Two dinners of impeccably humble octopus. First experience. How to remove an octopus - and is it worth it How to clean small octopuses

The octopus is one large muscle. The larger the octopus, the tougher the meat. To make the meat of this cephalopod soft, juicy and tender, it must be properly cleaned and prepared.

Instructions

A fresh octopus should have firm flesh, a sea fishy smell, a brown skin color, and the white of the eyes should be transparent and white. It is recommended to purchase octopuses weighing up to a kilogram, they have more tender and softer meat.

Rinse octopus under running water, sort through each tentacle, remove all sand and dirt.

Cut off the head slightly below the eyes, remove the tentacles, set them aside. Cut off the eyes, use a knife to clean out the cavity of the carcass. Press out the beak with force, cut it out and discard it. Rinse well the inside and outside of the head cleaned from the insides.

Fresh skin octopus very difficult to remove. Therefore, chefs often leave it until they are cooked. If you still want to remove your skin, cook octopus in water for 5-10 minutes, cool it, and then remove the skin from the cold carcass.

Now octopus can be cooked or frozen for storage. Experienced chefs recommend always freezing the carcass. octopus before, it substantially softens tough muscle meat. Put peeled octopus in the freezer and leave for at least a day, but better for 2-3 days. Water contained in the muscle structure octopus, turning into ice, will expand, tearing nerves and rigid fibers. To unfreeze octopus, it is enough to put it in the refrigerator for 6-10 hours.

From octopus you can cook a huge number of dishes. This meat goes well with onions, garlic, tomatoes, lemon, olive oil, rice, wine and soy sauce... Not only is octopus great in salads, it's great as a main course. For example, try making a kebab from octopus or stew it in red wine.

note

Octopuses are very helpful. Properly cooked octopus meat is a source of calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, iron, selenium and a huge amount of vitamins.

If until recently we saw exotic inhabitants of the deep sea only on TV screens, today they can be found on store shelves. And some of them make very delicious food! And how to cook an octopus so that it is tasty and healthy?

How to make the right choice?

First of all, you should choose an octopus.

Frozen or fresh? If you want to get the maximum benefit and enjoy the delicate flavor, then it is advisable to choose fresh. But you will probably have to cut it, although you can ask the seller about it (he will probably have to pay). And if you want to save time and energy, you can also purchase frozen octopus, in this form the carcasses are usually sold already completely cut and cooked even faster, and this is very convenient.
Pay attention to the size. Small octopuses have more tender flesh, medium ones are more nutritious, but a large adult octopus weighing about two or three kilograms can be "rubbery".
Rate appearance... But this criterion will only be relevant if you buy a fresh octopus. The surface of the carcass should be shiny, the color should be burgundy-brownish and uniform. No damage is allowed.
Examine the smell. It is specific, but quite pleasant. He definitely shouldn't give it away.

Proper preparation for cooking

Preparation consists of several stages:

Defrost the carcass first if frozen. But this should be done only at room temperature, that is, naturally, and not in a microwave oven.
Further under the stream cold water rinse the octopus thoroughly to remove all mucus.
It is not worth cleaning the carcasses before cooking, the skin is very, very difficult to remove, so it is better to get rid of it after heat treatment (then it will peel off quickly). But if the octopus is adult and large, then its shell will be quite dense, so that it can be scraped off with a knife at this stage.
Now you need to cut the carcass (the frozen one will probably already be cut). To do this, it is more convenient to first cut off the tentacles, but this is not necessary. Next, cut off the bottom of the head, that is, the support on which the tentacles are held. In it, you will find a mouth opening that looks like a tooth or beak. It needs to be removed. To do this, first squeeze it out, and then cut it out with a knife. Also cut out the eyes.
Now wash the inside of your head well to remove all giblets, as well as ink, if any. Then you can turn it out and rinse it again.
If the octopus is large, then it is advisable to beat it off before cooking.

How to cook?

If you decide to cook an octopus for the first time, then the most in a simple way there will be cooking for you. But how much to cook it to make it delicious? The processing should be short, otherwise the meat will become stringy and tough, like rubber (this is a very common problem).

Your task is simply to exterminate all pathogenic organisms. Small octopuses need to be cooked for only about five to seven minutes, larger ones - about 20. But a large octopus can be cooked for about an hour.

You can check the readiness with a toothpick. Pierce the largest part of the carcass with it, that is, the head. If the toothpick comes in easily and quickly, then the octopus is ready. If not, cook it some more. And after cooking, you can remove the skin.

How to cook?

How to cook an octopus correctly if you want to make a more interesting dish? Some interesting options are suggested below.

Option number 1

You can bake an octopus with potatoes. Here's what you need:

1 kg of octopuses (or whole carcass);
1 kg of potatoes;
parsley;
five cloves of garlic;
three tablespoons of lemon juice;
olive oil;
salt to taste.

Preparation:

Peel the potatoes, cut into slices and boil.
Boil the octopus and cut it (you don't need to chop the small octopus).
Brush the bottom of a baking dish with olive oil.
Place the potatoes mixed with the octopus in a mold, sprinkle everything with lemon juice and olive oil, and sprinkle with chopped garlic and chopped parsley. Do not forget to add salt to the dish.

Option number 2

Try stewing the octopus at home using sour cream and milk. Prepare:

500 grams of octopuses;
2 glasses of milk;
half a glass of sour cream;
five tablespoons of flour;
three tablespoons of white wine;
a tablespoon of lemon juice;
three cloves of garlic;
two tablespoons of olive oil;
salt and pepper to taste.

How to cook?

Boil octopuses for about 10 minutes, adding lemon juice and wine to the water.
Now peel the carcasses and cut into portions if they are large.
Heat olive oil in a frying pan, fry the garlic.
Add the milk and when it is hot, dissolve the flour in it.
Cook the sauce until boiling, then add sour cream.
Now lay out the octopuses.
Put pepper and salt in a skillet, simmer for five minutes and remove from heat.

Option number 3

You can cook delicious salad... Here's what you need to do this:

500 grams of octopuses;
4 potatoes;
red onion head;
10 cherry tomatoes;
lettuce leaves;
60 grams of pitted olives;
5 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of liquid honey.

Preparation:

Boil the octopus, peel and cut.
Boil the potatoes in their skins, peel and cut into cubes.
Cut the cherry into halves.
Cut the onion into half rings.
Just pick the lettuce leaves.
To make the sauce, combine the vinegar, oil, lemon juice and honey.
Mix ingredients, salt and season with sauce.
Salad ready!

You only need to dip the octopus in boiling water. Moreover, real connoisseurs advise to do this gradually: first, immerse the tentacles, and when they slightly change their shade and begin to curl, you can omit the whole carcass.
Do not add salt during cooking, it will make the pulp hard. For taste, you can use some kind of scented seasoning.
If you do not want to beat off the octopus, then you can freeze it, this technique will also allow you to soften the meat.
It is advisable to reduce the fire to a minimum, the carcasses should literally languish in barely boiling water, and not boil in a bubbling broth (then the taste will deteriorate).
To make the pulp more tender, you can add a wine bottle stopper (of course, not a plastic one) during cooking.
Octopus goes well with a variety of sauces, especially creamy and soy.
You can serve dishes with any side dishes, for example, vegetables, spaghetti, rice.
To quickly remove the skin, after heat treatment, you can douse the octopus with cold water.

Choose the most best recipe and be sure to surprise your household and guests with an unusual and tasty dish!

Feb 5, 2016 Olga

I bought an octopus from my fishmonger, but when I asked if he could peel it, he openly admitted that he had never made an octopus before and did not know how. Well, me too, but I took it upon myself. This is clearly a bad decision, I don't even like gutted fish!

I am reading about this and a certain website says the following

The octopus needs to be peeled as well, so you can ask your fishmonger to do this if you are uncomfortable doing it yourself. Keep the head under running water to simply remove and discard the ink sac, stomach and eyes. Then use a sharp knife to carve out the beak that is at the bottom of the head.

I am very lost with this statement; it seems like the article says that keeping your head underwater will just fall off (it's doubtful it would be rubbish to be a sea creature otherwise!). Is it obscured "how" because it is very difficult?

More reading on other sites suggests that the head is very gelatinous and the vast majority of the meat / flavor comes from the hands.

So, based on my own research (if that's correct), is it worth cleaning the octopus (and if so, can someone explain how), or would I be better off just chopping off the head (and pulling out the beak) and throwing them away, holding only legs / arms?

logophobe

Once you get the job done, you will be protected from everything else. The Broken Octopus has a fairly high squat factor (although this is actually quite easy over a large, clean shell). Fish cleaning versus routine.

moscafj

Also, find a new fishmonger.

Answers

Jolenealaska

This is great video, which explains every step. She chops off her head by cutting above her eyes, so removing her beak is part of cleaning her tentacles.

These are your first cuts.

Cut off the head above the eyes and cut the head. Flush out the intestines, there will be some connective tissue that needs to be cut or broken to get to all the disgusting stuff. Rinse and clean thoroughly. It's simple.

Cut off the tentacles under the eyes (the piece that contains the eyes can simply be dropped). This will expose the beak, which is in the center where the tentacles meet. It just pops up.

The tentacles can simply be rinsed and cut as desired.

Easy and worth it. Good luck.

Of course, you can keep the octopus "whole" by cutting the eyes in a pie-shaped cropping, exposing the beak and intestines to be cleaned, but keeping the connection between the tentacles and the head on the "back side", otherwise follow the instructions in the video.

logophobe

The meat of the head bag is relatively thin, so you won't lose much if you choose easy way, just rip off the tentacles and throw out the whole head. Depends entirely on your tolerance for waste.

Jolenealaska ♦

@logophobe ... and your tolerance for squint :)

Octopus. I still can't sit down and tell about my recent acquaintance with him.

Below is a photo of how to cut an octopus and two ways to cook an octopus.
I never held it alive in my hands, but there was a recent post in the bookmarks (yeah. In August) trio_mia about this handsome man, and I decided not to look for something new, but to use exactly what was already in the chosen one.

So. First you need to remove the eyes - it's easy.

The sharp knife and eyes were gone. Next is the "beak". Simple too. Two notches and it's already available for review. He's so funny!

I should have removed the ink bag too, but I couldn't find it. Well, I looked through everything and did not find it. Somewhere he was obviously hiding, because then the broth turned colored!
Nevertheless, I prepared everything for cooking.

Coarsely chopped carrots, onions, lemon, filled with water and put on fire. I’ve read “take a big pot”. Well, I took a big one…. But not as big as it should be. Let me explain. You need a HIGH, not a wide pan, because ... all this jelly-like octopus at high temperatures comes in tone, the tentacles twist beautifully, the head (which I did not cut off) acquires a firm roundness and rises vertically. So in the water, he just simply "got up" and stood with his head stuck out above the water among floating carrots and yellow barrels of lemon. Here I cut off his head)))

When the water boiled, I put the octopus in there and lowered it.
Well, and so he safely boiled over a low fire for an hour, after which he was left to swim in the same water until the next evening.
The next evening, when I saw his color, I began to think that somewhere there was his ink, which I did not find. Well, nothing, I washed it from this color. I began to look a little more decent. I cut off a piece. I tried it. I expected that there would be enough rubber, but no. Soft, pleasantly toned, without harsh taste and smell. Neutral, yet recognizable taste.

I cut it in two and started making two recipes.
So. I had half the octopus already cooked.
I peeled and cut 4 potatoes.

Cut them into medium cubes and fry until crisp.

In the meantime, I cut the octopus

an onion, a clove of garlic,

several sprigs of parsley and chopped into two pieces of dried white bread.

When the potatoes were ready, I added all the ingredients, and literally heated them in a pan for half a minute, salt, a mixture of 5 freshly ground peppers and a bit of lemon juice.

That was more than interesting. Firstly, potatoes with bread crumbs - already interesting, lightly fried parsley (this technique is somehow little used and more recently I read in one book of the late 18th century about French cuisine that fried parsley was very much even used in the kitchen of that time, now with with the help of a microwave and food film, chips are made from leaves), the sourness of lemon and among this the taste of the octopus is not lost.

The dish went off with a bang, especially considering the more than fastidious taste of my sister, who does not use half of my dishes)))
Repeat and repeat - just give an octopus)))
The second half of the octopus stayed for dinner on the second day.
I pickled it.

Chopped parsley, chopped 1 clove of garlic, squeezed half a lemon, added olive oil, salt, pepper and pieces of octopus. Into the container and until the next evening.
He was clearly asking for white wine. Such cold, dry and toasted pieces of bread.

My conclusion is logical - everything is simpler than it seems and there are so many interesting things around that I will have enough for a couple of lives and a dozen stomachs. And the octopus for me is impeccably modest and pleasantly caresses the sky with its tenderness, without bothering my jaws with long chewing.
Want an octopus? Come visit me with him. In my bookmarks there are already 4 recipes with him in the lead role))))