Ways to cook Calamari/Squid?

Not a huge fan of the pre-crumbed rubber they sell at the super markets, so i was going to give cooking fresh calamari from scratch a go.

Need some tips on how its done, the main thing i'm worried about is under cooking it (i know if you over cook it, its pretty foul and tasteless).

I heard if you marinate it in lemon juice and olive oil, it makes it more tender?

 

QUICKLY!!!!

I like to open the tubes out flat, score them with a diagonal cross hatch pattern on the outside surface, and cut them into around 1cm strips.
Marinate them in olive oil and garlic. Overnight preferrably.

When ready to cook, (I like to use a barbecue), make sure your plate/pan is as hot as you can get it. Add a splash more olive oil to the hot plate, and some more garlic if you love it as much as I do, then place the squid on the hotplate. If you have a small pan or hotplate, dont put too much on at once as you will cool down the cooking surface too much.

As soon as the squid starts to sizzle, keep turning it... Constantly.
It will only take about 2-3 minutes to cook. Just before serving, you can add some oyster sauce, and toss through the squid. It will curl up when its done.

Dont worry too much about ''undercooking'' as so long as it is warm through, it wont be a problem. Better under than over cooked.

 

hi,
i totally agree with edge...
the only difference is i would use baby octopus and marinate in a chilli/herby dressing over night.. then cook on bbq as specified by edge

regs john

 

get some butterand some finely diced parsley or mint and mix it together
do as stated above and score the squid then melt a bit of butter in a pan and sautee the squid untill it rolls up on itself then pour just a little of the excess butter over the top

 

I cut it into rings, marinate in lemon juice for half an hour (wouldn't go overnight, it would probably overcook it) then oil up a hot pan, cook the rings for about 5 minutes, until *just* done, throw in heaps of parsley, put into a serving bowl and eat with a buttered baguette.

Really easy and tastes amazing with good, fresh calamari.

Could also add some chilli for good measure.

 

get a whole squid, lay it out flat, score it "cross hatch", dry the squid off on paper towel, get it as dry as you can, then cut into long strips.

Make up a mix of 1/3 each of sea salt, flour and szechwan pepper, drop the squid into the dry mix.

Deep fry the squid until golden, eat ASAP, with a squeeze of lemon or lime.



KC

 

Try marinating it with kiwi rather than lemon. It doesn't affect the flavour much but has something in it that tenderises really well.

Other than that, the above post with salt and sezchaun peppers is right! dry fry the peppers ( whole ) and sea-salt very hot for a short while tip them into a pestle/mortar and crush together and let cool. This helps release the flavour of the peppers.

 

With squid/octopus/calamari, the trick is to either cook it VERY quickly or for a long time - anything in between will result in a mouth full of rubber .

If doing it for a long time, a red wine braise is always nice... italian/greek mothers swear that if you put the cork in the pot while everything is cooking, it will always come out tender.

 

had my first serving of fresh calamari for the first time in 3 years tonight.

i recommend:

smaller squid: might just be me, but the bigger they are the higher the tyre content
soak in milk: again, might just be personal pref, but we've always found this softened them up a bit too.
crumb with real bread: dont buy the crumbs, leave some bread on the side for a day or two and make your own.
hot and fast: tonight the oil was 190c, in for 1 minute and no more.

*homer drooling sound*

 

Marinate your squid overnight in a puree of kiwi fruit, paw paw and milk. the end result is some very tender calamari. from memory it has something to do with enzymes being broken down than stops it from being rubbery. as for cooking it, hot and fast as stated above.

 

My way is a little unhealthier but tasty.

I cut the squid into rings and lightly coat in some flour (get a freezer bag put some flour in it, a few squid rings and shake), then fry in a really hot pan very quickly.

Throw over some sea salt, pepper and chopped parsley and some lemon juice.

 

These guys speak the truth

I never went to the trouble of making a puree, but a few slices of kiwi inside the tubes makes for very tender calamari.

Another way to cut calamari (for frying) is to start with a rectangle- say 2cm by 4cm.
Then, starting on one of the 2cm sides, make 3 cuts that run parallel to the long side, almost to the other end.
Salt/pepper/flour and fry as mentioned previously, and you'll find that the little strips that you cut go all crazy and curl up. Not only does it look different, but they go crispy and stay a nice texture for quite a while after cooking.

 

I cut the tubes into rings.

Hot wok, splash of oil and a teaspoon of chilli.

Throw in rings and keep them on the move for about 1 minute. Add a generous splash of soy and one can of coconut cream. Add broccoli florets place lid on wok and let simmer for about 20 minutes - yummy

 

haven't read entire thread




I usualy cut the tubes in to rings dip in milk then flour then back in to milk then in to bread crumbs then deep fry......... (or shallow fry depending)

 

Personally, for fish-and-chip-style calamari-rings, I like to do some variation on the following:

Marinate it at least overnight in milk. Drain. Dip in flour, then in egg, then in a mix of breadcrumbs, lemon-zest and garlic, all buzzed up in a food processor with salt and pepper to taste.

You can also get sensational results doing them in really good tempura batter

Soaking in milk or another mildly acidic substance (a mix of lemon-juice with something else for example) makes a huge difference in texture. Completely wrong for most asian-style dishes, but it's just about critical for good english/aussie style calamari rings imo

EDIT - And for gods sake, make sure you cook it hot and quick. Calamari's completely ruined by cooking too slowly

 

oh, also, dont waste the heads!

cut out the eyes and beaks, leave the tentacles on, and you wouldnt know the difference

 

or go fishing with any little off cuts, fillet fish, batter and shallow fry to go with the squid

 

sorry to revive the thread but I think it's better than starting a new one..

What can I do with squid tentacles?

We caught 15 on the weekend and were going to chuck the tentacles but then I thought, hang on, I'm sure I can make something tasty with them.

Has anyone cooked them before?

 

yep, just cook em the same way, hot and fast. (for small ones that is)

 

cheers.

Turns out my g/f's favourite traditional dish is Calamari Curry or Dhallo Badun (Sri Lankan) so I might try that with some of them too

sounds tasty