Squid are cephalopods that live in almost all seas of the earth. In domestic stores, you can currently buy mainly shellfish from the Far Eastern seas. The most common and delicious is the Pacific squid. The length of its body without a head and tentacles is from 20 to 35 cm. The value of this species is in its high content of protein and other useful substances.
In addition to this species, the Commander squid is also supplied to the trading network. On average, its body length is 10 cm longer than that of the Pacific. It also contains less protein, but more water. Thanks to this, its meat is more tender after heat treatment.
Southern squid species are larger, and many of them have a specific flavor. They are on sale less often than the Pacific and Commander squid.
In the retail network you can find very light squid fillets. If there is no information on the package that the fillet is cooked at sea, you should not buy such a product. As a rule, the caught squid is frozen and sent to China for processing. There the mollusk is thawed, cut into fillets, bleached and re-frozen.
For home cooking, it is preferable to cut and peel the squid yourself.

How to peel squid quickly

If the squid is purchased with a whole carcass with a head and tentacles, then it is first cut. To do this, cut off the head, grope and remove a hard "beak" from it. The head itself and the tentacles are not thrown away, it can be used in salads, soups and main courses. The insides are carefully removed from the body of the squid. After that, it remains to clean the carcasses from the colored skin. This can be done according to the scheme below.
It is more profitable to buy cut, frozen, but not peeled from the upper skin of the squid carcass.

Defrost them at room temperature before cooking. After that:
1. Remove the transparent cartilaginous arrow from the carcasses. It is a rudiment of an inner shell.

2. If there are remnants of internal organs, they also need to be removed. After that, put the carcasses in a suitable saucepan and pour boiling water over it.

3. The upper skin will curl up, it remains only to rinse the clam and use it in various dishes.

How to fry squid in two minutes

Very fast and can be cooked fried squid. For one serving of fried squid you need:

• two peeled squid mantles;
• 3-4 g of salt;
• 2 g of black pepper, ground;
• 30 ml of oil.

1. Cut the mantle of the clam on one side and lay it out on the table. Make shallow cuts with a mesh. Sprinkle with oil, salt and pepper.

2. After a quarter of an hour, heat the pan without oil. It is convenient to use either a grill pan or non-stick cookware.
3. Place the squid in a hot skillet. First, put it on the side where the cuts are, and after 40 - 50 seconds turn it over to the other side.

After another minute, the fried squids are ready. Roll and serve with any sauce.

How to Quickly Make a Simple Squid Salad

For two servings of squid salad you need;

• 300 g of peeled squid;
• 70 g mayonnaise;
• pepper to taste.

1. Put the peeled squid in a saucepan. Cover with cold water. Heat to a boil. Cook for 1-2 minutes and immediately remove the pan from the heat, and immediately remove the boiled clam from the hot water.

2. Cut the cooled squid into rings.

3. Add pepper and mayonnaise. Stir and serve.

It should be added that many seafood is quite expensive. Squids are the cheapest of them, they are available to most consumers. The taste of these shellfish, properly prepared, is excellent and should be on the family menu.

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, and, even more so, as delicate as seafood.

Better to take small squids - their meat is much softer and softer.

How to properly handle squid before cooking

Peeled squid

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

There are two ways of processing:

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

2. Dip the squid in boiling water for 30 seconds, as soon as the protein begins to curl, the film will detach itself from the carcass. Remove immediately and clean off all unnecessary under running cold water. But you should definitely remember that the process of heat treatment of the product has been started and the squid has already begun to cook.

How to properly grill squid

Grilled squid

Put the squid on the grill literally for 1-2 minutes - the meat will instantly grab and become elastic. Remove from heat, salt and pepper - the product is ready to use.

The main thing is not to overexpose the squid on fire, otherwise you will end up with a hard rubber sole.

Before frying, peeled 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.

You can serve grilled squid with green oil (thyme, rosemary, parsley garlic, vegetable oil, olive oil) and baked lemon (cut the lemon in half, put in a preheated pan, leave for a couple of minutes, then bake in the oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 180 degrees).

How to cook squid properly

Squid before cooking

Cooking takes about 1-3 minutes, depending on the size of the clams. The universal cooking process is as follows: bring water to a boil, salt and pepper, toss the bay leaf, lower the squid, wait the required time and immediately get the squid.

Dishes with squid

Tomato soup with squid

Prepared like a classic seafood soup. Chop the shallots, garlic, thyme, fry everything in a skillet in oil. Add peeled squid, then a quarter glass of white wine, evaporate, pour over all 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 Squid Tomato Soup

Tomato soup with squid

Breaded squid rings

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

Put the baked rings in the freezer for 10 minutes - this way "the shape will grab" and it will be easier to fry them. Heat the oil to 160 degrees, dip the squid rings in the oil for 1.5 minutes. Put on a napkin to allow the glass to excess oil. Serve with any sauces: tartare, adjika, garlic, sour cream or spicy sauces.

Ingredients for breaded malmaras

Breaded squid rings

Stuffed squid

Pre-peel the squid. Wrap the potatoes in foil and bake in the oven, then cut the cores, mix with butter and soft cheese, add chopped chives. Stuff the peeled squid with filling, chop with a skewer, fry in a pan for 40 seconds until golden brown. Put on parchment and put 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, fry the peeled squid tentacles for 30 seconds on each side. Drizzle with green oil.

Ingredients for grilled squid

Fried squid tentacles

Seafood is a very healthy food, rich in proteins, vitamins and microelements. The cuisines of different nations of the world combine recipes with different marine life. The cheapest product is squid. However, despite the fact that many people love him, there is a lot of trouble with him. Many housewives are in no hurry to cook various dishes with it due to the fact that they do not know how to clean it properly. But this is not difficult. Today we will talk about how to peel squid.

How to choose the right squid?

Before you understand how to clean the squid from the film, you need to choose and buy them correctly. Freshly caught squids are perfectly cleaned. In this case, the film, which is located on the outside and inside of the seabed dweller, is removed like a stocking, very easily. However, fresh molluscs come across the inhabitants of the sea coasts. Most people buy frozen food.

Despite the fact that you are purchasing frozen squids, you should pay attention to the purchase. The key to successful preparation and pre-cleaning is the correct storage and transportation conditions for marine life. So, defrosting and re-freezing of this product is not allowed.

Important! If you notice that this rule is not observed in any store or the squids have already thawed, but they will be frozen again, you should abandon this purchase and purchase it elsewhere.

Rules for the successful purchase of squid:

1. Frozen carcasses should be separate from each other, as if glazed in a small amount of ice. If you notice that several shellfish are attached to each other, this means that the product has previously been defrosted and re-frozen. You shouldn't buy such seafood.
2. If you want to buy a quality product, you should give preference to those with a white carcass without splashes of blue and pink. Spots of other shades indicate that the color of the clam skin was absorbed into the carcass during thawing.

Buying low-quality seafood leads not only to poor cleaning of the carcass, but also to a distortion of taste. In addition, poor quality seafood can harm your health.

Important! Many housewives buy seafood carcasses painted pink or light blue. However, this should not be done - old squids have this color. They take a long time to cook and their taste is several times worse than young shellfish.

How to quickly remove the film from squid?

There are several options to remove the film from squid. Each housewife, having tried each of them, will be able to choose the most suitable and convenient technology for herself, and subsequently she will spend a small amount of time cleaning the carcasses.

Important! Before peeling the carcass itself, many people have a question about why, at all, create these difficulties and remove the film? The fact is that in this transparent film the meat shrinks several times and becomes very tough and unsuitable for eating.

Cold way

One of the most common ways to remove film from squid is to use the cold method. This technique is only suitable for freshly caught or properly frozen seafood.

Carcass cleaning sequence:

1. We take the carcass and carefully pry the film from one edge.
2. It is necessary to remove the film from all sides gradually, as if removing a stocking.
3. We clean the inner cavity - the chord.

The carcass is cleaned.

Important! This method is common, but it is better to use it on freshly caught squid, as you cannot be sure of the correct method of freezing the product.

Hot way

For frozen seafood, the hot method is the most common method for cleaning squid. In it, seafood carcasses are subjected to short-term heat treatment.

The procedure for cleaning a carcass with a head and tentacles with a hot method:

• We defrost the carcasses. To do this, put the frozen seafood in a bowl and put it in the refrigerator or on the table. We expect complete defrosting.
• By pulling on the head of the carcass, you cleanse the insides of the seafood.
• Cut off the tentacles at eye level.
• At this stage, removes the beak.

Important! It is quite hard, so you need to do it carefully, and then make sure that there are no fragments of solid particles.

• There is a transparent spine inside the carcass. It is a little hard, so it will not be difficult to find it. We delete it.
• Only after completing all the previous steps is the squid ready to clean the film.
• We wash the carcasses thoroughly in plenty of water. We wash the insides and dry them with dry paper towels.
• We take a deep saucepan, pour boiling water into it and immediately lower the carcass. We leave for two minutes. During this period of time, the film will go away, and the meat will not cook.
• Hot water curls the film. As a result - under the pressure of running water, you can easily solve the problem of how to clean squid.

Cleaning with a contrast shower

Another common way to remove film from squid is to apply a contrasting water temperature. Its essence is very simple:

1. To do this, you need to clean and rinse the carcasses.
2. Put the seafood in a bowl, pour boiling water over it and immediately transfer it to a bowl of ice water and a small amount of ice cubes.

Thanks to this “contrasting shower” for seafood, the film will come off, the meat will not cook and the problem of cleaning will be solved.

Cleaning boiled squid

When considering all the ways how to clean frozen squid, you should pay attention to the method of cleaning boiled carcasses. In this case, they are pre-cooked, and only then they are freed from the film. At the time of cooking, the film can burst and collect into balls. Then it must be cleaned with a kitchen brush.

Important! Sometimes you can remove the film from a boiled carcass using the "stocking" method. Either way, removing this piece of seafood is easy enough.

Cooking seafood

You have already decided how to clean the calamari from the film, it is worth moving on to cooking them. The process of heat treatment, like cleaning, raises a large number of questions for many housewives, and not every girl knows the cooking method. However, there is nothing difficult in this - now we will tell you how to do it.

Important! Cooking carcasses is not at all difficult. However, you should follow all the rules and always look at the clock. If you overcook seafood, it will become tough, rubbery, and tasteless. It is very simple to determine whether you have overcooked squids or not: the spoiled product decreases several times in size.

0

Squid has a high nutritional value, like many seafood. A variety of hot dishes, snacks, salads can be prepared from its meat.

In many families, squid is considered an exotic food because the housewives are not sure how to properly cut and cook this sea inhabitant. In reality, this is not difficult at all. One has only to do everything according to the rules once, and squid dishes will often decorate the home table.

Squid belongs to edible cephalopods. Its elongated body with triangular fins is pinkish-gray in color, and its square head is surrounded by tentacles. The body itself is mainly eaten, and the head and entrails are removed.

Valuable dietary meat

Squid meat is quite tender and soft, due to its low calorie content and lack of cholesterol, it is well suited for health food.

• The high content of protein, vitamins, microelements makes this product valuable for children's kitchen.
• A large amount of potassium contributes to the normal functioning of the heart muscles.
• The taurine in meat regulates blood pressure.

Thanks to these beneficial properties, dishes prepared from squid will add a bright note to a balanced diet.

How to choose squid

Fresh squid has the greatest nutritional value, and you should buy them if possible.

In practice, stores often offer frozen carcasses, whole or gutted. When making a choice, it is important to pay attention to the shade of the meat. Subject to the storage conditions and temperature conditions, the meat under the cover film should only be white.

If the shellfish are thawed repeatedly, they take on a bitter taste, and the meat changes color and spreads during cooking.

It should be borne in mind that less nutrients are preserved in the peeled squid, so it is better not to be lazy, buy whole carcasses and clean them yourself.

Why are squids peeled?

The body of the mollusk, both outside and inside, is covered with films, transparent or with a violet-brownish tint. These films must be removed before cooking. When heated, they become tough, pulling and squeezing the carcass. This affects the quality of the meat, it becomes less tender and juicy.

Also, during cleaning, the insides and the flexible transparent spine - the chord - are removed. It is not difficult to do this, the body of the squid is in the shape of a bag, so the insides easily slip out of it.

How to quickly peel squid at home

With even a little experience, you can cope with this task in just a couple of minutes. With the right approach, the skin is removed like a stocking, with one movement of the hand.

Peeling a whole squid

When purchasing whole marine life, you need to be prepared for the fact that they will have to be cleaned on their own. The algorithm of actions differs slightly depending on whether you received fresh or frozen carcasses.

If the squid is frozen

Place the squid in a bowl and pour boiling water over abundantly. At the same time, the skin bursts, leaves the meat and curls up. Now the carcasses need to be quickly moved into ice water, and the skin will finally separate from the surface. Also, the remnants of the films can be cleaned by hand under cold running water.

If the squid is thawed

If it happened that the squid had time to defrost before the start of processing, they can also arrange contrasting procedures.

There is another way: boil the carcasses in boiling water for 2-3 minutes. The films will separate themselves and remain in the water. It is important not to overexpose the product in hot water so that it does not cook until cooked ahead of time. Cooking meat for too long makes it tough.

Chilled

Seafood can be kept refrigerated without freezing for several days.

These freshly caught shellfish are more nutritious. To clean them, they are freed from the chord and viscera by separating the head from the body. After that, you need to put the carcasses in a colander, pour over boiling water, and then ice water. The skin is easily removed by pulling it from the wider part to the thinner part. From the fins, the film will have to be scraped off with a knife.

Fresh catch

Fresh squids are not only the tastiest and healthiest, they are also easy to clean. First of all, you need to rinse the little body, cut off the head, and then remove the insides. You can just grab the head at the base and separate it, then the insides themselves will slide out. Then find the tip of the chord and pull on it with one hand to remove this inedible element. The film from fresh squid comes off in one step. You just need to slip your finger under it and remove it from the mollusk, like a stocking.

Boiled with the skin

To make the meat tastier, it is recommended to boil the squid in a peeled form.

If, for a specific purpose or due to inexperience, they were cooked together with the skin, nothing bad will happen, this is quite acceptable. The film is as easily removed from the boiled shellfish with a stocking, as well as from raw. Sometimes during cooking, the skin breaks and rolls into balls. Then it can be brushed off the surface with a soft kitchen brush.

How to remove film from a carcass

By purchasing an already decapitated squid, you can save time on cutting it. But even the prepared carcass will have to be cleaned of films covering its surface from all sides. After the clams have been washed in clean water, the easiest way is to use the contrast temperature method and pour boiling water over the carcasses. Then they are immersed in cold water, and the skin curls up and leaves almost by itself. When the film is removed from the body, it remains to scrape off its remnants from the wings of the squid and once again rinse it with water.

In more detail, the process of cleaning a squid carcass and preparing it for storage in the freezer is shown in the video.

How tentacles are cleaned

In addition to the torso, tentacles are also used for food. They need to be trimmed right before the eyes so that a connecting thin ring of skin remains. They are cleaned from the film in the same way as the rest of the carcass. The skin on the tentacles is thinner and more delicate, so after scalding them you can immediately rinse them with water... The film will come off by itself without additional effort. Between the tentacles there is a hard squid beak, it is separated, squeezed with fingers, and thrown away.

Secrets of handling squid

Cooking squid is a simple matter at first glance. Cooking usually involves boiling or roasting and then cutting the meat. But it is seafood that requires special attention so that the meat remains tender and aromatic.

Buy large or small copies?

Large individuals with a brightly colored surface are old mollusks. The younger the squid, the softer its meat. Small carcasses are easier to clean and taste softer.

How to defrost properly?

Shellfish should not be thawed in steam or in water. This will irreversibly spoil the flavor and texture of the meat. You can put them on the top shelf of the refrigerator overnight.

Is it better to clean before cooking or after?

It is not difficult to learn how to clean squid correctly, you only need to try and remember the basic steps once. Beginners can try different cleaning and cutting methods to find the one that works best for them. In any case, preparing a dish from these shellfish can be quick and easy.

Squid is a healthy and tasty seafood that can be used to diversify the daily family diet. Some housewives do not like to cook these clams, 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.

If you bought fresh whole squid, put it in a bowl and locate where the head is. Tentacles are located on it. Holding the body of the squid with one hand, pull the head towards you with the other. It will separate along with the insides. Turn your head with tentacles towards you, find and remove the beak. Then remove the eyes. To do this, cut the tentacles in half, or simply squeeze the eyes outward. Remove films from the carcass. In fresh squid, it comes off easily in one go. Remove the tough chitinous plate that is inside the body. Rinse the cleaned carcass well with cold water. More often it is necessary to butcher frozen squid. So that cleaning them does not take much time, choose the right product in the store. Frozen shellfish carcasses should be easily separated from each other. If they stick together, then the squid has already been thawed. When cutting, they will creep, and after cooking, they will taste bitter. The size and color of a squid depends on its habitat and age. The body of an unrefined mollusk is covered with a film on the outside and inside. It can have colors ranging from pink to burgundy and purple. White meat is under the film. After re-freezing, the meat turns gray and loses its taste. Small squids are easier to peel than large ones and are softer after cooking. Often gutted frozen carcasses are sold in stores. This makes them easier to clean. Remove the cartilage from the cut squid. Then remove the film from the carcass. If this is not done, during heat treatment, they will become tough, and the carcass itself will shrink. There are several ways to clean the film. Without defrosting the squid, place them in a bowl, scald with boiling water, and then immediately transfer to a bowl of ice. The skin will come off in a stocking. You don't need to put the squid on ice, but simply pour boiling water over them and immediately drain the water. The film rolls up instantly and peels off easily. To remove the skin from a thawed carcass, place it in a saucepan of boiling salted water and cook for 2 minutes. The film partially remains in the water, and the remaining film is easily removed by rinsing the carcass in cold water. After that, the squid is ready to eat. Its meat is soft and tender.

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