Good day, my blog visitors! Today we will talk about the features of preparing a very tasty and healthy seafood - squid. If you came to this article from a search engine, then you are probably planning to cook something delicious, for example, squid salad. This means you need complete and comprehensive information on this topic.
Some housewives believe that if the product is cooked longer, the shellfish meat will be more tender. But this is fundamentally wrong. To avoid mistakes and get the perfect result, be sure to read the article to the end.
Squid is one of the most popular products in cooking, but many refuse to use it further for one simple reason - they didn’t like the result, read - it didn’t work out. Tough meat, similar to rubber, which in addition is also bitter. But in fact, shellfish fillet is particularly tender and can be combined with many foods in salads. Today we will definitely learn how to cook it correctly, and there are many different ways to clean and cook squid for salad or other dishes.
In stores you can find whole, uncleaned carcasses with heads, tentacles and already completely cleaned fillets. You can also buy ready-made rings at the supermarket. We will consider all the cooking options, and you choose the most convenient and optimal option for yourself.
If you don’t have time to read the entire article and you know all the features for preparing clams, then I will write the general time frame: cook in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, in a slow cooker for 2 minutes, in a pressure cooker and microwave for 1 minute. But please note that there are some nuances and tips that I wrote for you below.
How to properly cook squid so that it is soft?
It's no secret how important it is to preserve all the vitamins and proteins in squid. After all, in this case we will not only get tasty and tender meat, but we will also help saturate the body with magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Housewives know that prolonged heat treatment destroys protein. But you have to resort to this, since animal proteins take a very long time to cook. However, under no circumstances should this rule be applied to cephalopods.
I’ll step back a little from the question of how to properly cook squid so that they are soft. After all, before starting heat treatment, squid carcasses must be properly prepared for this. A very important point is the original type of mollusk. Is it deep frozen or is it a fresh and chilled product.
The delicacy cannot be defrosted urgently in the microwave or hot water. Of course, such methods reduce the time spent in the kitchen, but they greatly affect the taste and quality of the seafood.
The ideal place for defrosting is the bottom shelf of the refrigerator, so plan the preparation of the final product in advance so as not to do it in an emergency. At room temperature, defrosting time will be approximately 3 hours. You can also place the squid in cold water and wait for a while, but remember that their meat absorbs water very well and due to wateriness, it can lose its richness of flavor.
But even after this, as usual, you cannot throw the carcasses into water and cook for some time. They must be cleaned of the entrails and “mantle”, and only the white, elastic meat should be left. If you later need to cut the squid into rings for salad or perhaps plan to stuff them, then it is important to maintain its integral pouch shape.
When purchasing a whole squid, simply separate the body from the head by pulling it to the side. It will also be necessary to carefully remove the entrails and hard chord. It is located on the inside and looks like a thick polyethylene strip. (When I pulled this thing out for the first time, I thought that they were specially inserted in stores to maintain the shape of the carcass
