Pre-cook Abalone

Cup of Yum
1. Clean abalone by lighlty brushing the top and sides with a soft brush but still leaving the abalone intact in the shell. WATCH VIDEO to see how I clean. You don't have to remove all the black stuff - just clean and rinse enough so the dirt and grime is removed.
2. Steam abalone (still attached to shell) for 10 min or until a metal skewer or chopstick goes in easily. No need to cook all the way. *Steaming the abalone still attached to the shell is the trick to making a tender abalone
3. When cooked, take it out of the steamer and let it cool for a few minutes so you can handle it. Keep abalone covered while you cool it so it doesn't get too dry.
4. Once cooled, remove abalone from shell and strip off intestines and cut out the mouth/beak. SEE VIDEO.
5. Score abalone by slicing just the top part of it in a grid pattern. This is so the sauce will get absorbed into the meat. Cover and set aside.

Make Sauce

1. Slice a piece of fresh ginger - 1/8th thick slice and in a small sauce pot - mix with soy sauce, sugar, water, piece of fresh ginger.
2. Bring to boil and then simmer for 5 min or so until sauce is reduced.
3. To the reduced sauce, add maple syrup, rice wine and guk ganjang and simmer again for another 3-5 min till it becomes thick and syrupy like in pic.
4. Skewer abalones so you can cook them evenly and easily (you don't have to). Coat them with sauce. Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and cook the jeonbok just couple minutes on each side until it is nicely browned. Because it's already steamed, you are just getting a nice sear on these. Press them down with a spatula as they cook so they get evenly browned not just the edges. Brush some more sauce as needed as you cook them.
5. Here's a cross-section to show you how it looks when done! Garnish with some chopped pine nuts for extra rich flavor.