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[haele]

2. Well, cooking Scallops properly as part of a complex dish is a test of skill and time-use.

A lot of head chefs use preparing a scallop and pasta with sauce dish or cooking a rare steak dish along with a grauten or rice side as a test of their sous.
Both the Scallops and the steak need to be timed perfectly - within 15 seconds for the scallops on either side - or they end up just mehh at best.

A fish-monger who is also invested in a few local mariscos shops taught me how to sear scallops so that they melt in your mouth with a slight crust to the outside when I asked how to prepare them for my husband's birthday dinner.
Pan temperature and the amount of oil/butter in the pan needs to be exact, any seasoning needs to be on hand and put in just at the right time - and you only have 1 minute each side with a 10 - 30 second window depending on the size of the scallop before you "ruin it" and it starts to dry out. If you don't cook it long enough, it's rubbery. And if you're putting them over pasta, you also have to mange the pasta properly or that goes bad within minutes if you lose track of time attempting to cook the scallop.

I got them perfect twice (making a scallop "salad" meal with the salad finished before I started the scallops) and screwed up the third time when I tried adding pasta to the meal.
It's quite an art.

Haele