Cleaning an abalone involves lots of slime, plenty of unpleasant gore, and a good measure of stickiness. But, at least, its a simple process in principle:

• Lay the abalone upside down.
• Locate the head at the thin end of the shell.
• Slip an abalone iron between shell and foot at the head.
• Slide the tip of the iron along the shell until it meets some resistance.
• Push hard. The iron should pop all or most of the foot's attaching muscle from the shell resulting in the foot becoming loose in the shell. For some difficult individuals, it may be necessary to work the iron in and out and from side to side until the attachment is broken.
• Put down the iron and lay the abalone back on its shell. While pushing the thick edge of the shell down with one hand, pull and fold the foot back toward the thin edge of the shell. The idea is to try and flip the foot over in the shell. If done correctly, the mantle and internal organs are left behind in the shell while the foot comes free.

Ideally, this whole process is done very quickly; on the order of 2 or 3 seconds. This is particularly important if the animal is being cleaned alive and tenderized whole (described later). The delay between beginning the cleaning and beginning the tenderizing process determines how much work will be required for tenderizing. Removing the internal organs from the shell is simply a matter of running a knife edge along the inside edge of the shell. Prior to dumping this gore, most chose to check the gonad for any pearls that might be found. One way to check is to split the gonad open, empty the contents on fine screen, and rinse. Take a close look at anything left behind from the rinsing process.

An alternate, less gory method of checking the gonad for pearls is to squeeze it in an attempt to feel any pearls within. Check the very tip of the crescent shaped organ. More importantly, check the secondary sac on the back of the gonad. About 1/3 of the way along the backside of the crescent, a cursory examination reveals a sack like structure that's part of the gonad. Squeeze this sack to feel if there are any pearls to be found. If so, squeeze hard enough to force them through the outer membrane of the organ.

Abalone has a reputation of being extremely tough and, improperly handled or cooked, it can be similar to knawing on the sole of an old shoe. But this result is easily avoidable in two steps. First, tenderize the meat. Second, don't use liquids when cooking. If the goal of these two steps is met, you're virtually guaranteed abalone tender enough to cut with the side of a fork.

There are as many methods of tenderizing abalone as there are recipes for cooking it. Everything from the tried and true methods to running over the buttons with a car. Whatever works, I suppose. The two most commonly used methods involve either tenderizing individual steaks or tenderizing the whole abalone before slicing into steaks. Whichever method is used, there is a "feel" that must be developed to avoid turning the meat into mush. Both methods are described below.

Tenderizing each individual steak involves gentle pounding with some form of mallet. A standard meat tenderizing mallet can be used although numerous commercial and homemade alternatives are preferred. This is because the standard meat mallet has serrated striking faces that tend to overwork abalone meat. If a standard meat mallet is used, try striking the abalone with the smooth side of the mallet. Regardless of what type of tool is used, the key is to be patient and develop a feel for how the meat reacts to pounding. Individual steaks are usually pretty tough. After a bit of gentle pounding, you'll usually find the meat has "loosened" in spots. Continue pounding gently until the entire steak is loose. Over pounding results in the meat becoming mushy. How much pounding is enough and how much results in mush is the "feel" involved in tenderizing an abalone. Developing this "feel" is pretty easy when tenderizing individual steaks; each abalone offers a lot of practice.

An alternative to tenderizing steak by steak is to tenderize the entire meat before slicing. This is done during cleaning immediately on removal of the button from the shell. The meat is wrapped in a towel and a board or bat is used to pound it. Moving from popping the meat from the shell to pounding is done quickly to minimize the time the animal is allowed to tighten up during its death throes. The tighter the animal becomes during cleaning and before pounding can start, the more pounding that's required. A few quick strikes around the edges of the meat seem to arrest the tightening process. A few more strikes and time can be taken to finish trimming the meat; the animal will not tighten up any more. With the button completely trimmed, the tenderizing process can be finished. Rewrap the meat in a towel and continue with the pounding. As with the individual steaks, the key is patience and a gentle but solid strike. You can feel the meat through the towel and, as it loosens up, the change in feel is distinct.