The darker side is the top of the shell and will not have the scallop attached to it. This will allow you to remove the darker half of the shell without discarding the scallop.
Don’t insert the knife too deeply into the shell or you might damage the scallop. Depending on the size of the shell and scallop, you could insert the knife about an inch (about 2. 5cm) into the shell without cutting the scallop.
To remove the top half, simply pull it upwards and break it apart from the lower half at its hinge.
When doing this, you should scrape the innards off of the muscle using your paring knife or spoon. This can be done easily and in one swipe if you begin scraping at the hinge and follow along the muscle in one clean movement.
You should have no trouble removing the muscle. You can discard the lower half of the shell after removing the scallop.
Sometimes, sand or grit will remain on the scallop but be invisible to the eye. Rubbing the scallop ensures that you are getting all the impurities that might not be visible to you.
Remaining side muscle can be inconspicuous. To determine if what you’re touching is side muscle, examine the scallop and feel for tougher pieces of muscle on the side of the scallop. If these tough pieces also have fibers that run against the grain of the scallop’s muscle, then these are side muscles and can be removed. It is important to remove side muscle because it doesn’t cook well. It will become rubbery when cooked. [11] X Research source
