Amazing seafood, rich in protein, with a delicate taste, infrequent guests on the table. This is because there is a common belief that they are difficult to prepare for cooking. In fact, there are options , how to clean squid easily , plenty. Having mastered them, you can pamper yourself with a tasty and healthy product more often.
Purchase requirements
If ease of cleaning the squid is a priority, then you need freshly caught one. It's easier to clean - remove the film like a stocking, and you're done. Only now it is often sold frozen. Therefore, before cleaning it, it is wisely chosen for purchase. If the squid has been frozen, defrosted and frozen again, then it is better not to take it, as there will be problems with cleaning. Therefore, when choosing a product, the main thing is to analyze the following:
Mediterraneans believe that unpeeled squid has more benefits. Then why is it necessary to clean the squid from the film? By freeing them from transparent and colored skin, the volume of the carcasses is preserved, because otherwise during cooking they will shrink significantly and also become tougher. Many novice cooks doubt that cleaning squid is easy. However, there are several effective techniques that can save time and make the process easier.
Cold shoulder cleaning
This method is good for fresh or properly stored frozen squid.
- We take the headless carcass in our hands, pry it up with a fingernail and begin to carefully peel off the thin skin, pulling it off like a stocking.
- Having removed the film, we will then clean the viscera and notochord (spine).
To remove the chord plates, you need to turn the seafood inside out and manually remove all hard parts from the surface.
Hotter technique
If there is a suspicion that the product has been re-frozen, then a short-term thermal effect should be applied:
- First, you need to naturally defrost the shellfish at room temperature.
- After this, grab the squid by the body with one hand, by the head with the other, then pull, removing the head and entrails at the same time.
- If the tentacles are not cooked, there is no need to clean them. They are cut almost at the level of the mollusk's eyes. If you plan to boil them, then be sure to remove the beak located among them, which cannot be eaten. After removal, it is important to check whether any solid debris remains.
- A chitinous spine resembling transparent plastic is cut out.
- The carcasses prepared for film removal are thoroughly washed with running water. After washing, remove excess moisture with paper towels.
- Cool boiling water is poured into the container. Place squid in it individually for 2 minutes. This time is enough to separate the skin without cooking the meat. The thin film instantly curls up due to boiling water, so it is easy to clean.
- The carcass is removed from boiling water and placed under running cold water, removing pieces of broken film from the outside and inside.
The squids are placed from the freezer on the refrigerator shelf to defrost, then taken out from there and placed in a bowl with cold water. Do not fill with warm, much less hot, liquid. It is not advisable to defrost in the microwave. It’s better to take the squid out to thaw in advance before cleaning it.
Cleaning with a contrast shower
Quick fix: How to clean frozen seafood.
- You will need 2 deep pans. In one there is very cold water, in the other there are prepared gutted carcasses.
- Pour the finished boiling water over the squids and immediately transfer them to ice water. Then the most tender meat will definitely not be cooked. The skins will peel off on their own, and the remaining ones will be easy to clean.
It is better to remove the skin from the wide part to the narrow using the back of the knife.
Mini-cooking cleansing
This method is suitable if, in hot summer weather, frozen food is brought into the house already thawed. Then water is boiled in a saucepan with the addition of spices, salt, bay leaves, etc. The shellfish is cut lengthwise to remove what is not suitable for food. Its meat is washed under running water. Squids are immersed in boiling water and cooked for no more than 3 minutes, then quickly removed. The film, as a rule, separates itself and remains in the water.
Tip: if under the influence of boiling water the skin bursts, forming balls, then a soft kitchen brush will help out. By wiping the surface of the squid with it, you can quickly remove any remaining skin and get a cleaned fillet.
How to clean boiled seafood
Some novice chefs are in doubt: what to do first? -
boil or peel? Sometimes without cleaning, you can do this:
- Rinse under running water before cooking.
- Boil seafood and cool.
- Peel off the loose peel like a stocking.
Unpeeled squid is cooked only whole. It is usually used for salad.
At the culinary forum, one of the housewives shared her experience. “Initially I cooked squid , and then cleaned it. Did not like. Now I clean them before I cook them. I just pry up the skin with a knife, put my fingers under it and pull it off.”
How to properly clean squid? It is worth choosing for yourself the best of the proposed methods. Then the dietary and exotic dish will become an honorable attribute of the feast.
Cleaning squid seems to be an unusually difficult task for many, and as a result, this tasty and healthy product is not included in the diet often enough. But you can cook many everyday and holiday dishes from squid! You just need to learn how to clean them correctly.
What kind of cleaning do squids need?
Structure of the mollusk
These are cephalopods. They usually range from 0.25 to 0.5 m in length. They live in both northern seas and subtropical waters. Squids have 5 pairs of tentacles and a torpedo-shaped body. Supporting cartilage runs along the body. The tentacles have suction cups. Squids are a commercial fish and are widely used in cooking.
Appearance of squid
The difference between cleaning fresh and frozen products
The squid's body and tentacles are edible. Entrails, head, jaws are thrown out. The tentacles are cut off at eye level and, if they are intended to be used, are cleared of suckers.
Fresh squid
As a rule, you can buy unfrozen squid where they are caught. Most often, frozen squids are found in stores, but freezing allows you to preserve beneficial features and taste. The skin can be easily removed from fresh, unfrozen squid, but frozen ones will take a little more work.
It is best to defrost squid in the refrigerator, transferring it there from the freezer overnight.
A few words about buying frozen squid. Squid meat, defrosted more than once, has an unpleasant taste and smell, so, first of all, you need to evaluate them by appearance. The skin of the carcass should be brownish or have a pinkish-purple tint, but the meat should only be white. If it turns yellow or has a purple color, then this is a sign that it has been thawed.
How to properly cut a whole carcass
To clean a squid, you need to grab it by the head with one hand and the body with the other. Tentacles extend from the head of the mollusk. If you pull the head, it quickly separates along with the insides.
Removing the head and entrails of the squid
Squid tentacles cut off
The jaws are hidden between the tentacles. They must be removed.
Between the tentacles are the squid's jaws
There is a transparent plate in the squid's body that needs to be removed. Then you should carefully remove all the films, including the thin, transparent ones that cover the squid’s body outside and inside.
Removing Film
This will require two containers. You need to pour cold water into one of them, you can even add ice. In the second - put squids, pour boiling water over them and quickly transfer to cold water. Films against temperature changes are easily removed.
You can also put the squid in a container, add hot water and keep it there for no more than two minutes, otherwise they will be “rubbery” and tasteless. The squid skin curls up and is then easily peeled off under running water.
Cleaning options at home on video
How to clean a whole squid (not frozen)
Alexander Gushchin
I can’t vouch for the taste, but it will be hot :)
Content
Cleaning and cooking squid has its own characteristics, failure to comply with which will certainly affect the taste of the finished dish. Squids are the main component of many salads; they are used to prepare delicious soups, snacks. Valuable protein, minerals and vitamins, as well as an affordable price, explain the popularity of this seafood. The taste and health benefits of a dish depend on many factors, but primarily on the main ingredient.
How to choose a quality product
Choosing the right products is the first place to start. When choosing in the store, pay attention to unpeeled squid. When cleaning carcasses in production, steam treatment is used; after cooking, their meat turns out dry and tough. Selection tips:
- The shellfish must be whole with a smooth surface.
- Fresh squids have a pinkish tint, but can be gray or purple. Foreign color on the carcass indicates that violations were committed during storage.
- The release date and the implementation date must correspond to each other.
- You should not buy the product if the carcass is a lump of indeterminate shape. Consequently, the product has already been defrosted and frozen more than once. Ice of a yellowish tint, a brownish color of the carcass with multiple breaks and cracks will only confirm your suspicions.
- An expired expiration date, as well as blurry numbers on the packaging, are a reason to postpone the purchase.
How to clean
You need to defrost it before cleaning. Some housewives strive to speed up this process and to do this, place the carcasses in hot water. From such a thermal effect, they will really quickly defrost, but all the nutritional value of the seafood will “go away” into the hot water. Squids, however, like any frozen product (meat, fish, offal), should be defrosted at room temperature. As soon as the mollusks become plastic, we begin cleaning. To do this you will need a cutting board and a sharp knife.
With one hand, press the squid firmly onto the cutting board, and with the other, carefully remove the skin (thin film) from it. It happens that the film is difficult to clean. Then you need to put the squid in a colander and pour boiling water over it. The film is simply washed off with water, and the one that remains is easily cleaned.
If the mollusk has a head and tentacles, they need to be cut off. The head can be thrown away without regret, and the tentacles will be useful for one very tasty snack - stuffed squid, but more on that later. Cut off the “wings” from the carcass and remove the skin from them. They can also be used for food. Now you need to clean the squid from the inside. There are transparent chitinous plates similar to cellophane - they need to be carefully cut out.
Heat treatment
Heat treatment is another difficulty that many housewives face when preparing squid. Once you overcook them a little, the meat will become tough and tasteless. In addition, it will greatly decrease in size. So that the shellfish does not lose its taste and delights you with its delicate juiciness, cook it for only 1.5-2 minutes. There is another option for cooking squid. They are poured with boiling water, covered with a lid and kept in water for 10-15 minutes. Regardless of the cooking method, first boil water with salt, bay leaf, allspice and hot peppercorns, and after three minutes, lower the carcasses into it. Spices will kill the specific smell of the inhabitant of the deep sea. Most often, shellfish serve as one of the ingredients in various salads. If they are served as an independent dish in the form of an appetizer, it is recommended to sprinkle it with lemon juice and sprinkle with fresh herbs (rosemary, parsley, basil).
Stuffed squid
As already mentioned, the tentacles and “wings” are used as food. They can be used to stuff shellfish. Stuffed squids will be an excellent appetizer at a festive feast.
Cooking method:
- Clean and wash the clam, chop the tentacles into small pieces, about 1x1 cm.
- Grind three cloves of garlic, add pepper, salt, herbs.
- Beat one yolk with a spoon of vegetable oil and mix with herbs and chopped tentacles.
- We stuff the squids with this filling and pierce them with toothpicks.
- Heat vegetable oil in a frying pan and fry the carcasses over high heat on both sides.
- Pour in 100 g of white wine, add parsley, paprika and simmer under a closed lid until the squid becomes soft.
- Place the carcasses on a wide dish, pour over the sauce in which they were stewed, and sprinkle with lemon juice.
Find out more,
Squid is a very valuable and tasty seafood. It will perfectly diversify your family's usual diet. Many housewives do not want cook squid, considering that clean the squid very hard. But we will prove to you that this is not so. And when you finish cleaning, you can decide what to cook. Squid can be boiled and prepared in various salads and all kinds of snacks. Squids are also fried, stewed, marinated, stuffed, dried, smoked and made into minced meat.
But how to properly clean squid?
1 Let's take the most difficult situation as a basis - you bought a whole squid. You can easily determine where the carcass's head is - it has tentacles. Grab the head with your hand and, holding the body of the squid, pull it towards you. This way you can easily remove the insides. You will also need to remove the chitin plate, which is something like hard plastic spaghetti, but flat. It can be easily felt inside the carcass and is no less easily removed. At the head, cut off the tentacles near the eyes. Carcasses are often sold with the heads already removed. In this case, simply remove all the insides. If you come across gutted carcasses, then the work will be half as much.
2 Now let's move on to removing the films. Both colored films and transparent films should be removed from both the outside and the inside. It is the transparent films that become very hard during heat treatment, and the whole squid carcass shrinks, which is undesirable when preparing stuffed squid. If the squid is fresh, the film comes off on its own in one go. But if the squid was purchased frozen, then everything is not so simple. We will tell you how to quickly and easily clean squid. First way(if the squid has already thawed). Take 2 containers. Fill one with ice water (we use ice). And put squid in the other. Scald the carcasses with boiling water and quickly transfer them to ice water. Now removing films is easier than ever. Do not overcook the squids in boiling water so that they simply do not cook. Dry the carcass well before cooking. Second way. Scald frozen squids with boiling water and immediately drain the water. The peel instantly curls up and you can easily remove it.
How to cook squid
Squid meat, completely cleared of all films, is quite tender and soft. Cooking squid can be done in two different ways. You can cook over high heat for 1.5-3 minutes (as soon as the squid meat turns white, remove it immediately). Or simmer over low heat for 40 minutes. You can fry the squid rings over very high heat for 5-7 minutes with additives (fried vegetables, for example) and up to 3 minutes without additives, or simmer over low heat for 40 minutes. If you want to cook stuffed squid, then fill the carcasses with either the already prepared filling and simply fry on both sides until cooked. Or pour liquid over the stuffed carcasses and simmer for 30-40 minutes. Sometimes squids are baked in the oven. The main thing is not to overcook the squid, otherwise the meat will become “rubbery” and tasteless, although this situation can be corrected by stewing the squid longer. If you cleaned the squid as above, the cooking time may be reduced due to scalding.
I learned a long time ago how to quickly and easily remove film from squid. And since then I have been constantly using this “life hack”. You can see for yourself how easily and almost instantly the burgundy-blue-violet clumsy mutant freak turns into a beautiful piece of pearl-white tender meat of a sea creature. Actually, here are these simple ways.
How to quickly and easily clean squid before cooking
It is ideal if the squid that ends up in your kitchen has not experienced all the “joys” of freezing, especially repeated freezing. But, unfortunately, most of our compatriots cannot count on buying the freshest seafood, which until recently was carelessly floundering in the sea and ocean. Therefore, we will “work” with both frozen and chilled inhabitants of the sea depths.
So, given: a squid carcass. Task: quickly and easily rid it of entrails and films. We go to achieve results in several ways.
Cleaning the squid from the entrails
I immediately want to please the chefs who were lucky enough to “snatch” the carcass of a fresh mollusk with its head and tentacles. The taste of the dish will be simply delicious, tender and rich. But the process of cutting seafood is a little more labor-intensive. Only the “mantle” with “wings” and tentacles are eaten. The latter will need to be carefully separated from the “torso” and from the head (immediately in front of the eyes). Heads are being thrown away, don't forget.
At this stage, the differences in cutting fresh and frozen (which is usually “complete” with only a “mantle” with “wings”) squid disappear. And the removal of the entrails follows a similar pattern.
If the product is frozen, then it needs to be defrosted. Then place your hand inside the “mantle” and feel the insides, as well as the hard chord of the mollusk. For convenience, you can turn the carcass inside out. Grab them with your hand and pull them towards you. Remove the “contents” of the squid, and with a feeling of accomplishment, you can move on to removing the films.
The fastest way to remove film from frozen squid
Freshly frozen carcasses can be quickly removed from films without even defrosting them. Just pour boiling water over them. Or put it in a pan of boiling water and remove it. Due to a sharp change in temperature, the skin will shrink and turn into rags, which can be easily and simply removed when washing the shellfish. At this stage, some housewives consider the duty of cleaning the squid from the film to be completed. And with a clear conscience and good mood, they begin to remove the entrails and prepare gastronomic masterpieces. However, most often the results of culinary creativity leave much to be desired. Seafood shrinks in volume, loses its shape and looks suspiciously like the soles of old rubber boots. After all, in addition to color film, there is also transparent film. It must be removed from both the outside and the inside. It can be removed quite easily, you just need to pry it up and carefully, millimeter by millimeter, remove it like a stocking. But now that’s all for sure. You can cook delicious and nutritious meals.
Another way to remove film from freshly frozen squid
The second option for cleaning squid from film is also based on the principle of temperature difference. The only difference is that it is suitable for already thawed carcasses. To implement the idea of quickly getting rid of the nasty, hard skin, which will definitely spoil the taste and aesthetic qualities of the product during cooking, you will need boiling water and ice water. What should be done? Defrost the carcass. Place the defrosted squid in boiling water and immediately transfer to ice. Or pour over ice cold tap water. Color film will behave in the same way as in the first case. That is, it will practically disappear on its own. You only need to remove its remains. Don't forget about transparent film. Pry it up and pull it off in one motion. Or in several approaches.
By cleaning the shellfish in this way, you can bake delicious stuffed squid in the oven.
How to remove membranes from fresh squid
Of course, you can follow the path of least resistance and clean fresh shellfish according to the above scheme. But if you want to end up with a brighter and richer taste, then it is better to remove the films mechanically. That is, no boiling water or ice is needed. And you will need patience, patience and more patience. Well, and, of course, sleight of hand. Just pry the colored skin together with the transparent one and pull it off the carcass. It will be just great if you can do this in one fell swoop. In principle, this is not so difficult to do. If you've ever removed film from a liver, you'll understand what I'm talking about. As for the tentacles, it’s still better to pour boiling water over them - it will be much easier and faster.
Oh, and don’t forget to pat the squid thoroughly with a paper towel before cooking.