Indeed, it was the fact that abalone, sea cucumber and shark fin need to be dried that helped them to their status as exclusive and eternally fashionable seafoods. In the seafood section of his recipe book, Yuan Mei wrote that sea cucumber "will only be soft if boiled the day before the guests are invited," while hard shark fin required two days 'boiling to soften.
袁枚的「海鮮單」上，說海參「明日請客，得先一日要煨才爛」，魚翅則要煮兩日才能摧剛為柔，鮑魚更折騰，「性堅，終不能齒決，火煨三日，才拆得碎。」