[perfect_rovian_storm]

Properly pan frying scallops is an art form. Trying to put up a ‘recipe’ for people to follow for such a thing is probably going to result in a folks trying it, failing, and then blaming you for it.

[eleni121]

You are right-—Monk Epifanios taught me the best way—— which is to heat the olive oil until it is just smoking and then adding the seafood in this case scallops.

Then immediately turn heat down by half to medium.

The lemon (real - not the reconstituted stuff) goes on right before it is done cooking...does not take long.

I would add that dusting the scallops with a hint of flour helps protect them...and thickens the lemon sauce a bit.

[freepdawg]

I pan fry scallops frequently. I simply use salt and black ground pepper to season. You may use other condiments, but I’d avoid garlic in this approach as the garlic will burn.

My approach is as follows:

1) Put about an eighth inch of any oil that can handle high heat (like Safflower or Canola) in a good quality steel fry pan (one with a thick bottom). Heat to medium low.
2) Split a couple Habanero in half and scrap out seeds. (Best to not touch peppers with your hands. Use a pair of tongs to handle the peppers.)
3) Put peppers in pan and let them sizzle around for 10 minutes to infuse oil with the pepper. TURN ON YOUR EXHAUST FAN AND PREFERABLY OPEN DOORS AND WINDOWS!! GET READY TO COUGH. Not a bad idea to cover the pan, but not critical.
4) Discard peppers.
5) Turn heat to high.
6) After a few minutes, add scallops. Flip them after a few minutes (before they burn black, but its OK for them to burn brown), What you are actually doing is caramelizing them. USE A SPLATTER SCREEN. MY HOTTEST BURNER IS 16,OOO BTUS. If yours is more, your cook time will be less and/or you may want to back the heat off high some. BE CAREFUL NOT TO SPLASH OIL AS IT MAY CATCH ON FIRE!!!
7) Brown on other side for a couple minutes.

The key to this is using a liberal amount of oil. You are not deep frying the scallops, but you are frying them for sure. Second key is heat and time. You need enough heat to cook the scallops fast AND to get them “crusty” on the outside without over-cooking them on the inside.

May take you a few times, but this is restaurant quality stuff if you like spicy food!!

[ExTexasRedhead]

Emeril dusts his scallops with sugar before pan searing them. Scallops are awesome with tequila lime cream sauce.