live scallop with asparagus

I went grocery shopping at my Asian grocery sector today. It may be one of the longest period I have not shop for Asian Grocery in recent years. The reason is my venture out of my culinary comfort zones. Lately I have been cooking Western food more and most recently Mexican. What I miss most are the Asian vegetables. They are cheap, versatile, and delicious. I also prefer the cuts of meat that you cannot find in the supermarkets, or even the old fashion butchers.


Today after shopping at An Dong for the usual fare I drop by one of my two fish mongers to see what it has. I was hoping to find live sea fish, or better yet live eels. Actually I would love to get a eel. The sad truth is eels has became so caveted in many countries that I may never see them again at my Asian fish mongers. The majority of baby eels caught in the US are now sold for a fortune to China which in turn raise them in farms to adulthood. Adult eels are then exported all over the world including Japan for huge profits. Unless you spend a lot of money for sushi in North America the chance is the eels you eat is precooked from China. Most people has no idea. It is the sign of the time.
mystery of the eels on Nature

Watch The Mystery of Eels on PBS. See more from Nature.

My fish monger has the usual fares. I was looking for something that I don't often come across. While she has the live big Pacific pink shrimps I am not that crazy about them. I prefer the small spotted shirmps (also called sesame shrimps). I spoted the live scallops. Live scallops is quite rare and you want to snap them up whenever you see them. I hand picked three. One is so huge that I just have to have it. I have written a post in the past about live scallop. Once you tasted the whole live scallop you know how wasteful with the fresh scallops that we buy. The entire scallop except the sac is edible and each part taste very different. Just a few days ago Julia Child's show she has a guest chef from Chicago showing preparing whole live scallops. He used a ton of butter and I think mine is better.

this is the largest live scallop i've ever bought - it is so large my clam knife cannot reach the scallop so i used my boning knife to shuck it

the black sac is the only part that is not edibl

 just one scallop for a delicious meal