Fresh Live Abalone Sashimi
From Preparing Live Abalone to Slicing Sashimi: A Complete Guide!
I bought fresh live abalone on sale today! Since it was so fresh, I prepared it and enjoyed it as sashimi with my daughter. Make a wonderful special dish at home with seasonal live abalone.
Main Ingredients
- 10 live abalones
Accompaniments
- Gochujang sauce, to taste
- Fresh wasabi, to taste
- Gochujang sauce, to taste
- Fresh wasabi, to taste
Cooking Instructions
Step 1
Prepare the live abalones. To thoroughly remove any dirt or debris from the abalone’s surface, use a clean toothbrush and scrub both the shell and the flesh under running water. Pay close attention to all the nooks and crannies. This step is especially important for farmed abalone; while wild abalone might not require such vigorous cleaning, farmed varieties benefit greatly from thorough scrubbing to ensure cleanliness.
Step 2
Now it’s time to separate the abalone from its shell. Carefully insert a spoon between the shell and the flesh of the cleaned abalone. Gently push and pry to detach the meat from the shell. Once separated, neatly cut off and discard the hard mouthparts (often called the ‘beak’) and the dark entrails. You can save the entrails to use later, so set them aside.
Step 3
Discard the cut-off mouthparts. Place the reserved entrails in a separate bowl. Take the clean abalone meat and place it in a bowl of cold running water. Gently rub the meat to wash away the slippery mucus; this will make the abalone cleaner and smoother. For the reserved entrails, add a pinch of salt and gently mix, then rinse. (The rinsed entrails can be finely chopped later to make a delicious abalone porridge!)
Step 4
Make shallow, even scores on the top surface of the washed abalone meat. Don’t cut too deep; creating a crosshatch or diamond pattern with shallow scores will make the texture more tender and help it absorb seasonings better. After scoring, slice the abalone into bite-sized pieces as desired.
Step 5
Arrange the sliced abalone pieces beautifully back into their cleaned shells. Place a dollop of fresh wasabi on the side to enhance the natural flavor of the fresh abalone. Prepare the gochujang dipping sauce as well. I personally like to mix a little wasabi into my gochujang sauce for dipping, but feel free to enjoy it according to your preference. Enjoy your fresh abalone sashimi!
