The first thing to consider about preparation of your Abalone is
getting it out of the shell. This is a simple process, but does require
a certain knack that you will only gain from experience. So be patient
and keep
working at it until you get good at it. There are essentially only two
steps to getting the Abalone out of its' shell, so let's get started.
Now, placing the Abalone on its' shell with the "Heel" facing upwards,
you will place your left (or right) hand around the thick portion of
the shell in a manner that will allow you to hold everything down
around the edges of the shell (there is a thin membrane that holds
everything in that needs to be separated from the Abalone), and with
your other hand, you grab the entire "meaty" portion of Abalone and
firmly lift the Abalone upwards and towards the thin portion of the
shell. leaving all of the entrails left in the shell. Set the shell
aside for now and let's move on to one of the important procedures in
getting the Abalone "tenderized". |
Now that you have your Abalone out of the shell, it is important
(in my opinion anyway) to get it tenderized. There are several ways to
accomplish this, and over time and with experience, you will probably
find at least one favorite method that you'll swear is the way
to assure tender, delectable dinner fare. Whichever method you choose,
just remember that tender is good, tough is bad.
Method #1: Beat the hell out of it while it is all in one piece!
This is my personal favorite, because it seems to get the job done
fairly well, and it is much faster than the next method that I will be
describing. So, once you have your Abalone out of the shell, place it
in a gunny sack or wrap it in a towel. Place the gunny sack or towel on
a solid, flat surface (pavement works, soft dirt does not) with the
foot (bottom leathery looking part) of Abalone on the bottom. I have
had good results using a nice flat tree stump too. Get yourself a 2x4
about three feet long, or baseball bat and firmly strike the Abalone
right across the middle and work your way around the entire surface of
the Abalone. After several wallops, you should be able to feel the
Abalone "relax" (this means it no longer feels hard and stiff). Be
careful not to hit it too hard, or too long, because you may end up
splitting it or worse, turning it to mush. You'll know when you have it
right when the meat has a firm, but not stiff feeling to it. Over time
, you will get the hang of it and you will be able to do this with
great expertise.
Method #2: Slice it up first, then beat the hell out of it.
This can work really well too, but it takes much longer, and you
will have already trimmed off all of the inedible parts. So to
accomplish fully tenderized steaks with this method you will need to take a
couple of measures that have not been discussed yet. That is getting
the inedible (the leathery skin on the foot, and the Black edges that
look like "dog lips") parts trimmed off, and slicing it into steaks.
I'll explain how to do this in the next step, but for now let's assume
you have already sliced your Abalone into steaks.
You need to have a good and flat, solid surface such as a cutting
board or (if the wife will allow), a counter top, and either a butchers
mallet, small baseball bat, 2x4 or even a rolling pin works well too.
Lay an Abalone steak flat on the surface and begin striking the steak
firmly with the mallet or other tool of choice. Don't hit it too hard,
but hard enough that after several blows, turn over and repeat. When
the meat feels soft and tender, but not mushy you are done with this
step of preparation. Again, you will gain a feel for this as you get
more experience at it.
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Now that you have your Abalone out of the shell, it is time for the tricky part. That is getting it ready for slicing into steaks. The Abalone has a very tough outer skin and around the edges of the foot is that black slimy stuff that looks like dog lips. The is will all need to be removed before you can eat it. There are again, several methods of getting this done, but I am only going to explain my favorite, because it works like a charm provided you get it right. Step One: Lay the Abalone with the leathery portion on the table or other clean, preferably dry surface. You will notice a crease that runs all around the edge and near the center of the Abalone. Hold the Abalone down firmly with one hand, and with a very sharp knife, starting at the pointiest portion (the anal end) of the Abalone, slice about 1/4" into the meat in the center of the crease all around the edge until you get to the opposite side of where you began. Step Two: Still holding the Abalone down flat, you can now "peel" the the first dog lip and the tough white layer of skin off. You do this by starting at the point where you began your incision around the edge. Firmly push your fingers into the incision, and slowly and carefully peel the the lip and skin off in an upwards motion all the way around. If the skin rips, you need to try and pull it from another direction (kind of like trying to peel scotch tape when it is stuck to the roll) until it comes off. If you don't get the skin off in this step, it will be very difficult to get it of at all until you slice it into steaks and then you can trim it off with a sharp knife. Now you can move to the other side of the Abalone. Step Three: This is the easiest part. Now you can pick up the Abalone and while holding it in the palm of one hand, you can cut the other dog lip off like you would peel a potato. You only need to cut enough to remove the rubbery portion of the lip. Now some people like to save the lips and make a chowder out of them (I'll explain this in the recipes section). I mention this here, so that you won't throw away the lips with the rest of the guts in case you want to give this a try. You will now have a nice solid hunk of clean, white Abalone meat with only the leathery foot and a black film around the edges. You can use a scrubbing pad to remove the black stuff, but I leave the leathery foot until I'm done slicing it into steaks. Then it can be easily trimmed with a sharp knife. |
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Now that all you have is a big ol' hunk of white meat, it is time to slice it into steaks or chunks or whatever form you prefer for cooking. I have tried a few of the other methods, but I generally prefer to slice it into steaks. This is the easiest way and most versatile for different cooking styles, so for now it will be the only method I describe in detail. Slicing Abalone into steaks is very similar to slicing a Mushroom. You simply lay the Abalone with the foot facing downward on a cutting board and start slicing it straight across and all the way through. The thickness will very according to preferences, but 1/4" to 3/8" thickness is a fairly safe starting point. It really doesn't matter whether you cut across the short span or long span of the Abalone because it will end up being the same either way. the only difference will be the length of the steaks. I prefer the shorter steaks myself, but that is just me. You may want to serve up Platter sized steaks for a different presentational effect. Once you have sliced your steaks, it is time to go ahead and trim off the leathery foot portion and any left over skin or other parts that you don't want to eat. I do this by laying the steak flat on the cutting board and with a very sharp knife I just trim a very thin strip off of the foot side of the steak. By the way,, you can use this part of the trimmings (as well as all the other parts of the Abalone you don't eat) for bait. Surf Perch and other ocean fish love Abalone trimmings, so if you are a fisherman, put these bits and pieces into a container and place them into the freezer for your next Ocean fishing trip. If you haven't done this already, it is now time to go back to the cutting board for tenderizing your Abalone Steaks (discussed in the previous section above). If you tenderized the Abalone while it was whole, you are pretty much done. I usually tenderize as soon as I can while it is still whole and then again just before cooking after I have sliced them into steaks. This ensures that I will enjoy Abalone so tender I can cut it with a fork! You are now ready to cook your Abalone any way you prefer. See the "Abalone Recipes" page for recipes and a few tips and tricks that will ensure that your troubles are well rewarded with a feast of fare that can only be described as "Fit for a King"! |
