Chilean Loco meat seared and steamed

 

Got photo of an interesting dish from friend, of baked abalone with ginger and coriander, sounded tasty and looked great. However most of the abalones sold in local market are farmed. One day I saw in the frozen food part of a supermarket Loco meat from Chile, I remembered eating it there and tasted like abalone.

Chilean Loco meat defrosted

Reading on the net, Loco meat is actually a type of Chilean snail, but is very similar to abalone in terms of look, taste and texture. So I can experiment with the recipe, 2 baked and 2 seared. 

Chilean Loco meat after washing with salt

1. Rub defrosted loco meat with salt twice to remove the slime and black marks.

Seared Loco meat

Chilean Loco meat seared with ginger

2. Warm pan with oil and ginger, at high heat add Loco meat flat side down, a lot of liquid will come out, add half a cup of rice wine, lower to medium heat and put lid on. 

3. Cook for 4 minutes, liquid will gradually dry off.

Crunchy texture like abalone, goes well with tasty reduced jus.

Baked Loco meat

Chilean Loco meat before baking

Chilean Loco meat wrapped up

4. Place Local meat on baking paper, add a tbsp rice wine, ginger, rosemary (or coriander), wrap up and bake at 200˚C for 10 minutes, rest with oven door ajar for 5 minutes.

Chilean Loco meat after baking

Same crunchy texture, but a lot of liquid came out and not very presentable, but the fragrant of rosemary indeed went into the meat.