Abalone ✦ ◆

Ormeau

What it is

A sea snail in a mother-of-pearl ear, prised off rocks at the lowest tides. Japan’s ama — women free-divers whose craft is two thousand years old — have gathered them for emperors; in Brittany the ormeau is so coveted that its harvest is rationed to a handful of big-tide days a year.

In the kitchen

Tenderise or braise — there is no middle path: pound the escalopes and flash them in butter, or steam it hours with kombu until it slices like a wild mushroom.

Goes with

Butter Kombu Soy sauce Shiitake

Same species

Japanese abalone Dried abalone

Also used with

Sea cucumber

In season alongside

Ark shell Clam Common prawn Gurnard Surf clam King crab

Something wrong here, or missing? Tell us