The 2010 Foodies
The Independent’s New Culinary Awards Celebrate the Delicious Side of Santa Barbara
Being recognized by our clients is always rewarding. Being recognized by ones peers is deeply satisfying. The Santa Barbara Independent has inaugurated the "Foodie Awards" this year and I was delighted to hear that I had been selected for my use of cultured abalone.
I first used the cultured abalone in 1981 when John McMullen of Ab Lab introduced me to the cultured version that he was growing to reseed the depleted abalone stock. After some experimentation I created my "Abalone Comme Chez Nous." I made a beurre blanc (the darling sauce of "Nouvelle Cuisine") and added dill, diced tomato and enoki daki mushrooms. The shells from the 1-3/4 inch abalone were filled with golden caviar (the darling caviar of the same area). The appetizer was a great hit and years later I learned that our use of those abalone kept the abalone farm going.
John was farming in the harbor at Port Hueneme Naval Base. They used excess pumping capacity of one of the facilities to run their breeding tanks. When they reached a certain size, the very small abalone was put into blue barrels and immersed into the harbor to grow out. Weekly, they were fed kelp, their natural diet. One drawback was that the barrels hand to be hauled out of the harbor by hand, opened and the kelp put into the barrel. Often times, predators made their way in and would dine on the crop. In time, it was found that on shore farming was much better and more efficient.
The Cultured Abalone farm in Goleta, CA is a leader in the onshore farming methods. Ben Beede and Dough Bush produce a fantastic product that ranges in size from the 2" cocktail size to some in the 6" plus size. This take great care and patience as they grow about 1" per year. The whole process is fraught with potential disaster such as pump failure, withering foot syndrome, weather variations and governmental obstacles.
I am just delighted that The Cultured Abalone is in our area and provides us with a ready supply of these unique shellfish.
Tastefully
Chef Michael Hutchings
Michael's Catering
Santa Barbara, CA
Abalone Tank Farm
Cocktail Abalone
Photo Bob Dickey
Photo Fran Collins
Preparing Abalone
Cooking Abalone at the Ty Warner Sea Center