Clean squid quickly? Easily! How to clean squid for boiling correctly. Quick cleaning of frozen carcasses

Having decided to pamper your family with seafood exotic delicacy, the best option Cooking squid will be a satisfying, healthy and unusual-tasting dish.

But first of all, the squid should be chosen and cleaned correctly, because the appearance of the dish and its taste qualities.

Choosing the right squid

Best for easy cleaning fresh squid, the covering film can be easily removed from it. But unfortunately, frozen products are sold in supermarkets, and in order to avoid problems with cleaning and cooking seafood, you need to be able to choose the right one. An important point is that the squid should not be defrosted and re-frozen, as all this will complicate the process of cleaning it. To do this, when choosing a product, it is recommended to pay attention to the following:

Squid carcasses should be easy to separate and not stick to each other. If they are difficult to separate, this means they are re-frozen.

The carcass meat must be white. If it has a red or bluish tint, this also means that the seafood has already been defrosted, after which the meat took on the color from the skin of the squid.

And, of course, at home, squids are stored in freezer, do not defrost before cleaning and cooking. Remember this.

Cleaning and cutting squid

1. First of all, the frozen squid carcass should be doused with boiling water, and then immediately placed in cold water; this method will simplify the process of removing the skin from the squid.

2. Cut off the clam's head - if it has one - and the tentacles (they will be useful in cooking).

3. Gut the insides thoroughly.

4. Feel the transparent, thin chord (the spine of the mollusk) on the mantle and pull it out.

5. Downside knife, peel the squid from the outside and inside. In some cases, the film can be easily removed from the wide side of the mantle to the narrow side, in one movement, like a stocking. The carcass, after cleaning, should turn white.

6. Rinse the squid carcass thoroughly under running water.

7. Previously separated tentacles also need to be cleaned. This is done easily, since the skin on them is more delicate than on the squid mantle itself and can be easily removed after scalding with boiling water under running water.

Based on the results of cleaning the squid, you will get two products for preparing the dish: the carcass and the tentacles.

Secrets of preparing delicious squid in different ways

Boiled squid

Pour water into the prepared pan. Add salt to it bay leaf, allspice(peas), then wait for the water to boil.

Place cleaned squid carcasses in boiling water for 10–15 seconds. Then remove immediately to avoid overcooking the fillet.

There is another cooking method. Everything is done in the same way as in the previous method, but after the water boils, the carcasses are lowered into boiling water and removed from the heat. Then infuse for about 10 minutes.

Frying squid

Before you start frying seafood, you first need to boil it using one of the above methods.

Then cool the cooked squid and cut into strips or rings.

Prepare the leison. To do this, beat the eggs, add spices, sour cream or mayonnaise.

Dip the chopped fillet into the lezon and roll in breadcrumbs.

Fry in a frying pan with the addition of a small amount of vegetable or butter for 3–5 minutes.

The dish can be prepared in a deep fryer in the same way.

The tentacles remaining when cutting the squid can be boiled or fried according to one of the recipes.

Stuffing squid

Pre-cleaned shellfish carcasses are lightly beaten. Then the prepared filling (this could be mushrooms with onions and eggs, vegetable or even meat filling) stuff the beaten carcass more than halfway.

The edges are secured with a skewer. Stuffed squids are stewed in an oven preheated to 180 degrees with the addition of water for 10–15 minutes. In 2–3 minutes. until ready, sprinkle with grated cheese. Baked until it appears golden crust.

1. In order for the shellfish meat to be soft, its cooking time should not exceed 15 seconds.

3. Some cooks, to add more flavor, add a slice of lemon or one bag of black tea to the water during cooking.

Options for preparing this delicacy huge amount. It all depends on your desires and food preferences.

Now having learned how to choose the right and easily clean seafood, you will be able to pamper those close to you with dietary, nourishing and, at the same time, healthy dishes from squid.

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 pearly white tender meat 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 fresh shellfish with 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 in a great mood they begin to remove the entrails and prepare gastronomic masterpieces. However, most often the results 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 needs to 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.

Brief video instructions

This is how you can quickly and easily clean squid from films and entrails. Absolutely nothing complicated or supernatural. So feel free to purchase these delicious seafood, and forward – to conquer culinary peaks!

It's no secret that when choosing a delicacy, many people stop at buying seafood. And rightly so. Great way touch the seafood - cook a seafood dinner at home. One of the most favorite of these products is squid. Most people prefer dishes with the addition of squid carcass, but no one likes to clean it. Housewives find this task very painful. The problem is that they don't know how to do it right. If you follow all the rules of the instructions, the squid is surprisingly easy to clean!

How to choose squid?

Note that squid in stores is sold in the most different types: carcasses, rings and fillets. Us in in this case I'm interested in the carcass, as we will look at cleaning squid in more detail.

It's best to take raw seafood. The fact is that cleaning squid from film is a rather labor-intensive process. It must be done exclusively manually. Due to the large volume of goods, the manufacturer is forced to resort to special solvents, under the influence of which this film partially comes off. Needless to say, this is very harmful to our body. The quality of cleaning is not the best. It is recommended to purchase only small frozen and unpeeled squid carcasses in stores. Their exposure to chemicals is minimal. In addition, you should pay attention to some other features of seafood:

Squid carcasses should not stick to each other.
There should be no damage to their surface, just like on the packaging in which the squid is sold.
The carcass meat should be cream color.
The outer film should not be a uniform color.
The squid carcass should be elastic.
The size of the squid indicates its age. This factor can affect the taste of seafood.

How to clean squid from film?

As we have already said, cleaning squid is completely simple process. The main thing is to do everything exactly according to the instructions. And the instructions themselves are a breeze. So let's start cleaning.

Stage 1: Let's imagine that you have followed all our recommendations and purchased small squid carcasses, which you now need to clean. The first step is to determine where the squid's head is. Do you see the long tentacles? This is the head of our squid. Some people will find the tentacles quite unpleasant. You need to overcome yourself and take out his insides. You guessed it: you can do this by pulling the squid's head. The tentacles need to be “cut off”. You are very lucky if the squid you purchase has already been cleaned. In this case, the work is slightly reduced.

Stage 2: Where to start cleaning squid? Undoubtedly, from cleaning the seafood from the film both inside and outside. We already said above that the film of a squid carcass should have a heterogeneous burgundy-cream color. This indicates his good condition.

Note! Please also pay attention (if you purchased a frozen product) that there is no snow or frost in the packaging. Such “precipitation” indicates repeated defrosting of the squid. This cannot but affect their taste.

Let's get back to cleaning the squid. The film of a squid carcass is perfectly cleaned when exposed to temperature. What does it mean? Before you start cleaning the squids, you need to pour boiling water over them and immediately quickly transfer them to ice water. You will see for yourself how the film rolls off on the squid’s body. Removing it is now not difficult. The main thing is not to overdo it. Do not keep squid in boiling water for a long time. The seafood may begin to cook, and this will further affect its taste. Take a knife, carefully lift the film on the seafood carcass and clean it.

Stage 3: It is also necessary to remove all unnecessary entrails from the small body of the squid.

How to clean frozen squid?

The technology for cleaning frozen squid meat is practically no different from that described above. You might be surprised, but you don’t even need to defrost them. You should also pour boiling water over the squid and quickly drain the water. The skin of the squid meat will peel off very quickly and easily: even better than in the first option. Next, you can cut off the tentacles and take out all the insides.

In fact, squid is quite tasty and unusual seafood. You can easily surprise your close family and friends by preparing dishes using the carcass of a wonderful squid!

How are squids cooked? Pledge successful cooking seafood is that it needs to be cooked for literally 2-3 minutes. Afterwards the squid loses its taste and becomes too soft. No housewife would want dishes with exotic seafood on her table to be spoiled.

There are many variety of recipes salads and other dishes with squid. It would seem, what is so special about it? At first glance, it may seem completely tasteless. However, apparently, the desire to be as close to the sea as possible prompted us to love its gifts. IN various dishes Squid meat can be cut into rings or cubes.

Video: how to properly clean squid

To make sure once again that cleaning squid is a matter of minutes, we suggest watching video recipes that tell you how to properly clean and cook squid. Bon appetit!

Squid is not a product of everyday demand, but in recent years this exotic mollusk has begun to appear more often on the tables of our compatriots. Housewives wanting to pamper their household original dish, they choose squids. Some of them, having bought frozen carcasses in the supermarket, do not even know how to approach them.

Cleaning and cutting squid at home takes a lot of time and discourages cooking from them in the future. Having familiarized yourself with some secrets, you will be able to “handle” seafood without hassle.

Preparation: selection in the store, storage at home

The secret to preparing a delicious squid dish is right choice. A product that has been frozen several times is more difficult to clean, and it has also lost its taste. How to recognize the “right” squid?

Firstly, the carcasses should not be frozen to each other. The seller should easily separate them, and not “tear them off” from the main mass.
Secondly, the meat should have a beautiful white color. The red-blue hue is released by the skin during thawing.

It is better to cook purchased squids on the same day or, without defrosting, place them in the freezer.

Cleaning defrosted squid from film

Occasionally in stores you can find already thawed squid, and sometimes it happens that the mollusks are thawed at home, waiting for the owner to be free from other matters. Don't be upset, and in this situation you can cook delicious dish. The main thing is to follow the procedure:

Bring a partial pot of water to a boil.
After making a cut along the carcass, gut it.
Rinse the meat thoroughly.
Place the squid in the pan and hold for 10 seconds.
Having pulled out the carcasses, you will find that the transparent shells remain in the water.

Video tips

How to clean frozen squid

This procedure is done in five steps:

Bring a partial pot of water to a boil.
Remove the squid from the freezer and place in a deep container (bowl, pan).
Pour boiling water over the carcasses. Thanks to this action, almost all the skin will separate on its own.
Quickly drain the water and rinse the seafood under cold running water, carefully removing the film. If you don't hurry, the carcasses will cook.
Gut the insides, remove the backbone.

How to Clean Freshly Caught Clams

The best squids are those that were not frozen, but were brought from the seabed directly to the kitchen, or were refrigerated for several hours before being sold. The meat of such shellfish is nutritious, healthy and tasty.

In this case, some housewives are frightened by the presence of the head and tentacles, because they will have to be removed themselves. This procedure does not require any special skills. The head is cut off and thrown away, and the tentacles are cut off near the eyes and used for cooking. They also have a shell on them, and it will need to be removed in the same way as from a thawed carcass.

The procedure for cleaning fresh squid carcasses and tentacles is as follows:

Bring to a boil required quantity water.
Clams, freed from entrails, are placed in a colander, doused with boiling water, and then placed under the stream cold water.
The film is removed by pulling from the thick part towards the thin part. It is more convenient to scrape off the wings with a knife.
Clean the tentacles in the same way. This is easy to do, since the skin will separate on its own under the influence of boiling water.

How to cook squid and how long to cook it

There are various ways boiling squid, so I will give three of the simplest and most popular.

Bring the water in the pan to a boil, add salt and spices. Using a slotted spoon, lower the carcass into boiling water for 10 seconds, then remove. Cook the rest of the carcasses in the same way. The result was a semi-finished product for further preparation (slicing into salad, stew, etc.).
The second method is suitable for cooking frozen, previously cleaned preparations. Dip all the carcasses into boiling water with spices, keep on low heat for 1 minute, turn off the stove and let stand for hot water another 10 minutes.
After the water boils, put defrosted clams in it, turn off the heat and let stand for 10 minutes.

Video recipe

Various websites advise to cook squid for about 4 or even more minutes. You shouldn't do this! Excessive heat treatment will make seafood meat tough. Moreover, it will lose nutritional value and taste.
For flavor, add half a lemon or a bag of black tea to the water in which the shellfish will be boiled.
When removing films, you need to take into account that you need to remove both colored and transparent shells. If the housewife does not notice or deliberately leaves the film, then after cooking the meat will be tough and tight.
Don't buy large squids. Their meat has a bitter taste, and it will take more than an hour. At the same time ready dish will be tough.

The nutritional value of seafood cannot be overestimated. Squid meat is a storehouse of vitamins and microelements. There is a wide variety of dishes that can be prepared from this mollusk. It is a valuable component of many salads; it is stuffed, stewed, fried, boiled, baked, salted and even pickled. If you decide to please yourself and your family gourmet dish from squid, now you can do it without much difficulty, based on my advice.

If you are cooking festive table or just decided to diversify home menu, then squids are your main helpers in this difficult task. These cephalopods have such a set of properties that a plantain would be envious. Useful properties shellfish are preserved only if the hostess knows, how to clean squids and cook them correctly.

In their tender meat contains elements such as phosphorus, magnesium, potassium, calcium, zinc, copper. Thanks to its low calorie content (approximately 90 kcal per 100 g), fans dietary nutrition can finally afford to give up from a disgusting boiled breast without skin, and athletes value their meat for high content squirrel. In addition, they have a beneficial effect on blood vessels and the functioning of the thyroid gland.

Achieve the maximum positive effect from this dietary product is possible only on the condition that original product you got it in good condition. It's no secret that frozen foods in stores often suffer from improper storage; they are defrosted and frozen again many times. What squid would like this?

Selecting a product in a store

If you are unlucky with housing on the seashore, then you can only dream of fresh, just caught squid, and you can search for its ice cream counterpart in the store.

Stores usually offer two options:

unpeeled mollusks, covered with a film and with entrails, but without a head and tentacles;
completely cleaned and ready for further culinary procedures.

Pros and cons of peeled squid

A fully purified product, of course. more attractive from the point of view of use: no need to waste time on cleaning and gutting. However, you should pay attention to how industrial cleaning actually occurs.

For this process we use special machines. Carcasses are placed in a tank with hot water(from 45 to 70 °C), enzymes and salts are added to the same water, which dissolve mucus and pigment. Then the blades of the tank mix all its contents until the carcasses, in contact with the walls of the tank and each other, are cleared of the film. This process is long, so the tanks are usually very large (about 700 liters), and in an hour such a machine produces 120 kg of carcasses prepared for further packaging.

Disadvantages of industrial cleaning:

due to being in hot water for a long time, the meat becomes rubbery;
suffer due to the enzymes and salts used useful qualities meat, and its taste also changes.

Therefore, if the taste of the final dish is important to you, it is recommended to choose more crude cephalopods, especially since there is simple ways clean the squid.

Appearance assessment

In the store, carefully study the assortment on offer. By appearance shellfish, you can learn a lot about whether they were stored correctly.

Run a few simple tests:

Take the package in your hands and turn or shake lightly several times. The squids in the package should be easy to separate. Sticky carcasses indicate that they have been defrosted and frozen again several times, and after cooking the meat will taste bitter.
Look at the color. White color is inherent soft meat, but lilac or red clams most likely died a natural death, and the final product will be as hard as a car tire.
Visually assess the size. Small squids 5−6 cm in length - fry - are suitable for cooking whole; adults are usually 25−50 cm in length. The smaller the carcasses, the easier it is to clean them, but large ones often become rubbery after cooking.
Smell the carcasses. Fresh carcasses have nice sea smell , but old or improperly stored ones smell extremely unpleasant and should not be eaten.

The mollusks are white in color and medium in size, with pleasant smell- this is the catch that you are not ashamed to bring home.

Description of ways to clean squid

There are several ways to properly clean squid. Frozen squid must be thawed before cleaning.

Proper defrosting

The correct method number 1 is for those who are leisurely. There is no need to start cooking immediately after the frozen product is at your home, then place the carcasses in a deep plate, pour cold water and leave it in the refrigerator overnight. Water should completely cover carcasses.

The correct way number 2 is “rational”. Squid can be defrosted in the open air at a temperature of 18−20 °C, and in this case the meat will retain maximum beneficial properties.

Wrong way number 1 - “here and now”. Defrosting in hot water is more quick way However, you need to remember that under the influence of hot water, pigment from the skin gets into the meat, which is why it acquires pinkish or lilac color and begins to turn bitter.

Wrong way number 2 - “wasting money.” Some people, out of habit, defrost squids in microwave oven. Immediately after defrosting in the microwave, the carcasses can be thrown away like unedible pieces of rubber, and the kitchen must be thoroughly ventilated to remove any unpleasant odors.

So, the shellfish are defrosted. Next steps: cutting, gutting, cleaning.

If you got the squid with a whole carcass, then you need to separate all the excess from it:

The head must be cut off. It is not used as food.
The tentacles can be eaten, but they must be cut off at the base, right next to the eyes. Please note that between the tentacles there are beak-shaped jaws (the so-called middle beak). It's not edible. Be sure to remove it and check for debris.
After cutting, it is necessary to pull out the insides along with the hard chord and rinse the remaining carcass well. Now you need to remove the skin from it.

Peeling

The film from the squid must be removed from both the outside and the inside. The outer film is dark in color and is clearly visible. The inner film is usually clear (or white around the edges and seals).

Here are three ways to remove the skin from squid:

"Stocking" method. The outer film on the defrosted carcass is pryed off with a knife and pulled off entirely, like a stocking. If there is no need to maintain the shape of the carcass (for example, you do not plan to use squid rings), then the carcass can be cut from the side opposite the chord and the inner film can be scraped off with a knife. This method is only suitable for fresh and frozen shellfish. Otherwise, the outer film will tear and it will not be possible to remove it with a “stocking”.
Contrast shower method. How to remove the film from a squid if the stocking trick fails? Take two deep bowls and fill them with water: one with hot water, the other with ice. You can even use ice cubes. Immerse the squid carcasses one at a time for a few seconds first in hot water, and then into the ice. The residence time in hot water should be very short so as not to cook the carcass in an uncleaned form. The skin will burst and begin to curl, after which it can be easily removed by hand or with a soft brush under running water.
Pre-cooking method. How can you easily clean squid if it is not fresh? For shellfish that have been frozen for a long time, another method is suitable. Place a pot of water on the fire. Immerse the carcass in boiling water for no more than 1 minute to lightly boil. Then take it out and let it cool. After this treatment, the squid skin is washed off plain water from the tap. When cooking further, take into account the time spent for pre-cooking squid Total time heat treatment shellfish should be no more than 4 minutes.