Catching a Rainbow

Give me my scallop-shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope's true gage,
And thus I'll make my pilgrimage.
The Passionate Man's Pilgrimage
By Sir Walter Raleigh

With that poem we begin one of the most important seasons of the year, not climatic but gastronomic, the Coquilles St Jacques!

It is not unusual for their arrival to attract banner like announcements in the papers, “They have arrived!”
People stop in the street and discuss what the coming season is going to be like, will there be enough, are they going to be more expensive than last year bust most of all when will they arrive.
In this region of Brittany nothing is anticipated quite like the first Coquilles St Jacques of the season and fetes are organised just to celebrate this wonderful harvest from the sea. Watch the Film

The name is so recognisable that it transcends normal language barriers being known as Coquille St Jacque in other tongues apart from French.
Even in Britain the name Coquille St Jacque is more recognisable to most than that of the mundane scallop.
The shell is the archetypal shape for a seashell, and the one most easily recognisable by adults and children alike.

Coquille St Jacque as with other shellfish are not generally popular in Britain, we seem to find mussels, oysters and other shellfish somewhat daunting and yet they are what the British want to eat when they come to Brittany.
It is a sad fact that very few children in Britain will taste the wonderful sweet flavour of fresh Coquilles St Jacques and although the sale of frozen scallops has increased two fold in the past ten years, the availability of good fresh scallops, away from the coasts is still abysmal for a country surrounded by water. As a nation, unlike the French, we have not grown up with shellfish as part of our diet.


Why coquilles St Jacques?


The scallop shell is the traditional emblem of Saint James the Great St Jacques being the French for St James.
It is worn by pilgrims following the pilgrimage to the shrine of St James in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain.

Santiago, which is Spanish for St James, is named after the disciple who went to Galicia to spread Christianity to the people of that region. His connection to scallop shells comes from myth and legend and is derived from two similar stories.

One tells of St James wading out into the sea and rescuing a fallen knight who had become unseated from his horse. When the knight emerged from the water he was covered in scallop shells.
The other story, along similar lines, attests that whilst St. James's remains were being transported to Spain for burial, the horse of a knight fell into the water, and emerged covered scallop shells.

In the year 40 James returned to Judea to continue his ministry, which was not long lived. St James was put to death by King Herod Agrippa in the year 44.
Following his execution the king refused permission for the body to be buried and during the night his friends stole the body and left Judea with it, by boat. They eventually arrived of the Spanish coast and St James was laid to rest in a secret place in a wood.
Centuries later a hermit was sitting in the wood when he saw a strange light shining over the place where James was laid to rest. The hermit named the place, "Campus Stellae", or ‘the field of the star.’ That name later evolved into Compostela and hence to Santiago de Compostella or "St. James in the Field of the Star".
Incidentally the Swedish name for a scallop translates as The Pilgrim Mussel and in Dutch Jakobsschelp, which means ‘James shell.’ The French means Shell of St James.

What are Scallops?


They are bi-valve molluscs, related to the oyster, although scallops have a larger adductor muscle, which is the edible part of the shellfish.
They have the distinction in being the only bi-valve molluscs, which are capable of self-propelled independent movement; which they achieve by rapidly opening and closing their shell thus expelling water at force, and enabling the scallop to move; a natural form of jet propulsion. Scallops use this method to migrate around the seabed their position depending on the season, the tides and the climatic conditions.

Scallops are hermaphroditic, which means they can change sex and it is their sex, which determines if the shell will contain the additional delicacy of the roe or not. A red roe indicates a female scallop; white for male, and it is usually only the bright red or orange roe of the female scallop, which is eaten.
The flesh of a scallop is firm with a delicate sweet flavour. The row has a much softer texture and is less popular owing to its softness.


Fishing for Scallops







Scallops are traditionally caught by dragging the seabed with a specially designed metal drag net, or dredger. There is however, a market for dived scallops, which are hand selected and usually larger than the fished varieties.
There are two main areas of scallop fishing in Northern France, The bay of the Seine, in Normandy, and the Bay of St-Brieuc in Brittany.
The rights to the fishing grounds are fiercely protected and fishing for scallops is restricted by a great many statutes.

The size and number of dredgers permitted per boat is also controlled. They must not be wider than two metres and have a metal net of interlocking rings fitted whose diameter must be greater than ten centimetres, thus allowing smaller specimens to fall through the net and be returned to the sea bed unharmed.
Large boats can drag up to thirty dredgers at a time, but in the Bay of St Brieuc the maximum number permitted is two per boat.

The time permitted for fishing is also strictly controlled and any breach of the regulations results in the fisherman’s licence being revoked and hence his livelihood.
The boats are limited to no more than 13m in length with engines no bigger than 250 hp. They are only allowed to fish twice a week and for no more than 45 minutes at each session. They are only allowed to catch 250 Kg of scallops per fisherman on board regardless of how long it takes to catch them.
The opening of scallops on board is forbidden as is the taking of undersized specimens and the scallops must be no smaller than 102mm in diameter.
The open season for scallops is between October and May; the exact date varies from year to year. Diving for scallops is permitted all year round in the waters surrounding Jersey.

How to open and clean a scallop

1. To open a scallop, Hold the curved side up and hinge away from you

2. Insert an oyster knife between the two shells and rock the knife from sided to side to break the muscle that form the hinge. You can tell the scallop is alive for as you cut the hinge the two half’s of the shell try to close and this is an indication of freshness. Scallops should always be bought live.

3. Insert the knife or a spoon between the top and bottom shells from the right side, just in front of the hinge, and cut the muscle away from the inside of the top shell (the curved one) this release the top shell.
4. Open the scallop and discard the top shell.
5. Then scrape off and discard all of the innards except the sweet, white muscle.
6. Do this by gently scraping off the dark innards, starting from the hinge side of the muscle and scraping over the muscle towards the front. You can always pull any bits free with your fingers

7. Properly done, this will peel the innards from the muscle, leaving it attached to the bottom shell.

Cooking

Scallops have a delicate sweet flavour which can easily be overpowered by strong spices and seasoning.
As with much seafood the simplest methods of cooking are often the best and scallops are no exception.
My favourite method of cooking and one, which only takes a few minutes, is to heat a pan, preferably non-stick with a tablespoon of oil until hot, but not smoking. This will take few minutes but is very important when cooking scallops.




· Open the scallops as above, discard the waste and remove the white scallop meat. Carefully dry the cleaned scallops with a cloth, as any additional liquid will cool the pan the scallops will not seal but boil in their own juice.
· Add the scallops and cook for about a minute on each side. Very large scallops can be cut in half.
· When cooked place the scallops on a warmed serving plate.
· Add a good sized lump of butter to the pan and when it has melted and begun to foam and a thimble full of Noilly Prat, give the pan a quick shake and pour the butter over the scallops.
· Grind on some black pepper and a sprinkle of fine Guérande sea salt.
· Serve with a green salad, and fresh bread.
· Sublime with a fruity Muscadet, but not one that is too dry.



References and Acknowledgements.
http://www.sud-goelo.info/
http://www.ouest-france.fr/dossiershtm/coquille/30.htm
http://www.ifremer.fr/envlit/pdf/actualitespdf/20041207Coquille_Saint_Jacques_Bretagne.pdf
http://www.eurofish.dk/indexSub.php?id=3255
http://www.red2000.com/spain/santiago/
An Illustrated Guide to Cleaning A Scallop
by Charlie Courtney