This is the fanciest seafood dish you can make.
This abalone cost us $77,
and it’s one of those delicacies you really don’t want to mess up.
Also known as the “crown of seafood”,
my dad’s Abalone with Lettuce
is the perfect guide for you
to master this fancy ingredient.
We’re gonna learn exactly how Chinese banquets do it,
starting with the mushrooms.
Today, we're learning how to make
Abalone and Mushrooms with Lettuce.
We have a can of abalone.
There are 12 pieces in this can.
It's cooked and ready to eat.
You don't have to rehydrate them yourself, it's very convenient.
We have about 2 oz of dried shiitake mushrooms.
Wash the mushrooms first.
First, we’ll rinse our shiitake mushrooms with water.
Give the mushrooms a wash first.
Wash away any dust and debris.
We’ll drain the water each time we rinse them.
See the dust in the water?
One more time.
After you wash the mushrooms, soak them in warm water.
Warm water will soften them faster.
We'll mix cold water with warm, 60° water.
To rehydrate them, we’ll need to
soak the mushrooms in warm water.
Put something on the soaking mushrooms
to push them down.
It'll help keep them submerged in the water.
They'll soften faster that way.
Something heavy.
They'll soften in 30 minutes this way.
We'll set them aside for now.
Now, let's wash the lettuce.
While the mushrooms rehydrate,
we’ll prep our lettuce by first cutting off the ends.
About 1 lb, maybe 12 oz.
Two heads of lettuce.
Peel them apart, then wash.
Before washing it,
we’ll peel apart each leaf of lettuce with our hands.
After they're cooked, this won't be much.
It only looks like a lot now.
Wash the lettuce with water.
Wash them, then drain in a colander.
This lettuce is really clean.
I feel better washing it, though.
We’ll quickly wash the lettuce in water
and set them aside to drain in a colander.
In Chinese cuisine,
no ingredient is insignificant.
Lettuce, or saang coi in Cantonese,
is considered lucky because
it sounds like the Chinese phrase for growing wealth.
And in this dish,
other veggies can also play this important supporting role,
like napa cabbage, celery, and bok choy,
each with their own auspicious symbolism.
Mushrooms, lettuce, and abalone are all auspicious.
Lettuce, for fortune.
Mushroom, means everything goes as planned.
Each ingredient symbolizes success.
Once that's done, we'll make the sauce.
For the sauce we’ll use later when braising,
we’ll use 1 tbsp of oyster sauce, 1 tbsp of light soy sauce,
2 tsp of dark soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar,
1 tsp of salt, 2 tbsp of water,
a 1/4 tsp of white pepper, and 2 tsp of cornstarch.
Then mix.
Mix it well.
We'll use this later.
We have all of these ingredients listed on our blog at madewithlau.com
along with step-by-step instructions and video clips
to guide you as you make the recipe at home.
After soaking the mushrooms in warm water
for at least 30 minutes,
they’re rehydrated.
These are mushrooms I prepared earlier.
We'll cut off the stems first.
It grows out of the ground.
You pick it out of dirt, right?
So we don't need those stems.
They're quite hard.
They add great flavor to soups!
If you don't like mushrooms too much, use less.
All right, that's all set.
With the mushrooms prepped,
we can move on to our aromatics.
We'll use a bit of garlic.
We'll fry it with the mushrooms,
so the mushrooms taste even better.
We’ll smash and peel just one clove of garlic
and also ginger.
Just a few slices of ginger.
One clove of garlic and a few slices of ginger, that's all.
With our ingredients prepared,
we’ll need our wok for our next step.
Our ingredients are all prepared.
Now, I'm going to blanch the lettuce.
Turn the heat on and add hot water.
We’ll add about 6 cups of hot water to the wok.
Add 2 tsp of oil
and 1 tsp of salt.
This will make the lettuce brighter green and crunchier.
Before you start, prepare some cold water.
Put some ice in it.
After blanching the lettuce, shock it in the ice water.
Then it'll be even more vibrant and crunchy.
The water's boiling, let's add the lettuce.
Once the water boils, we’ll add the lettuce in two batches.
Make sure to move the lettuce around
so every leaf is being blanched.
Lettuce doesn't require a lot of cooking
because it's edible raw.
After a minute, we can remove the first batch.
Shock it in the cold water.
Here's the cold water.
We’ll put them into the cold water.
Blanch the rest of these.
Then we’ll go in with the rest of the lettuce.
These have been shocked, so take them out to drain.
After the first batch has been in the cold water
for about 30 seconds,
we can remove them to drain in a colander.
These are done, take them out.
Shock them in the ice water.
After a minute, we can take out the second batch of lettuce
and put them into the cold water.
We can pour out the water from our wok,
and now we’re ready for the stir-frying step.
Let's take the rest of the lettuce out.
After 30 seconds in the cold water,
we’ll take out the second batch to drain
with the rest of the lettuce.
Okay.
We’ll set that aside and start to stir-fry.
Now we'll start cooking.
Add oil.
We’ll add oil to a hot wok.
1 tbsp of oil.
Ginger.
The wok doesn't need to be very hot.
If it's too hot, it'll burn the garlic.
Burnt garlic isn't tasty, so use lower heat.
If you want to learn about
how to cook with a wok more intuitively,
we’re super excited to invite you
a membership where you’ll learn
to cook and think just like a Cantonese chef.
First off, Made With Lau is here to stay
and we’ll still be sharing recipes & tips on YouTube
every single week.
So if memberships aren’t your thing, no pressure.
But, for those of you who are super curious and passionate,
if you want an expert to walk you through,
step-by-step,
how to master Cantonese cooking,
then this might be perfect for you.
In the Canto Cooking Club,
we’re not just giving you recipes.
For less than the cost of takeout,
we’re distilling my dad’s 50 years of experience
into organized, easy-to-follow classes,
teaching you how to set up your kitchen,
how to use a wok,
how to craft & improvise with different flavors,
and more.
When you join,
you get instant access to everything,
and every month,
you’ll get a new class to build on your foundation,
with videos, printouts, and mastery recipes.
It’s all on-demand,
so you can learn at your own pace
and not have to show up at specific times.
Also, in our private community,
you’ll get to connect directly with Daddy Lau,
make new friends,
and cultivate better cooking habits
through our weekly challenges.
So, if you want cooking to feel more effortless and intuitive,
go to club.madewithlau.com
or click the link in our description to sign up.
We’ll stir-fry on low
until the ginger and garlic are fragrant
or about 30-40 seconds.
Add the mushrooms to stir-fry them.
Then we’ll add the shiitake mushrooms.
Low heat.
We’ll stir-fry the mushrooms for about 30 seconds.
Later, we'll pick out the ginger.
Now, we'll pour in the abalone juice.
We don't need water, just use this liquid.
Now, we’ll add about a cup of
the canned abalone liquid to the wok.
We'll first let it boil like this for a bit,
and add the abalone later.
Teresa from Patreon asked,
"Do you keep the canned liquid?
Or discard the liquid and rinse the abalone?"
I usually cook it with the liquid,
I don't rinse the abalone before cooking.
We’ll cover the wok with a lid
and on high heat, we’ll bring it to a boil.
So, what's next?
We'll lay the lettuce down.
The smaller pieces go in the middle.
We’ll arrange lettuce on the serving plate,
with the smaller pieces on the bottom.
We'll wait to place these
after we plate the abalone and mushrooms.
We add the rest of the lettuce along the sides.
Now, let's add the abalone.
Let it braise with the mushrooms.
After it boils, or around 3 minutes,
we can add our abalone.
Abalone, or baau jyu in Cantonese,
is a precious ingredient symbolizing abundance
and having all your wishes come true.
In Chinese, baau sounds like
the Chinese word for “full” or “satisfied”,
and jyu sounds like “always having extra”.
Is it auspicious?
Abalone sounds like "a guaranteed surplus".
Surplus, meaning having extra, being plentiful.
More money, every year.
On the topic of abundance,
in the face of racism during the Gold Rush,
Chinese American immigrants forged their own abundance
with abalone.
Back in China, abalone was an over-fished delicacy.
But in the US,
Americans thought it was weird and inedible.
So instead of fighting over gold,
Chinese pioneers made a fortune fishing for abalone
along the coast of California.
Nowadays, abalone is mostly farmed,
to keep up with the global demand
for its buttery textures and rich, salty flavors.
How much does a can of abalone cost?
There are many prices.
There are both expensive cans and cheap cans.
Some, like mine, give you 10 pieces.
There are cans with 8 or 4 pieces, too.
The cans we usually buy are $100 USD for 3 cans.
That's considered affordable, for abalone.
Really nice cans go for $50, even $60 USD.
This is a high-class dish, for banquets.
Because abalone is expensive.
Also, abalone is considered a precious commodity.
Did you eat abalone for your wedding?
No, it wasn't as accessible back then.
I never ate abalone in China,
only when I came to the US.
10 pieces of abalone here.
Let's check on the mushrooms first.
If the mushrooms feel soft when you poke them,
then they're done.
That means they've plumped up.
They soften quickly.
They're basically done.
See?
Braise them for a bit to get the flavor out.
How long do you braise for?
5 minutes or so.
We’ll cover again and let it braise on medium low
for another 5 minutes.
Shirley from Patreon asked,
"What type of abalone do you recommend?
Canned, fresh, or dried?"
If you have the patience, you can rehydrate dried abalone.
Next to it is fresh abalone.
How, where do you get fresh ones?
Even I wouldn't know that.
It's against the law.
It's very uncommon to be able to buy fresh abalone.
There's a limit to abalone harvesting.
You have to have a license,
then they tell you how many you can harvest that year.
So it's really rare to eat fresh abalone.
Canned is the most convenient.
Buy it, take it home and eat it.
Canned abalone is already seasoned and cooked.
Now, lower the heat.
We'll thicken the sauce.
After 5 minutes, we’ll uncover and turn the heat to low.
Give it a taste.
Because the abalone juice can be salty.
Now, we'll add the sauce.
What if it's too salty?
Then you don't have to add all this sauce.
Now, we’ll slowly add the sauce we mixed earlier while stirring.
Add the slurry slowly.
If you dump it in all at once, the sauce will clump up,
understand?
Take your time.
Clara from Patreon asked,
"Can you use other shellfish or seafood
like clams or squid or geoduck?"
Scallops and dried scallops, yes.
Sea cucumber works too.
Let the sauce cook.
The cooked sauce will thicken.
We’ll stir over low heat for another 30 seconds
as the sauce thickens,
then we’re ready for the final seasoning.
Okay, heat off.
Add some sesame oil.
1 tsp of sesame oil.
Mix in the sesame oil and now we’re ready to plate.
Now, let's plate it.
Let's scoop up the mushrooms first.
These are beautiful mushrooms.
We’ll first place our mushrooms
with the cap side up
in a layer.
Then we’ll put the abalone on top.
Arrange the lettuce nicely.
Finally, we’ll add our largest pieces of lettuce
around the sides of the dish.
Now we’ll add the rest of the luxurious sauce
over the top of our prized abalone
and we’re ready to serve.
Cheers!
Look at Cameron standing!
Wow, Maya!
Abalone with Lettuce is complete!
I hope everyone enjoys it!
Hong Doy, time to eat abalone!
Thank you Yeh Yeh!