Cook-Off 62: Squid, Calamari and Octopus

[KennethT]

I have a lot of squid/cuttlefish eating experience, but very little cooking experience.  I'm planning on making a stir fried cuttlefish dish with sambal similar to a sambal fish dish I loved in Singapore (I'll try to post pics on the curry cook off) but had a question.  When stir frying, is it necessary or preferable to coat the raw cuttlefish with starch prior to stir frying?  I know that it is supposed to be cooked in as short a time as possible, so do I want as high heat as I can get?  Once the squid is cooked, I'm going to toss it with the fried sambal to coat.  When this is done with fish, the fish is coated in starch then deep fried, and then the sambal is slathered on top - coating with starch keeps the fish crispy.

[David Ross]

That's a good question yet I'm not much of an expert.  When I do similar dishes I just add the squid at the very last minute but don't coat it in starch.  And we're talking just a few seconds in a very hot pan/wok. 

[heidih]

Yes as @David Ross has done I do not coat. It won't be in there even long enough for you to turn your back. Are you doing the classic cross hatch scoring? That should give you craggy parts for the sambal to cling although squid is kinda slippery  

[KennethT]

1 minute ago, heidih said:

Yes as @David Ross has done I do not coat. It won't be in there even long enough for you to turn your back. Are you doing the classic cross hatch scoring? That should give you craggy parts for the sambal to cling although squid is kinda slippery  

Yes, I was planning the cross-hatch then cut into roughly 1" squares.  I figured the sambal would cling well to the raised edges, but didn't know if it would be better to give a light dusting with starch first.  I've been debating whether to re-fry the sambal (to get it reheated) and then add the cuttlefish, or to re-fry the sambal, remove from the pan, then fry the cuttlefish by itself and then add back the sambal to incorporate.

[heidih]

I would just do it all together. Squid is not very "absorbant".  Even when I did the slow stuffed squid brais it was mor sauce + versus integrated.

[KennethT]

12 minutes ago, heidih said:

I would just do it all together. Squid is not very "absorbant".  Even when I did the slow stuffed squid brais it was mor sauce + versus integrated.

That's why I was thinking of the starch dredge and fry - maybe the coating would adhere better?

[blue_dolphin]

15 minutes ago, KennethT said:

Yes, I was planning the cross-hatch then cut into roughly 1" squares.  I figured the sambal would cling well to the raised edges, but didn't know if it would be better to give a light dusting with starch first.  I've been debating whether to re-fry the sambal (to get it reheated) and then add the cuttlefish, or to re-fry the sambal, remove from the pan, then fry the cuttlefish by itself and then add back the sambal to incorporate.

 

I stir fry squid the same way that @liuzhou described in this post earlier in this thread - no starch. 

 

Edited to add that I add garlic and fermented black beans to the oil before I add the squid and I skip the oyster sauce that he used at the end.

Edited October 1, 2018 by blue_dolphin (log)

[heidih]

I forgot to add that 1" squares seems too small to me especially with the squid contracting.

[liuzhou]

6 hours ago, heidih said:

I forgot to add that 1" squares seems too small to me especially with the squid contracting.

 

I tend to agree. I usually do 1½ to 3 inch squares.

[liuzhou]

Squid, cucumber, radish and cashew nuts with citrus-chilli dressing

About once a year, when I have guests, I make this squid salad. The infrequency is due to the fact that I live alone and it's a dish that is really for sharing, I think, and that I cannot get the required jarred stem ginger here so have to make my own to get the syrup, which I don't mind doing, but it does take time. Also, we rarely get radishes. Sadly, I appear never to have photographed my attempts at it , but there is a fine photo in the article.

Edited October 2, 2018 by liuzhou (log)

[KennethT]

I scored and cut into pcs about 1-1/2 x 2 or so.  For some reason, at the last moment, I decided to toss in some flour prior to stir frying.  This was a mistake.  As the cuttlefish curled up, the flour on the inside of the curl just turned kind of gummy and never browned (which in hindsight would have been obvious).  With all the sambal on top, it was surely edible - actually still tasty - but I wouldn't do it again - the flouring that is!

[David Ross]

I was scrolling through our eG Cook-Off Index looking for ideas for some dishes I might want to plan on making this summer.  Well, needless to say there are literally hundreds of topics, ingredients and dishes to choose from--and boy is it fun to look through it all.  I haven't cooked with squid, calamari or octopus recently, but now I have a taste for it after seeing these recipes.  I think I might start with one of the dishes I did for this particular cook-off, Baby Octopus in Spicy Tomato Broth.  This should start the summer cooking season off right!

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/144640-cook-off-62-squid-calamari-and-octopus/

 

And you can scroll through the full eG Cook-Off index here:

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/143994-egullet-recipe-cook-off-index/