On Radical Eating + Scallop Frill Pasta

Using it all, from bay to belly.

I’ve written a lot about how, as a whole, society is more detached from our food sources than ever. If you’ve read my manifesto on Kid Food¹, you’ll know I was horrified to learn that a huge percentage of children think bacon grows on a plant, that they think food only comes from the grocery store. I’d go so far as to say that over the last few years, I’ve been radicalized into eating with “eyes wide open²” — and even more so, making sure Kiddo and the Warthog do the same. It’s why we started growing vegetables in our garden, why we’ve started purchasing whole animals, why I’ve taken up spearfishing and hunting³ — because I believe it’s so important to have a connection with what and how you eat. Doing so, will force you to eat healthier, more deliciously, and, believe it or not, more frugally. Why wouldn’t you do do?

My friend Case⁴ pondered awhile ago on the right branding for eating like this. A focus on seasonality, on locality — on having a deeper connection to your food. At the time, I couldn’t come up with a great word for it. As Case rightly points out, “local” has a connotation of “inconvenient,” “expensive,” or “hippie.” “Whole animal” maybe feels closer, but precludes fruits and vegetables. “Seasonal” is right, but you can eat seasonally without regard to where your food comes from⁵. Writing this piece, though, I was hit with another way to look at it. I’d propose to call this type of eating “Radical Eating” — where you take full responsibility for what you’re eating, where it comes from, and how it’s prepared. Part of that is making sure you’re aware of all you can do with whatever you are preparing, not just taking it for granted.

As I mentioned last week, we recently got live scallops from Vertical Bay Farms in Belfast, Maine⁶. While I’m more than familiar with working with live oysters and have cooked live clams and mussels before, I’ve never used a whole scallop. After watching this masterclass on scallop shucking a few dozen times, I felt pretty confident in getting to the meat⁷, at least enough to make some risotto. But looking at what was leftover — the shells, of course⁸, but also the frills⁹ — I couldn’t help but think to myself that we’re really wasting a lot here if we throw everything away.

A quick Google search confirmed my suspicions: turns out, everything in a scallop is edible. In fact, in most other countries, especially in France, when scallops are served, they’re served in shell, often with the frill as part of the course. And here we are, throwing away more than 50%¹⁰ of the meat¹¹!

Naturally, upon this revelation, it became paramount that we use the frills in a meal. How could I, in good faith, consider myself a radical cook if we didn’t?

When looking around for recipe inspiration, I found one that used a butter-soy sauce¹² as the base, then tossed in the scallops. We served this while Gma CWD, a notoriously picky eater¹³, was in town, and even she agreed it was delicious.

Let’s give it a shot and do something radical.

---

Prepare your scallops: use a sharp knife to separate the upper portion of the adductor muscle from the shell. Pry the scallop open, and pull away from the adductor the frill, the roe, and the liver in one fell swoop. Cut out the adductor and save for another use¹⁴. Separate the liver — the gray or black part — from the frills and discard¹⁵. Chop the frills and roe into small chunks and reserve.

You should also bring some water to boil for pasta.

In a fairly deep skillet, heat a big ol’ slug of soy sauce until it’s caramelizing, and then add several chunks of butter. Let melt and add the scallop frills. Toss in the al dente pasta, and cook for a few more minutes until the noodles absorb the sauce and scallops are cooked through.

Plate and serve with plenty of parm cheese.

---

There you have it. A radical scallop pasta. Overall, I think this was a pretty solid dish. The scallop frills and roe are reminiscent of mussels — a very similar flavor profile. If you don’t feel like shucking scallops, I’d recommend those. You could also use any combination of tinned seafood — I recommend the ICO collection, or those from Patagonia Provisions — or omit the fish and use whatever protein you like. There are no rules here.

Whatever you choose to eat this weekend, try to use more of it than you normally would. Save your bones for stock. Stockpile the rendered fat from your bacon and store it in a mason jar, then use it to fry potatoes. Compost your veggie trimmings, turn your carrot tops into a pesto, make an omelette with the leftover egg whites from your crème brûlée. Make a concerted effort to do more with whatever you use¹⁶.

1. Follow up, by the way, is in the works. We’re in the midst of Kiddo’s “picky preschool” eating, so we’ve again been spending a lot of mental energy on what she gets to eat each day.

2. The rallying cry of my friends over at North Bridger Bison.

3. Check out Issue 16 of

WARKITCHEN

for my reflections on becoming a hunter.

4. Who inspired by thoughts on a Seasonal Seven.

5. Even if it may be hard and require an intent of ignorance.

6. Technically, we got them through Island Creek Oysters, who was running a special on the live scallops. Vertical Bay typically sells them pre-shucked.

7. And I think I did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself.

8. Which we’ll talk about next week, in collaboration with Gma CWD.

9. Basically everything besides the adductor muscle, which is what we normally eat.

10. Take a look at the photos below to see how the scallops broke down between adductor and frills.

11. This is not strictly true — I’m sure many seafood processors save the frills and package them separately, where they are sold in Asian markets, primarily. I also found out that they are terrific for fish and crab bait — so Papa CWD, maybe next summer we’ll have a little more luck crabbing if we get some scallops first!

(Not that the In-Laws CWD need an excuse to make scallops.)

12. This is a little bit of a full circle for me, as I’ve been making a variation of this pasta for years, without knowing it was an actual recipe, after reading about it in a Haruki Murakami novel (Hear the Wind Sing, I think, or maybe Pinball, 1973). A variation on this recipe was in fact featured here, on this very newsletter, two and a half years ago. Time sure flies, huh.

13. Don’t tell her I said that!!

14. Preferably over risotto.

15. These are technically edible, but not quite delicious from everything I’ve read. Maybe use these for bait.

16. Stay tuned next week for a surprise from Gma CWD on this very topic!