Scallops

Buy dry-packed sea scallops, not wet-packed. Wet ones are soaked in a phosphate solution (look for "sodium tripolyphosphate" or "STPP" on the label) that pumps them with water and makes a real sear impossible. Dry scallops look ivory or slightly pink, smell sweet like the ocean, and aren't sitting in milky liquid. U10–U20 (that's the count per pound — we're going for fewer, bigger scallops) are the sweet spot for searing. Before cooking, peel off the little rectangular side muscle if it's still attached, then pat them bone dry between paper towels (pressing, not wiping) right before they hit the pan. Scallops are highly perishable, so cook them within a day or two and store them on ice in the coldest part of the fridge until then.

Scallops are the fastest expensive thing you'll ever cook. A good sear takes about two minutes a side and the only real way to ruin them is to rush the pan. You actually have more time than you think on the first side, so leave them alone; it's the panicked early flip that wrecks them. The crust comes from dry surface meeting screaming-hot metal, so if your scallops come out pale and steamed instead of golden, the pan was too cool or the scallops were too wet almost every time. Below you'll find sear, grill, broil, and roast times, but searing is where these shine.

Scallops are technically done at 130°F, but almost nobody uses a thermometer, they're too small and cook too fast. Cook by sight and feel instead: done scallops are opaque on the outside with a barely translucent center, and they feel like the flesh at the base of your thumb when you touch your index finger to it. Here's the move that matters most: pull them while the center still looks slightly underdone, because they go from perfect to rubbery in about 30 seconds and carryover heat finishes them on the plate. If you wait until they look fully cooked in the pan, you've already overshot.