How to clean squid before cooking. Sea rings in batter with sauce

Squid - healthy and delicious seafood, with which you can diversify the daily family diet. Some housewives do not like to cook these shellfish, thinking that they are difficult to clean. It's a delusion. Squids are easy to clean if you know the little secrets of their processing.

Cleaned squid can be baked, boiled, fried, marinated, dried, smoked, or made into minced meat. Do not deny yourself and your loved ones the pleasure of eating delicious dishes from this valuable seafood.

Seafood in general and squid in particular are extremely healthy. But how to really choose healthy seafood? How to properly clean and boil squid? Let's try to understand the review.

If you want to buy a “no-hassle” product, buy cleaned squid. But if you need tasty and healthy seafood, choose only unpeeled carcasses.

On Russian market seafood there are about ten types of squid, but only a few of them deserve attention. Komandorsky squid is considered one of the best. Appearance: Uncleaned carcass. Length: 35 cm. Skin color: gray with purple, uneven. Supplier: Russia.

Patagonian squid is also highly prized. Appearance: unpeeled carcass 2-23 cm long. Skin color: red-brown, brown, uneven. Supplier: Spain.

In general, the color of squid depends on the type of cephalopod and can be grayish-white (but not grey), pink, blue, or purple.

How to choose chilled and frozen squid?

Important: the younger the squid, the more tender its meat. Choose small carcasses.

What to look for when choosing chilled squid:

• The carcass is dense and elastic.
• Squids must have a chitinous chord (spine).
• Smell: fresh fish. A faint ammonia odor may be present.

What to look for when choosing frozen squid:

• The amount of ice on the carcass is 8% of the total weight of the cephalopod.
• Frozen carcasses are easily separated from each other.
• The color of the meat under the skin is only white!
• The skin is intact, without obvious damage.

Do I need to clean squid before cooking?

Answer: yes. During cooking, the unpeeled skin can impart bitterness to the squid meat.

How to easily and quickly clean fresh and defrosted squid at home?

Procedure for cleaning fresh/chilled squid:

• Place the squid on a work surface.

• Take the clam's head just behind the eyes (where it connects to the mantle). Pull your head forward, breaking the ligaments. The insides should slide out. Be careful not to damage the ink (sepia) bag.

• Find the chitinous chord inside the mantle and remove it.

• Remove the top film by carefully prying it off with a knife.

• Rinse and, if necessary, divide into portions.

• Cut off the clam's tentacles and place them separately. Remove the squid's beak located between the tentacles. Pour boiling water over the tentacles and place in ice water. Rinse, rubbing thoroughly with your fingers to remove the thin skin.

Procedure for cleaning defrosted squid:

Important: Frozen squids should be thawed by placing them in cold water.

• Pour boiling water over slightly thawed squid carcasses. Leave for 30-60 s.
• Remove the squid from the boiling water and place it in ice water. Due to a sharp change in temperature, the skin peels off on its own.

Rinse the squid under running water, removing any remaining skin.

How to properly and quickly clean a squid carcass?

This is discussed in detail in the previous part of the review.

How to properly and quickly clean squid tentacles?

See the previous part of the review.

How to properly clean frozen squid from film?

The test above shows the most common method of cleaning frozen squid.

At the end of the article you can watch a video with a master class on cleaning squid from chef Ilya Lazerson.

How to clean squid after cooking?

It is better to peel squid before cooking, as the unpeeled film imparts a bitter taste. boiled meat squid

How to store cleaned squid?

Squids are perishable foods.

Peeled raw squid can be stored in the refrigerator at temperatures from 0 to +4⁰С for about 48 hours.

Shelf life boiled squid should not exceed 12 hours. They should be stored in hermetically sealed containers.

How to cook peeled squid in water after boiling for salad and how long?

• Squids are cooked one or two carcasses at a time to prevent overcooking of the seafood.
• Spices and seasonings used when preparing squid: salt, peppercorns, dill. If desired, you can also add basil or parsley.
• Pour 1.5-2 liters of water into a saucepan, add spices and salt, bring to a boil.
• Place the cleaned squid carcasses into boiling water. Cooking time: 2 min.
• Remove seafood from water and add next batch. Ready seafood should be cooled immediately.

Important: if you cook a lot of shellfish, add water, salt and spices from time to time.

Chef Ilya Lazerson offers an interesting way to clean and prepare squid. A detailed master class can be watched in the video at the end of the article.

Video: Squid salad in two ways. Lazerson

Squids are usually sold frozen. I advise you to choose unpeeled squid, since peeled shellfish are re-frozen, which reduces the quality of any product, especially something as delicate as seafood.

It is better to take small squid - their meat is much more tender and softer.

How to properly process squid before cooking

Cleaned squid

Squid, like other seafood, should be defrosted either in the refrigerator or at room temperature. It is strictly forbidden to defrost shellfish in the microwave or under hot water.

There are two processing methods:

1. After defrosting, cut off the tentacles, pull out the chord, turn the squid inside out and peel off all the films.

2. Place the squid in boiling water for 30 seconds; as soon as the protein begins to curl, the film will detach itself from the carcass. Immediately remove and clean off all excess under running cold water. But you must remember that the process of heat treatment of the product has started and the squid has already begun to cook.

How to properly cook squid on the grill

Grilled squid

Place the squid on the grill for literally 1-2 minutes - the meat will instantly set and become elastic. Remove from heat, add salt and pepper - the product is ready to eat.

The main thing is not to overcook the squid, otherwise you will get a hard rubber sole.

Before frying, cleaned squid can be marinated in olive oil with a mixture of spices - salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, coriander.

For the marinade, you can also use kefir, sour cream, mayonnaise - depending on personal taste preferences.

Grilled squid can be served with green oil(thyme, rosemary, garlic parsley, vegetable oil, olive oil) and baked lemon (cut the lemon in half, put on a heated frying pan, leave for a couple of minutes, then bake in the oven for 15 minutes at 180 degrees).

How to cook squid correctly

Squid before cooking

Cooking takes approximately 1-3 minutes, depending on the size of the shellfish. The universal cooking process is as follows: bring water to a boil, add salt and pepper, throw in a bay leaf, lower the squid, wait the required time and immediately remove the squid.

Dishes with squid

Tomato soup with squid

Prepared as classic soup from seafood. Chop the shallots, garlic, thyme, fry everything in a frying pan in oil. Add cleaned squid, then a quarter glass of white wine, evaporate, pour vegetable or fish broth. Peel the tomatoes, chop to a puree consistency and add to the total mass. Let it boil, cook for 2 minutes, add butter, salt, pepper, sugar.

Ingredients for tomato soup with squid

Tomato soup with squid

Breaded squid rings

Cut the cleaned squid into rings, add salt and pepper. Separately prepare the standard ingredients for breading: egg, flour, crackers. Dip the squid in flour, then in a well-beaten egg, again in flour and carefully coat in breadcrumbs.

Place the breaded rings in the freezer for 10 minutes - this will “set the shape” and make them easier to fry. Heat the oil to 160 degrees, lower the squid rings into the oil for 1.5 minutes. Place on a napkin to drain excess oil. Serve with any sauces: tartar, adjika, garlic, sour cream or hot sauce.

Ingredients for breaded malmars

Breaded squid rings

Stuffed squid

Pre-clean the squid. Wrap the potatoes in foil and bake in the oven, then cut out the core and mix with butter and soft cheese, add finely chopped stewed green onions. Stuff the cleaned squid with the filling, pierce it with a skewer, and fry in a frying pan for 40 seconds until golden crust. Place on parchment and place in the oven for 5 minutes at 180 degrees. Serve the appetizer with green butter and cherry tomatoes.

Ingredients for stuffed squid

Stuffed squid

Fried squid tentacles

Heat a frying pan with a little oil and fry the cleaned squid tentacles for 30 seconds on each side. Drizzle with green oil.

Ingredients for fried squid

Fried squid tentacles

Variety and affordability are the main advantages of seafood. In addition, all such products, including squid, have a high content of various vitamins and microelements. And the taste of seafood dishes is simply delicious.

The problem with cooking squid is that not all cooks can clean it correctly and quickly. This seafood is very delicate, and it should be handled accordingly. So, how to clean and cook squid?

How are squids good for the body?

Almost any seafood is very useful for humans. Such products are high in proteins and amino acids. Squid is also no exception, and the additional advantage of the product is the easy digestibility of proteins and its richness in vitamin B. And if it were not for the problem of how to clean squid, it is likely that this seafood would regularly appear on the table of any home.

There is no doubt that squid surpasses in its benefits even more than familiar products- meat and fish. At the same time, its calorie content is minimal (no more than 86 kcal per 100 g), which allows the product to be successfully introduced into the menu of many diets.

Among the elements found in squid meat is taurine. At regular use seafood, there is a significant improvement in memory and normalization of the digestive tract, returning to normal blood pressure, the functioning of the thyroid gland is improved.

The benefits for children should not be underestimated. Squid is perfect for feeding children aged 3 years and older. Thanks to high content iodine, it provides the growing body with the necessary element in the required quantity.

Selection of quality seafood

You can usually find canned and frozen squid carcasses on supermarket shelves. For those who live near places where this type of seafood is produced, it is better to pay attention to fresh seafood.

If the choice is only between canned and frozen options, then in the first case it is recommended to look at the expiration date and integrity of the can. The second option must be carefully checked. Definitely need to evaluate appearance carcass, its color and separability from others. If the squids are stuck together in a lump, this is a reason to be wary. This means that the seafood has already been thawed and re-frozen, and this may spoil the taste of the product in the future. In this case, the meat may become noticeably bitter after cooking.

The film on frozen seafood can vary from gray to purple, but the meat should remain white. A change in the color of the meat signals re-freezing. After such manipulations, the taste ready-made dish will not be the best taste properties. So, when purchasing seafood, you should be extremely careful.

Methods for cleaning frozen carcasses

Before you start preparing the dish, you should figure out how to clean squid. Here are two ways to prepare for cleaning:

• pour boiling water over seafood (does not require defrosting);
• defrost the carcass, pour boiling water over it and immediately rinse with ice water.

At the same time, we should not forget that in addition to the gray film, there is also a transparent one. Its removal is mandatory. Quickly cleaning squid from such a film is not at all difficult. It is enough to simply pick up the edge of the shell with a knife or fingernail and carefully, millimeter by millimeter, pull it off like a stocking.

In addition, we must not forget about the mandatory removal of the squid’s entrails. With frozen carcasses it is very simple. You need to either turn the carcass “inside out”, or simply stick your hand into it, feel the insides and the hard chord, and then pull it towards you. This “content” is removed without special effort. After these manipulations, you can start preparing squid dishes.

Method for cleaning fresh seafood

Those who managed to purchase a fresh carcass need to be patient. To clean squid at home, you will have to put in a little more effort than when processing a frozen product.

Usually fresh product appears before the buyer in its entirety, that is, with its head and entrails. The head should not be eaten; when processing the carcass, it should be cut off and thrown away. You only need to leave the “mantle”, “wings” and tentacles. Only these parts of the carcass are usually suitable for cooking and further consumption.

You can clean squid from the film using one of the methods used for frozen carcasses. But there is also a nuance: it would be much better to rip off the shell without using temperature changes. In this case, the taste of the finished dish will be more intense. To remove the film, you need to pick up both types of casing and carefully pull them off the carcass. With some skill, some cooks do this in one fell swoop.

Removing the entrails is absolutely the same as in the case of a frozen carcass.

How to prepare this product?

Options for preparing squid dishes great amount. By the way, this seafood can not only be boiled, but also fried. Not bad squid in salads, in stuffed, as well as in snacks.

Squids are usually cooked as follows: add peppercorns, bay leaves and salt to boiling water. If desired, you can add other spices, such as cloves. After everything has been put in, one squid carcass is lowered into the pan for 15 seconds. After removing it, a second one is placed at the same time, and so on.

You should not cook squid longer. Many recipes indicate a time of 3 to 5 minutes. This is completely false; over such a period of time, the squid meat will become “rubbery” and lose its rich bouquet of taste.

The only option for long-term cooking of this product may be when the squid is cooked in sauce or as part of some dish (solyanka, stuffed product). Here you need to rely on the recommendations in the recipe itself.

Some people use a bag of black tea or half a lemon as cooking seasonings. This decision will have positive influence to the taste of the future dish. Lemon is generally often used when cooking seafood, such as shrimp. It gives seafood a refined taste and aroma.

Finally

The benefits of seafood for the human body are undeniable. For children and the elderly, food that includes seafood in the diet is the best option. Replenishment of microelements, including iodine, is necessary for everyone.

Cooking squid is not as difficult as some housewives think. Dishes made from this seafood can and should turn out tender and juicy. You just need to strictly follow all the correct processing of the product and its immediate preparation. The final result in the form of the dish itself depends on this.

The variety of squid recipes is truly impressive. You can choose a dish to suit every taste or even use your imagination and cook something new. The main thing is to follow the recommendations.

Amazing seafood rich in protein, with 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).

Tip: to remove the chordae 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:

1. 1. 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.

Tip: squids are placed to defrost from freezer on the refrigerator shelf, later 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 - very cold water, in the other - 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.

Tip: it is better to remove the skin from the wide part to the narrow part using reverse side knife

Mini-cooking cleansing

This method is suitable if, in hot summer weather, frozen food is brought into the house already thawed. Then boil water in a saucepan with the addition of spices, salt, bay leaf etc. The mollusk 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:

1. Rinse under running water before cooking.
2. Boil seafood and cool.
3. Peel off the loose peel like a stocking.

Advice: unpeeled squid Only cooked 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 dietary and exotic dish will become an honorable attribute of the feast.