I haven't had it since I was a child Craig. It's always been hard to come by here, and for a time all harvesting of it was illegal in California. I remember it being quite tasty, pounded thin and breaded.
Came across this interesting article for those of us who know little about free diving harvesting. Free-Diving for Abalone in Northern California - WSJ
My Dad use to pound the heck out of it and it went into an Abalone and Watercress soup. We'd pick out the meat and leave the Watercress
I think that it's a Chinese dish actually... it was very good, just don't like the cress
Oh, sorry. I'm not a Cali girl, but we did have alot of it in Hawaii