Rocky Entries

Abalone Diving
Breaded Steak Recipes

With breaded abalone recipes, we enter the realm of history and tradition. As a result, a lot of emotions are tied to these recipes. Everyone believes they have the perfect breaded recipe, me included. This being my website and all, I've decided Abalone Perfected isn't too grand a claim to make. I wouldn't, however, dare to attempt such a claim at a gathering of other divers; the prospects of the debate that would follow are too exhausting to face.

After years of work in the kitchen, this is what I've come up with. My best tricks are highlighted thusly.

Ingredients

• 1 Abalone
• Flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tubes of Whole Wheat Ritz Crackers
• dash of dry sherry
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• dash of white pepper (more is NOT better here)
• olive oil
• roll of paper towels

Preparation

• Grind Ritz Crackers with black and white pepper into fine crumbs.
• Place cracker crumbs and flour in separate shallow bowls.
• Blend eggs and sherry in shallow bowl.
• Prepare abalone steaks:
  • Slice abalone into thin (1/8" to 1/4") steaks.
  • Bread the abalone steaks.
    1. Coat both sides of one abalone steak with flour.
    2. Dip the floured abalone steak in egg mixture.
    3. Coat the egg dipped abalone steak with cracker crumbs.
    4. Put aside and repeat the process from a. for the remaining steaks.
  • Chill the breaded steaks for an hour or two.
    An old weinerschnitzel preparation trick works with this breaded abalone recipe. After breading the steaks, let them chill in the refrigerator for an hour or two. This step helps prevent the breading from falling off the steaks during cooking.
• Layer 4 or 5 paper towels on a serving dish.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a dry frying pan on medium high heat.
2. Wait until the frying pan is hot.
3. Add olive oil until there is approximately 1/2 cup in the pan.
4. Wait until the oil is hot.
5. Add 2 to 3 abalone steaks to the hot oil.
6. Cook on one side approximately 30 seconds.
7. Turn abalone steaks gently.
8. Cook for another 20 seconds.
9. Remove abalone steaks to the serving dish.
10. Cover abalone steaks with 2 or 3 paper towels.
11. Repeat from step 2 for the remaining abalone steaks. Replace oil as it darkens or becomes too full of debris.
12. When all of the abalone has been cooked, pickup the stack of paper towels along one edge and shake abalone out of the paper towels onto a serving dish. Serve immediately. (If the abalone is left covered by the paper towels for too long a period of time, the abalone will become soggy.)

I received an email containing details on the following recipe that's been undergoing perfection since 1974. It sounded awfully good so here it is. Thanks Lou.

Ingredients

• 1 Abalone
• Flour
• 2 eggs
• Italian style bread crumbs
• dash of dry sherry
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• olive oil
• 1 bunch of parsley
• many cloves of garlic
• 1 stick of salted butter
• 1 cup white wine
• roll of paper towels

Preparation

• Place bread crumbs and flour in separate shallow bowls.
• Blend eggs and sherry in shallow bowl.
• Prepare abalone steaks:
  • Slice abalone into thin (1/8" to 1/4") steaks.
  • Bread the abalone steaks.
    1. Coat both sides of one abalone steak with flour.
    2. Dip the floured abalone steak in egg mixture.
    3. Coat the egg dipped abalone steak with bread crumbs.
    4. Put aside and repeat the process from a. for the remaining steaks.
  • Chill the breaded steaks for an hour or two.
• Prepare parsley/garlic topping ingredients:
  • Trim parsley and chop fine.
  • Crush and chop several cloves of garlic. The more the better. There should be about a 3:1 parsley to garlic ratio.
• Layer 4 or 5 paper towels on a serving dish.

Cooking Instructions

1. Heat a dry frying pan on medium high heat.
2. Wait until the frying pan is hot.
3. Add olive oil until there is approximately 1/2 cup in the pan.
4. Wait until the oil is hot.
5. Add 2 to 3 abalone steaks to the hot oil.
6. Cook on one side approximately 30 seconds.
7. Turn abalone steaks gently.
8. Cook for another 20 seconds.
9. Remove abalone steaks to the serving dish.
10. Cover abalone steaks with 2 or 3 paper towels.
11. Repeat from step 2 for the remaining abalone steaks. Replace oil as it darkens or becomes too full of debris.
12. Prepare the parsley/garlic topping:
    • Heat a seperate frying pan.
    • Melt one stick of salted butter.
    • Add the parsley and garlic.
    • After one minute, add the white wine.
    • After two minutes, turn down heat and hold warm.
13. When all of the abalone has been cooked and the parsley/garlic topping is ready, pickup the stack of paper towels along one edge and shake abalone out of the paper towels onto a serving dish.
14. Serve abalone steaks individually topped with parsley/garlic sauce.

Last Modified: February 3, 2003
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All Rights Reserved.

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