Of course, your fishmonger will open your scallops for you. In fact, they mostly sell just the flesh. But there is seriously nothing better than a FRESH scallop, as we discovered the other day as we went to the market. Most people are simply afraid of what’s inside a scallop and are not sure what to keep and what to throw away, but it’s drop-dead simple, and here’s how you do it…

Hold the scallop shell flat in your left hand (assuming you are right-handed), with the curved side down and the flat side up. If you have a scallop with both halves curved, it’s normally white side down and dark side up! Keep the round edge facing you then insert the end of a round-tipped knife (or a small spoon) in the join to the right of the shell. Work the knife towards you then rotate it a little to open the two halves enough to allow you to wedge the fleshy part of your left thumb in the gap, and keep the shells apart.

Using the dull edge of the knife blade, scrape the inside of the top shell until you feel the two parts of the shells separate (you have simply cut or broken the muscle that was holding the shells together). Discard the top half of the shell then place your left thumb firmly on the scallop muscle. Still holding the knife in your right hand, insert the tip carefully beneath the grey-black mass (the viscera) that’s next to the round, white muscle. Hold the mass gently between the knife and your right thumb, lift it up, and pull it gently towards you. You will feel a layer of skin come cleanly off the scallop muscle, along with the “innards”.

You will now be left with just the edible muscle, though it may be a little gritty with sand, which you can easily rinse off under cold running water. Now you are free to eat them raw from the shell or create any one of a dozen delicious recipes like my favourite, A Trio of Scallops