A week ago we went to Chinatown to pick up some dumplings.
There is one particular street where we are used to seeing stores selling counterfeit knock-offs of expensive hand bags. Someone must have decided to crack down on these guys. Instead of active businesses we saw a lot of closed doors with bright-colored signs affixed to them:
While in the grocery store we noticed they had jars of dried abalone selling for unusually high prices:
I’m wondering how dried abalone is prepared and eaten. Can you just fish one out of a jar and eat it? Does it get ground up and put into soup? I could only guess. Regardless, it’s going to cost you.
1Zina on Mar 15, 2008 at 5:46 pm:
So which is it, $138/lb or $1380/lb? Or are they two different kinds, one being 10x more expensive? Dean got really nervous once when I was buying some dried seaweed in bulk that was something like $30.00/lb — but this dried seaweed was VERY lightweight. It does make you want to make the cashier take it out of the bag to weigh it, though. I wonder how heavy dried abalone is. (I’ve only ever thought of abalone as a nice shell that makes pretty buttons — didn’t even about what comes inside the shell.)
Now I’m hungry for seaweed. I wonder if they have it at the local health food store — but I don’t remember seeing it there. And now I’m missing California.
2Zina on Mar 15, 2008 at 5:52 pm:
That should say “didn’t even *think* about what comes . . .” (etc.)
And now I’m thinking the seaweed was even as much as $45/lb. But I got a good bundle and it was just a couple dollars.
3Zina on Mar 15, 2008 at 5:56 pm:
Aaaaand (last comment for today, I promise,) here’s a link about the uses of abalone:
http://www.chinesefood-recipes.com/food_articles/abalone_chinese_cooking.php
4Zina on Mar 15, 2008 at 5:57 pm:
I lied. Sorry. I just wanted to say that I now see that the higher price is for a different product. (Duh.)
5danithew on Mar 16, 2008 at 6:11 am:
Zina, no worries! I love to see your comments.
How do you use seaweed? Are you rolling your own sushi?
6Karen Liu on Mar 16, 2008 at 11:24 pm:
Hey Danu- Mama Liu puts dried abalone in soup. One piece per pot of water. It adds great flavor to the broth. BTW, I’m guessing the Japan Oma abalone is to abalone what Kobe beef is to beef?
7Karen Liu on Mar 16, 2008 at 11:26 pm:
PS- the dried sea cucumbers look like turds in a jar…
8Di on Mar 17, 2008 at 9:18 am:
i’m laughing at Karen’s turd comment - i love it!
Thanks for taking me to get soup dumplings on a regular occasion love!
I HEART Chinatown - did you know it is the largest Chinatown in the US and…. it basically rocks the house.
9Gary F. on Mar 17, 2008 at 10:50 am:
Man, if I had know dried sea cucumbers went for so much I would not have thrown the ones I grabbed back into the sea. They are fun to grab, they feel like those stress foam things.
10Zina on Mar 17, 2008 at 2:48 pm:
To answer your question, I just ate the seaweed plain as a snack. Delicious. But then I got thyroid disease, and seaweed has loads of iodine, which the thyroid uses, but I can never remember iodine is good or bad for fast or slow thyroids. I do still eat sushi with seaweed and I love that, too, but I don’t know how to make my own. We learned how in Enrichment night in Berkeley once (see, here I go missing California again,) but it was one of those times when they had one too many cool classes to attend and I missed that one.