Every year, Rye hosts its annual Scallop Week with a range of activities for locals to participate in. From tasting menus, cookery demos and shucking shells, it’s a time when the public get to see how Rye’s fishing fleet brings in the sustainably-sourced scallops for chefs to serve in simple and imaginative ways.
One less well-known fact is that Rye Bay scallops are in demand from other fishing communities. Dungeness Snack Shack, a renowned fishing spot, supplies its own scallops but also purchases bags of fresh scallops from the Rye fleet. The Snack Shack was originally a part-time business, but owner Kelly Smith has built her business into one of the biggest attractions in Dungeness.
To journey to the Snack Shack and Dungeness is to enter another world. Dungeness is one of the UK’s only deserts, situated within a nuclear power station’s shadow and a working beach with over a lifetime’s worth of scrap and fishermen’s boats that has inspired everyone from Derek Jarman to various media companies. Nestled on one the side of Dungeness Road is the Snack Shack. Here, Rye’s scallops have become an integral part of Kelly Smith’s excellent menu and season permitting, the shack serves lobster, crab, a selection of fish with flatbreads and fried new potatoes.
What is unique to Kelly’s Snack Shack is a secret sauce that originates in the fever of 1990s London restaurant scene: Peter Gordon’s Sweet Chilli Sauce. Known throughout the industry as a staple of London’s Sugar Club that ran in Soho and Notting Hill, Gordon created this Pacific-inspired dish specifically to be served with scallops. Far from simple, the Snack Shack makes this sauce on a weekly basis, comprising garlic, chillies, ginger, lemon grass, coriander, sugar, tamari and fish sauce. All of these ingredients are peeled, diced and thrown into a pot to stew down and then cool overnight. The following day, usually when the last batch has run out due to the amount sold, the sauce is ready to be served with Rye’s scallops. These are washed, trimmed and then grilled for a short amount of time before being served in a flat bread or roll with salad and the chilli sauce.
Like Rye, Dungeness and the Snack Shack are a vital part of the local economy, providing sustainably-sourced scallops to tourists and residents alike. The fishing community is such a vital part of these southern shores, each is in contact with another via produce and a lifetime of mutual trust and economic partnership. That Rye’s scallops travel so far is not only a testament to their taste, but how Rye’s fishing practices help sustain wider communities.
Image Credits: Chris Lawson , Fred Holt , Fred Holt .