How to cook squid

Despite the fact that few people saw live squid, dishes from them are very popular.

Although not every housewife will undertake the preparation of this delicacy, believing that it is difficult to prepare it. After all, when cooking squid, you must carefully observe the cooking time, otherwise instead of tender, tasty meat you can get a hard, rubbery seafood, vaguely reminiscent of squid.

Most often, on the shelves of these seafood products come in frozen form.

The edible parts of the squid are the head, torso and tentacles.

How to prepare squid for cooking

• Before cooking, squids are thawed. To do this, frozen carcasses are placed in cold water, in which they thaw.
• In carcasses, remnants of viscera and chitinous plates are removed.
• Then the squid is peeled. To do this, they are alternately immersed in hot water for a few seconds and removed with a skimmer in a bowl.
• After that, they are well separated with thin skin, which is easy to remove with fingers, substituting the carcass under a stream of water.
• Rinse well under running water.

How to cook squid

The main rule when cooking squid - do not digest.

After all, it is enough to hold the carcass in boiling water for 2-3 minutes longer than necessary, and their meat will become, firstly, tough, and secondly, they will decrease in size. There are several ways of cooking this seafood, and they all require the presence of the hostess near the stove almost with a stopwatch in hand.

Method 1

• Squids are peeled and washed.
• Carcasses are dipped in boiling salted water and boiled for 2-3 minutes.
• As soon as they turn white, they are pulled out and cooled.

Method 2

• Squids are poured with boiling water, kept for a few seconds.
• Water is drained and the carcasses are peeled.
• Then they are washed in cold water.
• After that, each carcass in turn is dipped in boiling salted water for 10 seconds. Many housewives believe that this time is enough for cooking this seafood.

Method 3

• Squids are cleaned from the skin, doused with boiling water.
• Remove the insides and washed.
• Prepared carcasses are dipped in boiling water, again brought to a boil.
• Remove from heat and, without opening the lid, leave for 5 minutes.
• Remove from water and cool.

Method 4

• Squids are peeled and washed in cold water.
• Water is poured into a saucepan, salt and spices are added and brought to a boil.
• Lower the carcass, close the lid, wait a few seconds and remove from heat.
• Cool for 10 minutes without removing from water.

Method 4 (microwave cooking)

• Pour water into a saucepan, salt it and put it in the microwave.
• Bring to a boil.
• Lower the prepared carcass.
• Cook 1, 5 minutes at maximum power.
• Get squid and cool.

Method 6 (cooking in a double boiler)

• Squids are dipped in boiling water, taken out and cleaned from the skin.
• Wash well and remove the insides.
• Spread steamers in the bowl.
• Prepare 10 minutes from power on.
• Cool.

Boiled squids are cut into strips, rings or cubes and cooked as required by the recipe.

Mistress of the note

• Squids are a valuable product. They contain up to 19% protein, up to 1, 4% fat. They are rich in selenium, phosphorus, magnesium, zinc, iron, potassium, B vitamins.
• In order not to spoil the dish with stale squids, you need to be able to choose them. A carcass that has been properly stored should be thick, pinkish brown or pinkish purple. The inner flesh should be white.
• Buy better than uncleaned squid, because the quality of the carcass can be determined by the skin.
• When cooking squid, you can use different spices, given the taste preferences.
• Overcooked and rubbery squids can be made softer by boiling them for 30-40 minutes. But in this case, the carcasses will be significantly reduced in size, and their quality will be much worse.
• Frozen squids should not be re-frozen. This fact can be judged by the carcasses, szherzshimsya among themselves. It is better not to buy such products.
• If squid is cooked with other products, they are put in the pan at the very last moment, when the dish is almost ready.
• A sufficient amount of salt is added to improve the taste when cooking squid. Lemon juice is also added to the piquancy of the dish, with which both ready-made and fresh carcasses are sprinkled.
• In order for squid to reveal its unique flavor well, there must be more of them in a dish than other foods. For the same reason, squids are not mixed with products that have a strong odor.