Residents of Russia are mostly used to buying and cooking squid carcasses, however, if you wish, you can also find a more delicious representative of cephalopods in stores. You just need to know how to cook the octopus's tentacles soft so that the seafood has ready-made delicate, slightly buttery taste. This is not so simple, since in most cases many housewives produce rubber meat, which is suitable only for dumping in garbage. This article will discuss how to cook octopus tentacles tasty, but without putting in a huge amount of time and effort.
Cleansing
Before you begin to learn how to cook octopus tentacles, you need to understand the correct technique for cleaning them. Of course, now in the shops they sell mostly already peeled seafood, directly ready to start cooking. However, if you managed to get a fresh octopus, which is also whole, you will have to strain a little and clean it yourself.
It is actually quite simple to do this, and it will take a little time for the whole procedure. You just need to thoroughly rinse the tentacles with a soft brush under cool running water to wash away all the sand or other debris on the octopus. Once it is clean, you need to start removing the mantle. To do this, it needs to be slightly incised just below and above the eyes, and then through the holes, pull out the insides and the ink bag. You will also need to remove the seafood mouth by making a circular hole near it.
Skin removal
It is also best to remove the skin from the seafood - this is not a mandatory procedure, but if this is not done, then they will turn out quite rubbery in texture. Here, for the most part, it all depends on the dish that you are going to cook. If the tentacles are boiled, then it is best to remove it, but if you fry, then in the process the skin will become almost invisible.
The need for pre-boiling
Like any seafood, if improperly prepared, the octopus is able to lose its unique taste and texture, becoming completely inedible. So it’s not enough to know how to cook octopus tentacles - the features of this dish are also very important.
Before making a tasty dish, the tentacles must be subjected to heat treatment, which will destroy all the dangerous microorganisms contained in them. It was noticed that cephalopods are quite often able to accumulate toxins in themselves, so if you do not get rid of them, then the food will become not only tasteless, but also quite dangerous for health.
Boiling process
There are quite a number of recipes for making octopus tentacles. However, if you carefully study them all, then each of them involves preliminary boiling of seafood. To do this is quite simple, the main thing is not to make the heat treatment too long.
- First of all, to boil the octopus, you will need to take a large pan, on the bottom of which you need to pour enough water, salted with sea salt. It must be brought to a boil.
- As soon as the water boils, you need to take an octopus and begin to immerse it in boiling water for a couple of seconds, immediately pulling it out. Repeat this 3 times.
- After this, leave the tentacles to cook over low heat until they become soft and tender. Once they are ready, they need to be placed in cool water before cooling.
Greek octopus
Now is the time to directly figure out how to cook the tentacles of an octopus. There are a lot of recipes for this seafood, however, one of the best options is to grill them. True, during cooking, the octopus will noticeably lose in volume, so it will look much smaller, but it turns out to be incredibly tasty.
So, to prepare such a dish you will need to purchase:
- 1700 grams of octopus;
- 100 ml of olive oil;
- 50 ml freshly squeezed lemon juice;
- 1/2 tablespoon chopped dry oregano.
Step cooking
As you can see, there should be no particular difficulty in how to prepare the tentacles of an octopus, since the food package that will be needed for this recipe is quite small. However, to get a tasty dish, you should carefully follow these instructions:
- The first step is to bring to a boil a large amount of water in the pan. As soon as it boils, you will need to place the whole octopus in the water so that it completely covers the seafood. Boil it for about 10 minutes, after which you need to remove it from the water and place in a separate container for cooling.
- As soon as the octopus is cool enough for processing, it must be washed under running water and completely cleaned of the membrane.
- Now it's time to boil seafood for further cooking. To do this, you can use the above method or put the carcass in a pressure cooker with enough water. It will need to be brought to a boil and tightly closed. As soon as the pressure in the pressure cooker rises to the desired level, it is necessary to reduce the heat and cook for about 10 minutes. After that, you will need to quickly lower the pressure, get the octopus and let it drain.
- The next step is heating the grill. While the grill is warming up, the tentacles should be cut off from the octopus and then grease them with olive oil using a cooking brush.
- The tentacles should be prepared at a low temperature for about 45 minutes, although depending on their size, you may need to increase the time to 1 hour. Once they are ready, just before serving, you will need to cut each tentacle into pieces about 3 cm diagonally.
- Perfectly suitable for this dish is a sauce consisting of olive oil and lemon juice mixed in a blender. They should water the tentacles, and sprinkle oregano on top. That is how it should be served.
The tentacles of this recipe are very tender and delicious. If you follow all the tips, then prepare them is not difficult.
Chef's recommendations
Before preparing the tentacles of an octopus (the recipe with the photo was given above), it is also necessary to take note of a few tricks used by connoisseurs of cooking.
- Immediately after boiling, the carcass of an octopus should be immediately placed in ice water. A hot product continues to cook even if it has been taken out of the water, in this case this is undesirable. In addition, cold water will help more easily remove the film.
- Water for cooking must be salted only before starting cooking. As soon as the carcass has been lowered into boiling water, the contents of the pan should never be added, since the meat will become very stiff. But you can add seasonings to taste, they will only affect the taste, making it more piquant.
- The tentacles of the octopus are perfectly combined with a wide variety of side dishes, so if you wish, you can experiment enough. You can take pasta, rice or even vegetables - if you have sauce or dressing, the dish will still turn out great.
- In order to make the carcass of an octopus more tender, you can pre-freeze it. Some housewives recommend adding a natural wine cork to the water during cooking.
Conclusion
If you know how to cook the tentacles of an octopus, then getting a great dish in the end will not be difficult. The main thing is to properly prepare the carcass for further cooking, that is, to clean and boil it, and then you can use your imagination and create a real masterpiece. In addition, tentacles can be served as a main dish in combination with a variety of side dishes, as well as one of the components of a delicious salad. Finding a suitable recipe will be quite simple, since now undeservedly forgotten for many years in Russia, seafood is again gaining popularity and will soon rightfully take its place, not only on holiday tables.