Day 322 - Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze

I am sorry I keep bragging about our  local Trader Joe’s (Clarendon, VA), but guys, they had an ANNIVERSARY PARTY recently for their 4^th anniversary!  Isn’t that sweet??  They had a raffle for 3 TJ’s bags stuffed with goodies, some samples (HELL-O – a whole candy cane Joe Joe instead of a broken up one like you might normally get at a TJ’s sample station) and they even had MUSIC!  This employee was playing guitar and singing and was great!  TJ’s always has fun music playing over the speakers, but it was cool to have live music while grocery shopping.

Raffle and sample!

This was the "invite" to the party!

And live music!  :)  Thanks TJ's - happy anniversary. We are glad you came to our hood.

Anyway, while we were there for the party, we picked up a box of Scallops Wrapped in Uncured Bacon with Brown Sugar Glaze.  I had been wanting to try them (David not as much as me).  We busted them out around 6:00 pm because we hadn’t eaten lunch but were hitting the road to do a few things and needed something warm in our bellies before taking off.  Just needed something to hold us over until we got back and made “real dinner”.

These could be messy to cook. The instructions say to cook these on a baking tray.  I think that means a cookie sheet looking device that has small sides.  We do not own one of those (and our cupboard is full and messy enough) so my choices were a baking dish or a cookie sheet.  I chose the cookie sheet, but put foil on the oven under it expecting that some bacon fat miiiight roll off.

They come on little skewers, which were a problem for us recently with the Chicken Parmesan Lollipops (to be reviewed soon) but in this case the skewers worked great.  They held the food securely and made for an easy way to eat it.

Aren't they cute???

The box says a serving size is 3 pieces.  There are 10 pieces in the pack.  I am not a math major, but it is gonna be tough to divide these evenly if we follow the serving size recommendation, isn’t it?

Now onto the TASTE.  I like them, they are really good.  The first bite worried me that the scallops might taste a little too “fishy” but all subsequent bites were yummy.  They hold together well – the bacon is a lovely little wrapping. 

While I was baking these I thought, “I bet these would work great as party appetizers”.  Then I wondered to myself, “WHY do I mention “party food” so often in this blog?  We almost never throw parties and are honestly not party guests very often, either.  I must imagine that the rest of the world, all of YOU, are out to or hosting parties 4 nights of the week!  I am living my life vicariously through the fabulous cocktail parties that I imagine you throw for all of your well-dressed friends.  At your next soiree, these bacon scallops would be good to serve.  When you set them out on your fancy crystal platter (that I am imagining) I would plan on each guest eating 4.

These are not as expensive as I would expect (scallops can be pricey sometimes).  I give these a rating of 4.

Now for David’s opinion.  His is less glowing than mine…

It looks like he likes 'em

David:  “Scallops are the tofu of the sea.  They are pretty much flavorless.  They have a delightful texture, but unless you have some kinda SAUCE goin’ on to give them flavor – herbs, spices, something – they are really just sort of Styrofoam wrapped in bacon.

However – the bacon is great!  The overall taste is not bad.  The skewer-age is perfectly designed and the bacon is delicious.  I poured some soy sauce over the scallop (in the inside) and it made it more palatable.  It gave it this thing that I tend to like, I don’t know about you, it is a thing called ‘TASTE’.  (Note:  as if there wasn’t enough sodium already, he goes and adds soy sauce…)  The bacon disguises the fact that the scallop isn’t really pulling its’ weight taste-wise.  I would give these a 3.75.”

There you have it!  I am gonna go with a 4 for the final review, because David also recommends them for a party.  We both think people would say, “Oh fannnncy” when they see these and think you went to a lot of work to skewer each little scallop and wrap it gingerly in bacon.  They will never know that you just opened the package and heated them.  Shhh – I’ll never tell…

Here is a link to TJ's archived article on this product:  Fearless Flyer - Scallops w/ bacon

Price – $6.99

Rating - 4