Seared Scallops With Hot Sauce Beurre Blanc Recipe (2024)

I think the cooking time is very wrong. I have been doing a lot of #12 scallops recently, using Tom Keller's recipe called *Caramelized* -- just means "nicely seared". His recipe uses clarified butter but otherwise is the same. Except he says to cook for THREE minutes on the first side, and two or three on the second. I've found that for PERFECT results, using a HOT cast-iron pan, 3.5 and 3 minutes are perfect. Do NOT move them as they cook!

Quick and beautiful and sublimely delicious. I didn't find it necessary to use all of that butter, though.

I didn't find the cooking time accurate nor did I need to use that much butter (1/2! lb?). As to cooking, depending on size of scallop (and mine were nearly the size shown), it needed to cook twice as long (at least) and I do not like my fish overcooked.

There is plenty of sauce and salsa leftover for other dishes. You can cut back on the oil in a non-stick pan for a better sear

So, why am I giving away « the« secret to cooking scallops?? ..... take it as a tribute, Sam, to your extraordinary leadership of the Cooking pages.Have the pan SEARING hot, no oil or butter, and paint your oil onto the scallop surface with a pastry brush, then place it in the hot pan for about 90 - 120 seconds ..... turn over after brushing a scant layer of oil on the top of the scallops.Crispy, caramelised surfaces every time, with perfectly cooked and moist scallops in the middle.

Cooking for two, I would halve the recipe and follow the other's notes about longer cooking time, but 1/8 cup Crystal sauce --WHOA -- that's way too much. I want to taste the scallops. I used about half a teaspoon, and the sauce was just right.

A taste explosion! A wonderful recipe that I’ve been making a couple times a month. As a main dish for my partner and I, I use just under a pound of scallops and half all the ingredients in the sauce. The salsa is perfect as written. I suggest serving with a good baguette to soak up the sauce, smashed roasted potatoes (mock steak frites) and a baby lettuce/spring greens salad with vinaigrette. I usually have almost a cup of the sauce left over. It’s addictive, so I have no problem using it.

Tasted... okay *shrug*The recipe will make about 4x more sauce and salsa than you'll need, wasting your time and money along the way. A half-pound of butter is absurd for this! And, frankly, it didn't have enough favor to justify the added effort over quick and easy scallop meals. If you're going to try this recipe, my advice is to reduce all ingredients other than the scallops by at least 50%, and sear the scallops for at least one minute extra.

This dish was OK. The hot sauce didn’t seem to compliment the scallops. The salsa didn’t seem to work with the hot sauce. Each item was OK on its own, but just didn’t seem to work together. I would not make this again.

Very good! I didn't realize until I was making this. But it's basically elevated buffalo wing sauce. Nothing wrong with that!

Served it with creamy polenta and sautéed baby greens: baby spinach mustard kale collards chard mix. Crazy good.

Excellent. Make sauce in a second pan to not muddy flavors. Thickened slightly with slurry of cornstarch and half & half

Very good-crowd pleaser. I agree with one of the reviewers, the amount of butter wasn’t necessary; we used about half of that or less. Would make again

My sauce was delicious but didn’t emulsify properly so ended up being melted butter plus spices on the bottom of the pan. Help! I followed all the directions meticulously. Did anyone else have this problem?

Really exceptional. I use NYT cooking almost every day, though I rarely leave comments — I had to for this one. An incredible result for minimal effort. I halved the sauce and salsa recipes and it made a perfect dinner for two with some rice and broccoli rabe. Would love to try this with shrimp and grits!

Makes for a lovely presentation and flavorful. I would use less butter next time. I would say one stick would do the trick.

I am not convinced fresh tender scallops deserve their delicate flavour drowning in hot sauce.

We really enjoyed this. I thought the hot sauce would over power the scallops, but the cool salsa on top and the spicy beurre blanc really worked nicely. I didn't have fennel so used parsley and it was great. Like others I used less than half the amount of butter.

It's very possible that those who think the length of cooking time is not sufficient might be taking their scallops straight from the fridge to the heated pan? I was taught always to have things at room temp before cooking.

So, why am I giving away « the« secret to cooking scallops?? ..... take it as a tribute, Sam, to your extraordinary leadership of the Cooking pages.Have the pan SEARING hot, no oil or butter, and paint your oil onto the scallop surface with a pastry brush, then place it in the hot pan for about 90 - 120 seconds ..... turn over after brushing a scant layer of oil on the top of the scallops.Crispy, caramelised surfaces every time, with perfectly cooked and moist scallops in the middle.

We loved this. I only used one stick of butter instead of two and it still made a beautiful velvety sauce. Also used Tapatio instead of Crystal; substituted parsley and cilantro leaves instead of fennel fronds because it's what I had. Added baby spinach to the sauce til wilted. Excellent addition. Served with a potato cabbage gratin I had leftover. The potato dish helped offset the heat from the sauce. Next time will use less hot sauce (maybe ⅛ c.) and we eat a lot of spicy.

Love this dish. Cut back on the butter significantly (only used a couple pads) and it was amazing