Abalone

This tasty, rare shellfish can be found off California waters, farmed in Southern California (near Santa Barbara) and wild in Northern (near Sonoma).

We bought a large farmed abalone from Santa Barbara Fish Company for about $35 on December 29, 2010 and prepped it into jook. Smaller abalone can be prepped like clams or oysters. With the larger ones, it's better to split it down the middle first to kill it, as it has a stronger abductor muscle.