Sous vide squid gone bad

[Josh71]

I wanted to make "steamed squid". It's quite simple dish, consisting squid, steamed, and cut in bite size, served with kind of sweet soy sauce, green onions and sliced red onions. 

 

I tried several times, but it wasn't like what I had in the past. Sometimes, it was OK, most of the time not tender, or rubbery.

 

Well, yes, I read many articles about cooking squid, either super quick just few seconds or longer than 40 seconds.

 

Last time, I thought, "Hey, let's try sous vide!" (I have Anova).

 

Searching egullet and found several reference:

 

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-PostX/?do=findComment&comment=1453732

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-PostX/?do=findComment&comment=1655512

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-PostX/?do=findComment&comment=1666362

 

On average, they did at 59C for about 2 hours.

 

So, I did the same.

 

BUT! I think I used wrong type of squid. My squids were smallish, like 10 to 15 cm long (body only). 

Result? Terrible! The squid broke apart, turning into mushy kind of mashed potatoes! 

 

Please don't laugh

 

I threw them all, inedible.

 

So, have you done sous vide squid successfully? If yes, what temperature, how long and especially how big is the squid?

 

Thanks.

[liuzhou]

47 minutes ago, Josh71 said:

BUT! I think I used wrong type of squid.

 

Don't blame the squid. How many types of squid are there?

I don't think there was anything wrong with your squid, but I do think you are over-complicating something easy.

Squid is so easy to cook. And sous vide squid sounds like a triumph of fashion over sense.

I'd like to know more about this steamed squid dish, though. Never heard of it.

[Tere]

I agree. I am not a squid pro, but I would score it well, season a pan, and pretty much wave the pan at it, if you are sure of your ingredients. ika sashimi is delicious, so if in doubt freeze it to kill the pathogens (or establish this has been done before) and then wave a warm object at it or deep fry it for a short space of time with impunity.

[Tere]

59 degrees for two hours would make a chicken breast on the borderline of mushy, so I think a squid would need less, anyway.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

12 hours ago, liuzhou said:

Don't blame the squid. How many types of squid are there?

 

Mr. Wiki says over 300 species, and lists commercial fishing tonnage for 9 species. Some of them look very different from one another with basic similarities as well. So it wouldn't surprise me greatly if optimum cooking techniques varied among them. Then one could reasonably expect small young specimens like Josh71 had to be more tender than larger older individuals even within the same species. Very weird but delicious critter if cooked properly. I like fried tentacles the best.

 

I do agree that sometimes having that hammer can make your chosen ingredient look like a nail when it really isn't.  

[liuzhou]

34 minutes ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

 

Mr. Wiki says over 300 species, and lists commercial fishing tonnage for 9 species. Some of them look very different from one another with basic similarities as well. So it wouldn't surprise me greatly if optimum cooking techniques varied among them. Then one could reasonably expect small young specimens like Josh71 had to be more tender than larger older individuals even within the same species.

 

Yes, but my point was more along the lines of how many different types of squid does one person have routine access to. Certainly not 300, or even 9.

Yes, a baby squid will cook more quickly than his grandmother, but that is true of all creatures we eat, isn't it.

[JohnT]

SV is not always the way to go with certain foods and, to me, squid or calamari is one of those foods.

 

I do calamari three different ways:

• Pressure cooker - http://www.hippressurecooking.com/calamari-in-umido-calamari-tomato-sauce-or-side-dish/ which produces a soft and succulent result.
• Wok - quick and easy, especially when serving with stir fry veg as well.
• Grill - this works best with calamari steaks, based with lemon and butter or with other additives such as garlic, chilli - just use your imagination.

I do not deep fry calamari but sometimes do pan fry if doing only a small portion.

 

Calamari also makes a lovely salad when mildly pickled.

[Josh71]

I found this dish in one of the chinese restaurant in my town.

 

Basically, it's very simple and it might be typical dim sum dish. Although, I have never found it elsewhere. 

And sadly, the restaurant doesn't serve it anymore. It's not in the menu anymore.

 

You will get a small plate of steamed squid, cut in bite size, only the body, not tentacle.

No seasoning nor sauce mixed with the squid. The sauce is served separately consisting soy sauce, green onion, red onion, chilies and a bit of sugar perhaps because it has a little bit sweet taste.

 

It is steamed because the squid is served warm (not piping hot).

 

It is very delicate, clean and tender.

 

Tender, but not mushy, it has still kind of bite (crunchiness?).

 

I had ika sashimi before, it's not that. ika sashimi won't be served warm.

 

That's the dish.

 

========

 

Now, regarding "type of squid" that I mentioned, I don't mean about the species

But rather in "size". To me, all squids sold in the market look the same! The only different is size, length of the body.

 

At least in the market here, I could buy small one 10 to 15 cm long, or bigger than that like 20 cm or even bigger than that.

 

But definitely the squid used in this dish is not the biggest, it's too thick!

 

So, that's the story.

 

=========

 

As this is kind of dim sum, I would try to steam it traditionally though. But again, I have no idea about the timing etc, related to the size of the squids.

 

Probably small squid and steam for 1 minute?

 

I could buy some and do "weekend experiments". Try 1 minute, 2 minutes, 3 minutes and so on!

Edited July 4, 2016 by Josh71 (log)

[EnriqueB]

On ‎02‎/‎07‎/‎2016 at 2:25 AM, Tere said:

59 degrees for two hours would make a chicken breast on the borderline of mushy, so I think a squid would need less, anyway.

 

Not at all (the chicken, I mean).

[Tere]

IDK - the last batch I did to that spec was erring on the mushy side to my taste. Mileages vary.

Edited July 5, 2016 by Tere (log)

[nickrey]

3 hours at 59C works perfectly.

 

Was the squid fresh or frozen and thawed? If the latter, poor freezing could result in a mushy texture that would be exacerbated by cooking sous vide.

[Ozcook]

If you mean squid (and not baby octopus) I have found that frozen squid tubes cooked sous-vide for 3.5 hours @ 138F (~59c) produces tender and tasty results. However I don't use frozen squid from China - which seems to be a common source - so I don't know if that cooks differently.

[Taveren]

Squid is probably the easiest protein in the world to cook. Stop over-complicating it.