Breton scallops are dredged in the Bay of Saint-Brieuc from October to April and cooked plainly in Rennes: seared in salted butter, or raw in thin slices with citrus and oil.

The Bay of Saint-Brieuc, an hour and a quarter west along the north Breton coast, is the largest natural scallop bed in France, and the fishery is tightly rationed to protect it: a short season, a small number of licensed boats and dredging windows measured in tens of minutes a day. That scarcity is why Breton scallops sell at a premium and why they arrive in Rennes fresh in the shell rather than frozen. The name comes from the pilgrim shell of Saint James, and the classic gratin preparation baked in the shell with mushrooms and cream is nineteenth-century restaurant cooking. Rennes kitchens now mostly do less to them: a hard sear on one side, brown butter, and nothing much else.

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