Campfire-Fried Albalone with Pickled Kelp Tartar

Fried abalone strips with pickled kelp tartar sauce — plated on location in Sitka, Alaska.

There's a reason you don't see a lot of abalone recipes on the internet that actually taste like abalone. Most of them pound it, bread it heavy, and fry it too long — turning a twenty-dollar shellfish into something that could be a piece of chicken. Or a flip-flop.

I've been up and down the Alaska coast eating things most people have never heard of. But when I sat down with Chef Edith Johnson at Ludwig's Bistro in Sitka, I tasted abalone the way it was meant to be cooked. No tenderizing mallet. No thick breading. No guesswork. Just a flash fry over a campfire, smoked sea salt, and a tartar sauce that rewrites what tartar sauce can be.

What Is Farmed Abalone?

Abalone are sea snails — slow-growing, carefully managed, and not cheap. Farmed abalone takes anywhere from two to five years to reach market size depending on species and environmental conditions. They start life about the size of a speck of black pepper. By the time they hit your pan, they've been raised in controlled ocean environments and shipped to wholesalers and restaurants.

Wild harvest has been restricted in California and much of the West Coast for years, which is why you primarily find abalone at higher-end restaurants. The farmed version is your best bet nationwide — and it's genuinely excellent when you don't overcook it.

Where to find it: Specialty seafood markets, Japanese grocery stores, and online seafood retailers ship farmed abalone nationwide. Look for green or red abalone varieties. Expect to pay $15–$30 per piece depending on size.

Fried abalone strips with pickled kelp tartar sauce — plated on location in Sitka, Alaska.

The Technique That Changes Everything

Here's where most home cooks go wrong: they treat abalone like calamari and fry it to death. Abalone is already tender when sliced properly. The goal isn't to cook it through — it's to get the crust right and pull it the second it's done.

Chef Edith's method skips the mallet entirely. Instead of pounding the abalone into a thin fillet (the traditional preparation), she cleans the edges and slices it into thin strips. This preserves the natural texture and allows each piece to fry evenly and fast.

The smoked sea salt seasons the meat before dredging — not after. That detail matters. Seasoning under the crust means every bite carries flavor through, not just on the surface.

And the oil has to be ready. Get it genuinely hot before the first piece goes in. Then flash fry. Seconds per side. You're done before you think you should be.

The Pickled Kelp Tartar Sauce

Standard tartar sauce is fine. Pickled kelp tartar sauce is something else. The kelp brings a briny, oceanic depth that relish can't match — it ties the whole dish back to where it came from. If you're in Sitka, Simple Pleasures carries the pickled bulk kelp Scott mentions on the show. If you're not, see the substitution note in the recipe below. The sauce is still excellent.