1. First, make sure shells are firmly closed with only a slight gap; this indicates scallops are fresh and safe to eat.
2. Put on a board, flat side up. Use a blunt knife, or an oyster shucking knife, and grip shell with a tea-towel to protect your hand. Insert knife sideways into hinge of shell and prise it open. Working around the shell. It will take a bit of effort.
3. Turn shell over and run a flexible fish filleting or boning knife inside along the flat bottom, to release muscle from shell.
4. Turn over and lift off flat shell. Use a spoon to prise scallop from shell.
5. Pull off black/brown membrane, stomach sac and any other excess waste, leaving white meat and orange coral. Remove and trim the coral, this can be discarded or cooked depending on preference. Pat scallop and coral thoroughly dry.
6. To cook, heat a frying pan on high heat with olive oil and butter. Put the scallops in the pan one by one, like a clock face, so they can be turned in the right order and ensure even cooking.
7. Cook for about 1min or so, until golden, then turn in order and cook the same on the other side. If using the coral, add for the last 30 seconds of cooking, along with a squeeze of lemon. Serve immediately.
Use your new cookery skills with these triple-tested recipes:
Scallops with mango salad recipe
Scallops with sweet and sour cucumber and pickled ginger recipe
Mediterranean seafood recipe
Pro filleting knife, Zwilling J.A. Henckels. Easy induction frying pan (24cm), Kuhn Rikon UK. White ceramic bistro plate, Sophie Conran. Cranked palette knife, serving board, oil pourer, oyster knife, chef’s own.
An experienced and highly skilled team of food writers, stylists and digital content producers, the Good Housekeeping Cookery Team is a close-knit squad of food obsessives. Cookery Editor Emma Franklin is our resident chilli obsessive and barbecue expert, who spends an inordinate amount of time on holidays poking round the local supermarkets seeking out new and exciting foods. Senior Cookery Writer Alice Shields is a former pastry chef and baking fanatic who loves making bread and would have peanut butter with everything if she could. Her favourite carb is pasta, and our vibrant green spaghetti is her weeknight go-to. Lover of all things savoury, Senior Cookery Writer Grace Evans can be found eating crispy corn and nocellara olives at every opportunity, and will take the cheeseboard over dessert any time (though she cannot resist a slice of tres leches cake). With a wealth of professional kitchen know-how, culinary training and years of experience between them, they are all dedicated to ensuring every Good Housekeeping recipe is the best it can be, so you can trust they’ll work (and if they don’t – we’ll have the answer for why*) every time (*90% of the time the answer is: “buy an separate oven thermometer”!).
