What’s in season
Scallops
Right now we have some beautiful King Scallops coming up from Looe in Cornwall. With their delicate flavour and firm flesh, scallops are excellent with robust flavours such as chilli or ginger. If you’ve never tried them with chorizo then give them a go. The scallops will absorb the spicy paprika flavour from the chorizo.
When buying scallops always make sure you buy ‘dry’ scallops. Scallops act like a sponge and can increase their weight by as much as 40% when soaked in water, meaning that some companies will do this to increase the weight, and therefore the price, of their scallops. Instead of being nice and crisp with a soft centre, ‘wet’ scallops will go flabby when cooked, much the same as bacon that’s been pumped up with added water. Of course, all the scallops we sell at Bayley & Sage are dry scallops.
Raclette
Raclette, coming from the French word racler, meaning ‘to scrape’, is a firm mountain cheese with a nutty flavour coming from the Jura area of France. Traditionally the cheese would be served by cutting the wheel in half and placing the cut face in front of a fire. As the cheese melted it would be scraped over a bowl of hot potatoes (hence the name) and served with charcuterie and pickles. Nowadays raclette machines which are placed in the middle of the table in the style of a fondue are used to melt the cheese. Of course you can always melt the cheese at home under a grill. Our raclette is washed in local white wine before being matured. We’ll be tasting raclette throughout January so pop in and try some.
We’ve had the weather for it, and now you can have an après-ski party at home!