Frozen abalone from Mitsuwa-- what to do with it?

Mitsuwa has been carrying frozen abalone recently. Has anyone bought it, and what did you do with it?

Are you referring to the frozen whole 'baby' abalone that they have had in the past or another product in 'steaks'?
The frozen whole are thawed, removed from the shell, trimmed and thinly sliced for sashimi. You may want to make very delicate partial cuts through the slices.
Large pieces found as steaks are usually quickly cooked, served or quick chilled for other uses. Over cooked abalone is TOUGH. Good luck.-Dick

Thanks for replying! It's the whole one in the shell. I'll have to try using it for sashimi sometime.

Back in the day, some buddies and I used the ol' pry-'em-off-the-rocks-with-a-sharpened-Ford-leaf-spring technique on the Half Moon Bay abs. Then, of course, what do to with them.

The standard treatment was to sharpen your knife like crazy, and make a thin--3/16ths was the sign of a Master Blade--slice off the extracted body. Then you beat the slice like crazy, maybe increasing its diameter by 40%, more is better. Dip it in egg+milk, seasoned bread crumbs and maybe some garlic powder, then flash-fry it in half an inch of very hot oil. Flash, as in v e r y fast.

Pork tenderloins à la The Midwest are tastier, but then, you don't have to dive in Half Moon Bay to get your tender.

In the raw, abs is tough tough tough.

Geo

I recently had some fresh awabi as sashimi, and it wasn't nearly as pleasant as I'd thought. I prefer mirugai by leaps and bounds. Prior to this I'd only had it flash-fried Chinese-style which is pretty good and tender. Raw it was just plain tough and fairly tasteless; Not to mention expensive.

Well, it looks nice on the plate.

In the past I have enjoyed abalone soup very much, also some fried abalone. My significant other just adores abalone and orders it every chance he gets; he never seems to mind if it's tough. Doesn't eat it raw, though.

Jay K wrote:I recently had some fresh awabi as sashimi, and it wasn't nearly as pleasant as I'd thought. I prefer mirugai by leaps and bounds. Prior to this I'd only had it flash-fried Chinese-style which is pretty good and tender. Raw it was just plain tough and fairly tasteless; Not to mention expensive.

Your picture looks like a fairly large awabi by todays standards. Was your awabi fresh from a tank? Where did you have the preperation. Typically the slices are a bit thicker and have cuts part way through the slices to insure tenderness. Even the whole frozen baby awabi from Mitsuwa are ok. Awabi is not tender like murugai or other gai but should have a nice flavor. -Dick

Was in Mitsuwa yesterday and saw frozen abalone in a case of frozen seafood. This is diiferent than the 'baby' abalone I had purchased at Mitsuwa in the past. The 'baby' came 3 to a pack and were thawed out in the sashimi fish case. The larger frozen ones I saw did not look that good. The 'baby' ones i purchased looked good and tasted great!-Dick

Oh, OK. I'll wait around for the baby ones. For one thing, they always seem to thaw stuff out better than I ever can at home.

abalone vs conch.

I've had abalone a number of times, it just never seems to have that much flavor also there is the cost factor.

I've far preferred conch, whether it be a sauteed "steak" style or raw "scorched" that one can get on various Caribbean islands.

Anyone else?

H-Mart Niles now has live abalone regularly.
They are about $6, small farmed but have been very good the last few years.
As to conch, I really like it but getting really fresh is problematic.
Conch is also a little more work to remove from the shell.
As to taste, they are different but abalone can be served as sashimi but I don't know any raw preps for conch.
I would assume, just out of the water one could serve conch as a ceviche very nicely but the ones I have seen for purchase don't look fresh enough to serve that way. -Richard

When I was in grad school in SF, I had a buddy who'd 'catch' abs over in Half Moon Bay. He'd usually share one or two with me. I just didn't get it--not much taste at all. You'd pound 'em to schnitzel thinness, batter/crumb them, and shallow-fry. That was the Traditional Way.
I guess I was missing out, eh?!

Geo

You can use frozen abalone to make Jeonbokjuk, a rich and delicious Korean porridge in the congee family:

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/jeonbokjuk

Geo wrote:When I was in grad school in SF, I had a buddy who'd 'catch' abs over in Half Moon Bay. He'd usually share one or two with me. I just didn't get it--not much taste at all. You'd pound 'em to schnitzel thinness, batter/crumb them, and shallow-fry. That was the Traditional Way.
I guess I was missing out, eh?!

Geo

Fresh abalone pounded and fried has avery subtle taste. similar to a clam such as a Geoduck(Miragai).
But eaten sashimi style with a little lemon, it is very mild and sublime. but you have to prepare and slice properly putting shallow cuts to make it easier to chew.-Richard

Interesting, tnx Richard. This was the mid-60s, so sushi wasn't even on the over-the-horizon radar, even amongst the local Japanese folks in SF, so far as I know. But it would have been interesting to have tasted it that way.

Which brings to mind a new thought. I lived in Kansas City for a very long time. A scuba-diving friend once told me about the large freshwater mussels he frequently saw on his dives. So I told him to bring me one, which he soon did. It was a big guy, nearly the size of an abalone, which I didn't think about at the time, but I think about right at this moment. I messed about with it, tried to cook it, but didn't take it seriously. So I forgot about it and went on my merry way. But now that you've mentioned the sushi potential of abalone, it strikes me that Missouri freshwater mussels (geoducks, in a way) might be suitable sushi candidates as well. Interesting idea.
http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1999/08/missouris-freshwater-mussels?page=full

Geo

For those looking for conch, Chicago Food Corp./Joong Boo Market sometimes has live ones. A few months back I was able to isolate a couple of relatively frisky ones (see how they react when you touch their "foot": if they aren't dead or close, it will retract). I was able to make a very credible facimile of a fresh "cracked" (fried) conch burger for a kid who ate them exclusively during a trip to the Abacos last summer. Also great raw in conch salad, a ceviche-like prep that makes sense because scungilli salad makes sense.

Geo wrote:Interesting, tnx Richard. This was the mid-60s, so sushi wasn't even on the over-the-horizon radar, even amongst the local Japanese folks in SF, so far as I know. But it would have been interesting to have tasted it that way.

Which brings to mind a new thought. I lived in Kansas City for a very long time. A scuba-diving friend once told me about the large freshwater mussels he frequently saw on his dives. So I told him to bring me one, which he soon did. It was a big guy, nearly the size of an abalone, which I didn't think about at the time, but I think about right at this moment. I messed about with it, tried to cook it, but didn't take it seriously. So I forgot about it and went on my merry way. But now that you've mentioned the sushi potential of abalone, it strikes me that Missouri freshwater mussels (geoducks, in a way) might be suitable sushi candidates as well. Interesting idea.
http://mdc.mo.gov/conmag/1999/08/missouris-freshwater-mussels?page=full

Geo

Mussels are strainers and concentrate any pollutants and fresh water fish and crustaceans/clams are not eaten as sashimi, at least in the USA.-Richard