SQUID LESSONS

Choosing Squid from the market

Look out for the following qualities in fresh squid

• No strong fishy smell
• ⭐Firm bodied⭐ - the softer it is the less fresh
• Clear eyes

Cleaning Squid

1. Detach the body from the head. This can be done by pulling on the head until it detaches or by gently cutting open the body (avoid bursting the ink sac) and removing the head and quill inside - although the second method means you can’t used the body for stuffed squid recipes or calamari rings
2. Focusing on the removed head, locate the ink sac, pinch, and remove
3. The rest of the guts are soft and white, remove
4. Locate the opening in the centre of the tentacles, you can squeeze the mouth out
5. Slice the film on the outside of the eyeballs and squeeze the eyeballs out, this may cause some mess as the fluid leaks out
6. Turn your attention to the body, you can peel or cut the fins off
7. Peel the skin off

Notes

• Video demonstration for cleaning squid
  • Pretty good demonstration with minimum mess
  • I’ve noticed that in some videos they use a pinch of salt when peeling skin off seafood. I suspect this provides some grip when holding the skin
• There is this video that provides a better English language explanation
  • I don’t particularly like it because of a personal pet peeve which is not very clear explanation of the parts of the squid
• Both videos tend to cut and remove the section with the eyeballs entirely, however by removing just the eyeballs you can save that edible part of the squid

Prepping Squid for cooking

• Positioning your knife at a 45 degree angle, score a crosshatch on the skin, this allows the squid to cook faster and to maximise sauce coverage on the squid
• this also causes the squid to curl slightly

Notes

• Reference video for scoring squid

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