Cooking fresh raw Octopus at home can be a challenging, but exciting experience. If you are reading this, you must be looking forward to go through that experience. We will share your important details that you need to know about cleaning Octopus and cooking it.
How to clean Octopus?
The process of cleaning Octopus is challenging for the first timers. If you can follow the correct steps, you will be able to overcome the challenging nature of it in a convenient manner. Then you can proceed to the next stage, where you will be able to cook Octopus in many different ways.
Octopus can be boiled, stewed, fried, grilled and baked. No matter what method you are going to prepare Octopus, you should clean it first. The process becomes challenging mainly because you will not be able to discover any bones. Instead, you will notice that there are many hard muscles. These hard muscles have to be tenderized at the time of preparing Octopus.
Back in the day, people used to keep the Octopus that they catch on a rock for around 40 to 50 times. Then the fibers of the Octopus break apart and you will be able to end up with the tender and succulent taste. When you walk into some of the seashore restaurants, you will notice how Octopus is hung from the clotheslines. This can make Octopus dry in the sun for around three hours.
In the middle of Octopus tentacles, you will be able to notice the mouth of Octopus, which is commonly known as beak. On top of the tentacles, you will notice the sac. It includes the stomach entrails, ink sac and the other organs of the animal species. To begin with cleaning Octopus, you should cut off the head. You will need to cut the heat above eyes of the Octopus. Along with that, you will need to cut tentacles below the eyes.
You will be able to discard all the parts that you can find above the tentacles of the Octopus and under the sac. After you cut the head of the Octopus, you can empty the sac. You can find all the organs of the Octopus in there. Along with that, you can turn the Octopus inside out and then pull away all the things that you can see inside. You will need to do this without trying to break the ink sac of the Octopus.
You need to make sure that you are washing the inside of Octopus perfectly well. Along with that, you can turn over the Octopus and wash it as well. If you purchase a big Octopus, this would be quite challenging. However, you will also be able to remove skin from the head of Octopus. All you have to do is to pull it with your hands.
You can remove the beak of the Octopus by cutting it around tentacles. After you do that, you can simply discard the beak. As the next step, you should rinse the Octopus and allow it to drain.
At the time of cleaning Octopus, you need to understand that frozen Octopus are usually cleaned from entrails. Therefore, you will only need to remove the beak as well as the lower part of sac. If you want to make your life easy with cleaning Octopus, you are encouraged to purchase frozen Octopus. However, the taste that you can end up with frozen Octopus is not similar to fresh raw Octopus. You must also keep this fact in your mind at the time of spending your money to purchase Octopus.
These are the steps that you have to follow in order to clean Octopus. As you can see, you need to keep few important things in your mind at the time of getting your cleaning job done. If you can focus on them, you will be able to follow the steps and make sure that you get the cleaning job done accordingly. It has the ability to help you to stay away from the frustration of cleaning Octopus. You will be able to receive a helping hand with preparing Octopus as well.
How to cook Octopus?
After you clean Octopus, you will need to understand how to prepare it. It is better if you can have a clear understanding about the steps that need to be followed when cooking Octopus as well. Then you will be able to make the overall experience a convenient one for you.
You need to take a pot that is big enough to clean Octopus. Or else, you can use a sautéing pan as well. You need to make sure that nothing is inside the pan. You can then heat the pan. Once the pan is hot enough, you can place sac and tentacles inside it. Then you will notice that Octopus starts sweating out a pink colored liquid. If you don’t see this liquid coming out of Octopus during the first few minutes. You are encouraged to add around half a cup of water into the pot. Then you will be able to get that started.
You should then turn the Octopus often, so that you can make sure it doesn’t stick to the pot. You will be able to repeat this process until all the pink colored liquid is extracted. Then you can cover the pot and lower the heat. However, you will need to keep on checking it to see whether you have any liquid inside. When there is no liquid left on your pot or pan, your Octopus is ready to be prepared.
You will be able to eat Octopus in this stage. However, you will not be able to experience any distinct taste. If you want to make it delicious, you will need to further proceed with preparing it. The best method available for you to prepare Octopus is to grill the meat and then serve it with olive oil.