Al ~ My dad used to make a abalone soup with abalone, watercress and I believe some slices of pork. Of course, you only wish you asked for the recipe while they were living.  I was wondering if you may have one.  It was a long time ago, when canned abalone and salmon was expensive. But I just was given a can of abalone so I want to make the soup.  If you can help thanks.

Gee, it's been ages since I've had that abalone watercress soup too! And as hard as I tried to find a recipe, I couldn't find one, so here is a kind of thrown together recipe from my memories of what that soup was made of:

• Chicken broth or fish stock (make your own from the bones of chickens or fish, or buy the canned chicken stock... use the low sodium kind)
• Ginger (maybe about 1" fresh ginger cut in thin slices)
• Strips of fresh pork sirloin (this will cook in the soup) or Chinese roast pork strips
• Chinese cabbage, cut up (or you can use watercress, or use both cabbage and watercress)
• 1 or 2 shiitake mushrooms (just throw in the soup and they will soften and add flavor...then when you're ready to serve the soup, retrieve the mushrooms and slice them into small strips)
• Abalone (if you can afford it... sometimes they have canned fake abalone which you can also use)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Cellophane noodles (one bunch, soaked in warm water until pliable, then drained), optional

Heat up the stock, ginger and shiitake mushrooms first, until the mushrooms are tender. Take them out and slice into thin strips. Toss in the cabbage, watercress and pork sirloin and cook for a few minutes until the pork is cooked through and the cabbage and watercress are limp. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the cellophane noodles into the soup bowl, pour the soup over it,  And then put the abalone or Chinese roast pork on top for garnish.

This is a real simple soup that tastes good and is good for you, too!