Seafood Recipes

Sake Steamed Abalone With LiverSauce

Abalone steamed slowly in sake until tender, served sliced in the shell with a sauce made from its liver.

Sake Steamed Abalone With Liver Sauce
4 People
Serves
25 Mins
Prep Time
3 hours Mins
Cook Time
Medium
Difficulty
Japanese
Cuisine
The Recipe

About This SeafoodDish

Delight your taste buds with the luxurious flavors of Sake Steamed Abalone with Liver Sauce. This exquisite dish combines the delicate sweetness of fresh abalone, gently steamed in sake to preserve its tender texture, with a rich and umami-packed liver sauce. Perfectly balancing the briny essence of the sea with the smooth richness of sake, this recipe is a refined culinary experience that showcases the abalone’s natural flavors. Serve it as a decadent appetizer or a sophisticated main course to impress your guests with a gourmet seafood feast.

Ingredients

  1. 4 live abalone (about 150g each)
  2. Enough sake to submerge the abalone
  3. 2 tbsp of soy sauce
  4. 2 tbsp of mirin

Method

  1. Place the abalone into iced water for 1 hour.
  2. Remove the abalone from the shell using a wooden spoon or heavy
    metal spoon. Cut away the innards and membrane, leaving only the meat
    portion, and reserve the liver.
  3. Scrub the abalone meat and shells with a toothbrush to clean them
    thoroughly. Place the cleaned abalone in a small heatproof bowl.
  4. In a saucepan, bring the sake to a boil. Carefully ignite the sake
    with a flame until the alcohol burns off. Pour the sake over the
    abalone until submerged, and seal the bowl with plastic wrap.
  5. Place the bowl and shells into a steamer and steam for 2–3 hours,
    or until the abalone is tender. Alternatively, sous vide the abalone in
    the sake for 2 hours at 85˚C.
  6. Trim the livers from the rest of the guts. Cut a small incision into the base of the livers and wash to remove any sand.
  7. Roughly mash the livers and pass through a sieve. Weigh the pureed
    liver and add a third of the liver's weight each of abalone poaching
    sake, soy sauce, and mirin. For example, if the liver weighs 30g, add
    10g each of sake, soy sauce, and mirin.
  8. Transfer the liver mixture to a small saucepan and stir over very
    low heat until it reaches 75˚C. Pass through a sieve again for a smooth
    sauce.
  9. Slice the abalone and serve in the shells, with the liver sauce on the side.
From Our Kitchen

Chef's Tip

The key to tender abalone is patience. Gentle heat over a long cook allows the muscle to slowly relax without tightening or turning tough. And don’t rush the liver sauce — keeping it below 75°C preserves its silky texture and deep ocean umami, giving the dish its signature richness.

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NUTRITION

NutritionPerServing

  • Calories 135 kcal
  • Total Fat 2.0 g
  • Total Carbohydrate 3.0 g
  • Protein 24.0 g
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