Cooking Instructions
This is something that I serve as a special dish, not part of my regular courses. It has been received so well by my customers, but naturally, it uses ingredients which are on the more expensive side. If you want to lower the cost, you can use less expensive ingredients, maybe seasonal ingredients, and still make it work as part of a regular course.
Cold abalone is perfect for summer. People who have experienced this dish are amazed by the tenderness and flavour of the abalone.
Often served as a starter, the theme of the dish is ‘Hokkaido’, hence the use of a wealth of northern seafood. Nothing is wasted, the stock made from boiling the abalones is used in the awayuki jelly. The key to making this awayuki is achieving the smooth, mousse-like texture. This mousse-like awayuki surrounds the ingredients and creates an amazing northern delight.
To prepare dried abalones, boil the abalones in a large pot with plenty of water for 3 hours adding sake and dashi kombu until it softens. To check the thickness, use a cocktail stick, if it easily passes throughthe mixture then it is at the correct consistency. Other than abalone, I use sea urchin and crab meat, but of course, you can use other ingredients depending on budget and season.
Prepare the abalones
- Wash the abalones with salt water (3%). boil the abalones in a large pot with plenty of water for 2-3 hours adding sake, dashi kombu, and daikon radish. Cook until soft. Check with a cocktail stick. If the cocktail stick passes through easily, the consistency is about right. Add a little salt and rest it overnight.
- Deshell the king crab and place in the hot kombu water (75 °C) for a second. Cool on a separate cold dish.
- Cook wakame seaweed in Kombu-dashi until it soft.
- Arrange all of the above on the plate. Add awayuki jelly and position flower petals for decorative effect.
Awayuki Jelly
Make gelatine with the water used for boiling the abalone and wakame seaweed. Cool slightly with ice – but keep at a fairly high temperature - and whisk thoroughly into a meringue-like consistency.
The key is to whisk while hot. At a low temperature, the texture will become a lot harder and more jelly-like, rather than like a meringue.
- Mai, The WestineTokyo
- Head Chef
From the Chef
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