How to cook squid correctly

People have long been eating seafood: shrimp, octopus, crabs, squid, oysters, scallops. Sometimes they are eaten raw, not fried or boiled. This can only be done when the freshness of the delicacies is guaranteed. Squids are most often subjected to heat treatment: they are usually consumed boiled, fried in a pan or grilled. It is very difficult to find a restaurant that offers fresh squid sashimi to the visitor.

KP together with the chef understands how to properly cook squid at home.

Step #1. Cleaning

Wash the squid under running water, remove the tentacles if any. They can be torn off.

Если вы приобрели неочищенную тушку, удалите внутренности — хрящи, напоминающие по структуре пластик.

From the outside of the body, remove the white-purple or purple membrane. You can pry it off with a knife or pick it up and remove it with your fingers.

If the squid is bought with a head, then cut it off. But specimens with a head are rare, as are mollusks with tentacles. Usually already cut squid carcasses are sold, from which you need to get the cartilage and remove the membrane.

Before cooking, make sure that the squid does not have foreign odors. Freshly unpacked and unpeeled squid may smell like the sea, but not after cleaning.

Step #2. Heat treatment

There are two ways to boil or stew squid: fast and slow.

Fast cooking method

A quick way to cook squid is common all over the world. In fast mode, processing squid takes up to 5 minutes. Fill a small saucepan with water, salt to taste, add lemon juice (or half a lemon), bring to a boil.

As soon as the water boils, lower the squid carcasses into it – they should be completely covered with water. After 3 minutes, the clams will decrease in size, rise to the surface of boiling water, and become opaque white. After that, cook them for another 1-2 minutes and remove them to a plate with a slotted spoon or fork. Let them cool down. Warm or cold squid is ready to eat on its own. It can also be stuffed or sliced ​​and added to salad, pasta or other dishes.

You can quickly cook squids not only by boiling, but also using a frying pan or grill. Seafood can be fried on coals or on a stove in olive oil for 3-4 minutes. As soon as the squid turns white – remove from heat.

slow cooking method

The slow method of cooking squid is popular in Spain, Portugal, Italy, where squid is boiled or stewed for up to 2 hours. To cook a stewed clam, you need to put it in a pot or pan, pour fish or vegetable broth. The broth can be replaced with white or red wine.

Add chopped tomatoes and peppers to the mixture (you can Bulgarian, for piquancy – fragrant black or spicy red). Sauté shallots and garlic in a separate pan until golden brown. They are also added to the mixture. When all the ingredients are in place, the pot or pan is placed on a low, slow fire. Thus, squids are stewed for up to 2 hours. The finished dish is recommended to be eaten with a slice of black bread.

Step number 3. Cooking dishes from boiled squid

Boiled squids are a ready-made independent dish. But if you want something more interesting, there are a lot of options for dishes with seafood:

• salads;
• pizza;
• pastes;
• squid stuffed with rice, egg and onion.

You can also make minced meat from boiled mollusk. Properly cooked squid – soft, white, cooled – pass through a meat grinder or chop finely. From such minced meat you can make cutlets or zrazy and quickly fry them in a pan. The dish will be interesting in itself, but there is always an option to show imagination and, for example, add a cutlet to a burger. Boiled squids in any form go well with other types of meat, nobly emphasizing their taste.

Chef’s Tips

Lyudmila Yakovenko, chef of My Big Love, shares the secrets of cutting and cooking squid.

Сначала займемся очисткой кальмара. Тушку кальмара можно очистить, разрезав ее вдоль или не разрезая, если вы планируете фаршировать или подавать кальмар целиком. Удалите хитиновую пластину и все внутренности из кальмара и хорошо промойте под проточной водой.

Further, squid can be cooked in different ways, depending on which dish you want to see it in. But it is important to keep in mind the main rules:

• at a high temperature, the mollusk cooks quickly (here we include such methods of cooking squid as blanching, quick frying on a grill or a hot pan)
• at a low temperature – slowly, for a long time (this method is good for simmering, stewing, cooking at a low temperature in aromatic broth or your own juice: for example, in a ziplock bag with olive oil and herbs).

Среднее время для режима быстрого приготовления: 2-3 минуты, для медленного и долгого режима: от часу и до мягкости.

Quick boiled or fried squid is perfect with warm potato salad, pasta with seasonal herbs and vegetables, or cold salad with lots of greens. Long cooking is suitable for stews.

Recipe for cooking squid from the chef

Lyudmila Yakovenko делится необычным и простым рецептом приготовления моллюсков.

Squid like bolognese sauce

Finely chop the raw, peeled squid, also prepare finely chopped vegetables (onion, celery stalk, fennel, add a little garlic).

Roast the vegetables in a large skillet.

After that, add chopped squid, lightly fry and, lowering the temperature, add wine first, and then gradually introduce tomatoes in their own juice and fish broth in small batches.

Томите все до состояния плотного однородного соуса.

Season with your favorite fresh herbs and add to pasta or lasagne.