Having decided to pamper your family with an exotic marine delicacy, the best option for a satisfying, wholesome and unusual taste dish will be cooking squid.
But first of all, the squid should be correctly selected and cleaned, because the appearance of the dish and its taste depend directly on this.
The right choice of squid
Fresh squid is best suited for easy cleaning; the covering film is very easy to remove. But unfortunately, frozen products are sold in supermarkets, and in order to avoid problems with cleaning and cooking, seafood, you need to be able to choose the right one. An important point is that the squid should not be thawed and re-frozen, as all this complicates the process of cleaning it. For this, when choosing a product, it is recommended to pay attention to the following:
• Squid carcasses should be easy to detach and not stick to each other. If they are difficult to separate, this means that they are repeatedly frozen.
• The meat of the carcass must be white. If it has a red or bluish tint, this also means that the seafood has already been thawed, after which the meat has taken the color from the squid skin.
And, of course, at home, squids are stored in the freezer, before cleaning and cooking do not defrost. Remember this.
Cleaning and cutting squid
1. First, the frozen squid carcass should be rinsed with boiling water, and then immediately put in cold water, this method will simplify the process of removing the skin from the squid.
2. Cut the mollusk head - if there is one and tentacles (they will come in handy in preparation).
3. Gently gut the insides.
4. Feel on the mantle a transparent, thin chord (the spine of a mollusk) and pull it out.
5. Reverse side of the knife, peel the squid from the skin inside and out. In some cases, the film is well removed from the wide side of the mantle to the narrow, in one motion, like a stocking. After cleaning, the carcass should acquire a white color.
6. Rinse the squid carcass thoroughly under running water.
7. Previously separated tentacles also need to be cleaned. This is done easily, since the peel on them is more delicate than on the squid mantle itself and is well removed after scalding with boiling water under running water.
According to the results of squid cleaning, two products will be obtained for cooking: carcass and tentacles.
The secrets of cooking delicious squid in many ways
• Boiled squid
Pour water into the prepared pan. Add salt, bay leaf, allspice (peas) to it, then wait for the water to boil.
Peeled squid carcasses into boiling water for 10-15 seconds. Then immediately pull out the fillet to avoid digestion.
There is another cooking method. Everything is done in the same way as in the previous method, but after boiling water the carcasses are lowered into boiled water and removed from the fire. Then insist about 10 minutes.
• Squid Frying
Before you start frying seafood, first of all, you need to boil it using one of the above methods.
After that, cool the boiled squid and cut into strips or rings.
Cook the lezon. To do this, beat the eggs, add spices, sour cream or mayonnaise to them.
Dip the sliced fillet in the ice cream and bread in breadcrumbs for breading.
Fry in a pan with a small amount of vegetable or butter for 3-5 minutes.
In the same way, the dish can be cooked in a deep fryer.
The remaining squids, tentacles, can be cooked or fried according to one of the recipes.
• Squid Stuffing
Pre-cleaned carcasses of mollusks are slightly beaten off. Then the cooked filling (it can be mushrooms with onions and eggs, vegetable or even meat filling) more than half stuff the beaten carcass.
The edges are fixed with a skewer. Stuffed squids are stewed in an oven preheated to 180 degrees with the addition of water for 10-15 minutes. In 2-3 minutes sprinkled with grated cheese until tender. Baked until golden brown.
Tips for housewife cooking squid
1. In order for the mollusk meat to be soft, the cooking time should not exceed 15 seconds.
2. It is not recommended to overload a squid dish with various spices during cooking. The dish will be too saturated, will lose its exotic taste.
3. Some cooks, to give a greater flavor, add a slice of lemon or one bag of black tea to the water during cooking.
There are a lot of cooking options for this delicacy. It all depends on your desires and preferences in food.
Now, having learned how to choose the right one and also easily cleaned seafood, you can pamper your loved ones with dietary, at the same time hearty and healthy squid dishes.
