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 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.
The most important part of this proceedure is just like any other fish
cleaning and preparation: you need to get it done as soon after
removing it from it's habitat as you can. Abalone will remain alive out
of the water for hours, but the most humane act would be to get it done
quickly for reasons most peolple who aren't hunter gatherers don't like
to hear about animals (fish or otherwise), and that is suffering a slow
painful death. The other important issue is freshness. The sooner you
can get the Abalone cleaned and ready to eat, the fresher it is going
to taste. And as with any wild game, freshness is the epitome of good
eating.
Step one:
Get the Abalone on a firm surface and tip it up on it's edge longways
with the thin part of the shell in an upward position and the shell
facing away from you. Take an Abalone Iron and slip it between the meat
of the Abalone and the shell from the top and push it downward against
the shell until you feel it stop against the muscle that is keeping it
attached to the shell. Get a firm hold on the Abalone and with the palm
of your hand, give the Abalone Iron a sharp "Pop" as if you were trying
to drive a nail with the palm of your hand. This almost always succeeds
in breaking the Abalone loose from its' shell. Feel around with the
Abalone Iron to make sure it is completely detached. If it is, then you
can place the Abalone back on it's shell for the next step. If it is
still attached, then repeat the above sequence until it is loose from
the shell.
Step two:
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 proceedures in
getting the Abalone "tenderized".
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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, delectible 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 acroos 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 unedible parts. So to
accomplish tendreization with this method you will need to take a
couple of measures that have not been discussed yet. That is getting
the unedible (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 asume
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 dont get the skin off in this step, it will
be very dificult to get it of at all until you slice it into steaks and
then you can trim it off with a snarp 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 sharpe 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 preferrances, but 1/4" to 3/8"
thickness is a fairly safe starting point. It really doesn't matter
whether you cut acroos 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 peices 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"!
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