Gathering (wild) Ormers

[Wyshiepoo]

Went gathering ormers today. Absolutely knackered now.
Had 15 but they were really hard work, I think my muscles and tendons will be ssore tomorrow.
This was the second tide this month so peeps had been down yesterday. I was lucky to get what I did.
The reason it is so tiring is that the tide goes out a long way here on a spring tide.
When you get there you have to turn whacking great big stones. The ormers are underneath they live right on the edge of the low tide mark.

They are a kind of abalone.

 

[karadekoolaid]

Went gathering ormers today. Absolutely knackered now.

They look absolutely divine, but I ´ve never heard of them. How do you prepare them?

 

[Wyshiepoo]

They look absolutely divine, but I ´ve never heard of them. How do you prepare them?

Pop them into fresh water for an hour or so.
Shuck them from their shells.
Remove the guts, known as 'the goodfish'.
Then beat them into tenderness, they have a very tough muscle that attaches to the shell.
There are many local recipes for them.
I prefer them simply dredged with flour and a sprinkle of garlic granules and then gently fried in butter.

 

[Wyshiepoo]

Oh and I eat the guts too. Both body and guts high in iodine due to their seaweed diet.

 

[Wyshiepoo]

Shell, body (before tenderising and guts.

 

[Wyshiepoo]

Beaten.

 

[Wyshiepoo]

Cooked and ready to eat.

I prefer to eat mine as is, others make them into a casserole. They can be pickled or otherwise preserved.

Legally you cannot keep raw ormers in your freezer. I think this is more to do with stopping commercial exploitation rather than stopping someone having a dozen ormers in their freezer.

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I found this article on then quite interesting.

The UK seafood that could send you to jail

 

[FowlersFreeTime]

Those look tasty! When you say they need to be beaten into tenderness, that kind of reminds me of conch preparation. Do people ever pressure cook them instead?

 

[Wyshiepoo]

Those look tasty! When you say they need to be beaten into tenderness, that kind of reminds me of conch preparation. Do people ever pressure cook them instead?

I've never heard of them being pressure cooked. As I say I'm a bit of a traditionalist. Problem is they have in the past been so hard to get that I've never really been tempted to experiment too much for fear of wasting the few that I have had.

All the casseroles I've tried have been 'meh' can't see why you'd ruin such a beautiful flavour.

I'm probably going to try ormering in Herm on the next tide and if I get a good catch I might experiment a bit

 

[Wyshiepoo]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1cDyoH-cFk