Three Friends.
Of late abalone farms have been popping up in various countries, farmed abalone themselves are slow growers taking two to three years to reach their harvest weight they are harvested at 100g shell on against their 1kg cousins caught in the wild, the larger wild abalone are a $$$ product and thus have been economically and culturally hidden from us western and Tasmanian chefs, but time never stands still as they’re moving onto our western menu’s.
Even though many of these exports are destined for top line Asian restaurants abalone are becoming a challenge for many western chefs looking for new ideas and WOW ingredients. These chefs can often find themselves in deep water trying to be over creative.
The advantage with canned Three Friends Abalone is, they’re already cooked! These brine cooked abs are very easy to work with, each can contains even weighted “portion controlled” shellfish.
So as a chef in a top restaurant what should I do with these canned abalone, well forget that they are a canned product, they are as tender and succulent as if you cooked them sous-vid yourself. Keep it simple, look for inspirations from Asian countries they’ve been cooking them for 1000 years, or if you are a from a seafood country do your own thing. Serve them hot in the shell or presented as a starter, for a better presentation serve them nicely sliced and layered. Serving them whole will guaranteed be a bit of a culture shock. A well-presented nicely sliced portion makes a perfect addition to seafood platters or big seafood buffet, or sliced over a pepper berry spiced Tasmanian wagyu beef with garlic butter makes a great surf and turf. abalone, their size make them the perfect starter. These versatile and easily prepared shellfish are turning up on international brunches and buffets, sushi bars, fusion and cross over menu’s wherever they land.