We recently participated in a sustainable seafood event at the Ty Warner Sea Center. There were a number of local chefs preparing dishes from seafood designated as sustainable.
From the Sea Center’s web site: “The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Ty Warner Sea Center is a fun, engaging, interactive marine education facility located on Stearns Wharf. Owned and operated by the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, the Ty Warner Sea Center fulfills the mission of the Museum to inspire a passion for the natural world.”
I have had a long association with Ben Bede who owns and operates The
Cultured Abalone farm in Goleta. We featured their farmed abalone with one of
my classic preparations. I began using farmed abalone in 1981 with product from
John McMullen’s Ab Lab in Port Hueneme. John at that time was under contract
with the state fish and game department to reseed the wild stock. He approached
me to see if we could use the product. The abalone he had was small, about
1-1/2 inch in the shell. I created an appetizer dish that quickly became very
popular.
Chef Michael's Abalone "Chez Nous"
The Cultured Abalone sells red abalone in various sizes, the most
popular being the 3-3-1/2 inch size. They are sold live by the pound. The farm
is on shore and is a model of sustainability. The primary feed for the abalone
is the brown kelp that is abundant off the shores of California. The water that
flows out of the farm is cleaner than the intake fro the sea.
Chef Michael Hutchings cooking Abalone
I will post more on this subject later this month. I am working on a story with a magazine called Edible Santa Barbara and will have some photos from the farm to post in about 10 days. In the meantime, you can dine on abalone at Sly's in Carpinteria. Chef James is savvy enough to make a simple egg-battered abalone that allows the product to be enjoyed.
Tastefully yours®
Chef Michael Hutchings
P.S. There is a song about abalone that was written in the city of Carmel by affectionados of the local mollusk. Some were luminaries in the literary world and others just poetic eaters. MH
The Abalone Song
"In the halcyon art colony days, Bohemian writers and artists congregated on Carmel beaches to beat, feast and sing about that wondrous mollusk.
Oh some think that the Lord is fat,
And some that he is bony
But for me, I think that he
Is like an abalone.
Oh some drink rain and some champagne,
And whiskey by the pony
But I will try a dash of rye
And a hunk of abalone.
Oh some like ham and some like jam,
And some like macaroni,
But our tom-cat he lives on fat
And juicy abalone.
George Sterling
Some stick to biz, some flirt with Liz,
Down on the sands of Coney
But we, by hell, stay in Carmel,
And nail the abalone.
Sinclair Lewis
The more we talk, the more they make,
In deep-sea matrimony.
Race suicide will ne'er betide
The fertile abalone.
Michael Williams
I telegraph my better half
By Morse or by Marconi
But when in need of greater speed
I send an abalone.
Oh Mission Point's a friendly joint
Where every crab's a crony
And true and kind, you'll never find
The faithful abalone.
He wanders free beside the sea,
Wher'er the coast is stony.
He flaps his wings and madly sings,
The plaintive abalone.
George Sterling
Some live on hope and some on dope
And some on alimony
But bring me in a pail of gin
And a tub of abalone.
Anonymous
We sit around and pound and pound,
But not with acrimony,
Because our object is a gob
Of sizzling abalone.
Oh some folks boast of quail on toast
Because they think it's toney,
But I'm content to pay my rent
And live on abalone.
Reported by Sharron Lee Hale 1980 in her book A Tribute to Yesterday"
