scallops – they’re committed to your favorite recipe. The process is pretty straight forward:

1. Grab one of your soon-to-be tasty mullusks from the bucket and slip your shucking knife into the right side of the shell at the base. The object here is getting the blade up along the top of the shell so you can cut the muscle attachment. If you do it right, the shell just flips open and you’re left with both halves open in your palm. Most scallops open as soon as you pull them out of the water but sometimes you get a smart one that tries to stay “clamed up”. In this case, setting it on the boat deck in the sun for a minute or two usually convices it to open up at least wide enough to slip your knife in. I think some people go the opposite route and put their un-shucked scallops on ice prior to processing – apparently it forces them all to open but we’ve never had a problem with just letting them sit the deck for a minute or two.
2. Take your knife and run it along the outer edge, scraping the “lip” off each half of the shell. If you do it correctly, you should basically just have a pile of guts free from the shell but still attached to the scallop medallion.
3. Slide the knife along the bottom of the shell with the blade edge resting up against the medallion muscle. Gently scrap/pull the guts up and over the medallion in one clean motion using your knife thumb to help with the pull-over. This is the tricky part and takes a bit of practice to perfect. After a while, you can get the shucking motion down to 3-4 quick movements with the knife.
4. At this point you have two choices depending on how you plan on cooking your scallops – you can leave the medallion attached to the shell or you can cut it free. Either option works as long as you rinse the medallion with fresh water and ice them down prior to transport. We ocassionally keep part of our catch on the half-shell so we can grill them as appetizers during dinner back at the hotel.

Once you have them shucked and cleaned, you can store them in quart freezer bags and keep them frozen for almost as long as you want. Everybody has their [favorite scallop recipe]. The options are endless – this year my cousin Karen tried experimenting with a scallop omlet that apparently turned out pretty well.