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18 October 2024 · Mazda Stories

Tassie Scallop Fiesta

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​The eyes have it for Tassie scallop fiesta

By Alex Inwood

They’re tasty and impossibly fresh but how much do you really know about Tassie scallops? We head to Bridport’s annual scallop festival to learn, eat and laugh
 

It’s always a creepy sensation, that moment when you suddenly realise you’re being watched, particularly if it’s by a beast with 40 eyes.

“Oh they have way more than 40 eyes,” says the fisherman conspiratorially, as he leans forward to grab a huge, live scallop in front of us. “You see these little black dots? Each one is an eye!”

Staring at me, through the slightly ajar opening of its perfect white and orange shell, are what appear to be hundreds of beady black peepers. I feel as though they’re looking into my very soul.

“They can swim, too, and they even do donuts,” adds the fisherman fondly, clearly missing the growing shock on my face. “They live for about eight years.” Well, they do if we don’t eat them first.

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As educations go, my introduction to the world of Tasmanian scallops, which are some of the freshest and sweetest you can ever eat, has been rapid and now, quite literally, eye opening. And if ever there was a place to learn about these tiny and tasty sea creatures, this is it.

We’ve brought our Mazda CX-5 all the way from Melbourne to Bridport, a small and eye-poppingly beautiful seaside village in Tassie’s north east, and around us the noise, colours and tantalising smells of the seventh annual Scallop Fiesta are in full swing.

Bridport is Tasmania’s scallop capital – around 40 percent of the state’s quota is caught here – and the fiesta doesn’t only mark the ceremonial start to the fishing season, it’s become a key tourist attraction.

“Bridport is a town by the sea and it’s very popular in summer and Easter, but in winter it can be a bit quiet,” says Tony Scott, the director of the fiesta. “So our goal was to attract tourists and boost the economy a bit.”

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On that front, we’d say the fiesta is a roaring success. More than 2000 seafood lovers have bought tickets and the mood inside the gates is infectious. Smoke blooms from the chimneys of food trucks, a gaggle of grannies perform a tightly choreographed dance to the thumping tunes of Led Zeppelin, and people laugh and chat as they drink and eat. There’s even a gigantic scallop throne emblazoned with the words “come out of your shell!” And live cooking demonstrations by renowned chefs, like Masterchef 2024 runner up Josh ‘Pezza’ Perry, a Tassie local.

And then there’s the food. Scallop pies, scallops and chips, curried scallops, scallop pasta, buttered gnocchi, local beer, local spirits, cakes… the choices are endless. We start with a pair of scallop kebabs, which are juicy, salty and delicious, but to fully appreciate the world of Tassie scallops, we need to do more than simply eat them. We have to go to the source – the biggest scallop-splitting factory in all of Tasmania. “And probably the known universe!” adds Tony with a flourish.

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The factory is only a stone’s throw away, but our journey starts several hours earlier when, bleary-eyed, we drive off the gleaming Spirit of Tasmania in Devonport. The voyage from the Spirit’s new home in Geelong had been a breeze (secretly I’d be hoping for big seas but Poseidon had only served up a meagre two-metre swell) and our Mazda CX-5, which is painted in the unique golden hue of Zircon Sand, is an instant hit with the staff helping us to disembark.

“Love the colour,” one remarks.

“Yeah, looks really sharp!” adds another. “Is this the new model?”

It’s raining in Devonport - stop the presses - but we have plenty of time for the weather to clear up. Bridport is a glorious two-hour drive away, so with a coffee in hand and the heated seats cranked, we head into the morning gloom.

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All of Tasmania is driving nirvana (pretty much every road could be a tarmac rally stage) but the section just out of Devonport and through Harford is especially great. It twists, turns and plunges through the rain-soaked countryside and serves as a reminder that the CX-5 is still one of the best handling family SUVs you can buy.

Recently updated for 2024 with fresh exterior styling, new equipment and touchscreen functionality, our top-spec Akera Turbo petrol is an absolute hoot in these slippery conditions, thanks to its beautifully weighted steering, excellent body control and rock-solid grip and confidence.

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In fact, it’s so fun and absorbing that it’s a shock when we burst, suddenly, onto the scene at Bridport. The scallop fiesta is already pumping by the seaside but we drive straight past it and pull into the bustling carpark of Allan Barnett Fishing Co, a third-generation family business that now goes by the name of Superfresh Scallops.

We’re greeted by Jacob, known affectionately by his mates as ‘Nug’, who hands us some heavy gum boots and a hairnet before waving us towards the splitting line. Whatever I was expecting Tasmania’s biggest splitting factory to be like, this isn’t it. It smells strongly of seafood in here, in the best, freshest way possible, and it’s a hive of activity.

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Throughout the season, which usually runs between July and December, nearly 100,000 tonnes of scallops will pass through here, each needing to be shucked or ‘split’ by hand. Nug has married into the family business – the company was started by his wife Alanna’s grandfather in the 1960s – and after showing us the huge cool room, which is rammed with gigantic crates of fresh, wild-caught scallops, he gives us a demonstration on how to split one.

Splitting knife in hand, Nug deftly inserts the tip then twists to expose the scallop’s insides, which are far grizzlier than I was expecting. Perhaps naively, I assumed the plump and amazingly tasty white flesh grew mostly on its own inside the shell, but there’s loads more to the humble scallop than the part we eat.

This ring around the outside is the eyes, and then there’s the brain and guts, too,” laughs Nug.

With another twist, then a flick, he separates the white meat and its glistening, almost pulsing, bright orange roe and drops it into a bucket. It’s a process repeated thousands of times by the workers around us (Superfresh employs 60 people) and on a good day the fastest splitters will shuck around 70kg of scallop meat. Given each scallop weighs about 15g, that’s an incredible 4662 scallops per day.

Little wonder we see so many of the same workers lining up at the fiesta later that day for the hugely hyped ‘splitting race’, which is the crescendo of the whole event. Racers can win serious cash prizes, not to mention the glory of being the fastest splitter in the south, and the competition is intense. The crowd gets right into it, too, and they don’t only cheer and jeer but wave handwritten signs of support. It could be Tasmania’s Olympic event.

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So what exactly makes Tassie scallops so unique? Well, aside from supporting an entire industry – Bridport used to have around 150 small scallop boats before the industry shrunk dramatically in the ’90s due to overfishing – Tassie’s cold and clean waters produce scallops renowned for their high quality, sweet flavour and, of course, their bright orange roe.

Also known as the ‘coral’, the roe is the reproductive organ of the scallop and it has an intense, briny flavour. Most people cut it off – warmer waters can turn it an unpleasant brown colour – but down here in Tassie, it’s an unspoken rule, nay a hard-and-fast law, that you must leave the roe on.

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“We had a celebrity chef doing a cooking presentation one year and the first thing they did was cut the roe off,” Tony tells us with a wince. “The entire fiesta gasped.”

As for the tastiest way to eat them, who better to ask than the fiesta’s highest profile guest chef, John McFadden, a man who was crowned the Best Seafood Chef in the world in 2023.

“I love the sweetness of Tassie scallops,” he tells us. “They have great flavour and salty overtones right on the back of the palate. And you won’t find any fresher than down here.

As for cooking them, simple is best. The ocean does all the work for you!”

Our tip? A scallop kebab, interspersed with crispy bacon, is a true delicacy. Just try not to think about all those eyes…

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