Until recently, of all seafood on sale, only sea herring could be found. Today, the situation has changed radically. Shrimps and mussels, oysters and squid are in stores in every city. And often the housewives are faced with such a problem that they do not know how to cook them correctly.
Special attention deserves the preparation of squid. On the shelves today it is found in a variety of forms, canned and frozen, dried. It can be prepared as an independent dish, added to salads and stuffed. There are a lot of recipes. But to make the dish tasty, you first need to figure out how to boil the squid. In practice, it turns out that this task is not so simple.
Problem number 1
Every second housewife was faced with the fact that, having bought an outlandish seafood, she threw it away, because after cooking it became completely rubber and inedible. This does not mean that the product is bad. You just need to first study the instructions on how to boil the squid, and then proceed to the action. Today we will consider in detail all the stages of preparation.
Defrost
Most often, frozen carcases are found in stores. To make the dish tasty and the squid tender, you need to properly prepare it for use. Someone uses a microwave for this, others lay out overnight on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator. Finally, you can put the product bag on the battery or put it in water. And how will it be right? To preserve all the useful substances of the product, it is best to leave it to thaw simply at room temperature. Now let's look at how to boil squid.
Preparation for cooking
Today on sale you can find frozen carcasses without tentacles and heads. In this case, after defrosting, it remains only to remove the film and you can start cooking. If the squid is not cut, then first you need to get rid of the inedible parts. To do this, you will need to perform the following steps:
- Grab the squid's head in the eye area and pull while holding the carcass with your free hand. So you can easily remove all the insides.
- The second stage is the removal of the chitinous film, which is easily groped inside the carcass. It only needs to be pulled with your fingers, and it will freely lag behind.
- After that, you need to remove the outer film. It is easy to identify, it has a reddish-white color. But it is removed quite difficult, so fill the carcasses with hot water and hold for about a minute. Then rinse with cold water and remove the film by picking it with a knife.
As you can see, there is nothing complicated. Just a few minutes of preparation, and you have ready-made carcasses on the table that you can safely put in a pan. Now let's look further at how to boil the squid.
To clean or not?
Sometimes a purchase is made by one of the family members and does not devote time to what was indicated on the label. And if the goods are by weight, then the carcasses are poured into a simple package without identification marks. Actually, sorting out is very easy. The peeled frozen carcasses are white. During heat treatment, it becomes only more saturated. Crude squids are pink or purple.
Several ways
Professional chefs can name quite a few options for the thermal treatment of carcasses. But we need to study only the simplest and most reliable ways that every housewife can use in her kitchen. Today we are talking about how to properly boil squid. Therefore, we start with the simplest method, namely, preparation in cold water.
To do this, you just need to put the carcasses in a pan and pour cold water. Put it on medium heat. Do not go far, this is the key. When the water becomes warm and starts to make noise, add a little salt. Now carefully observe. As soon as the water begins to boil, immediately turn off the fire and drain the water. You do not need to wait a minute, otherwise the carcasses will become stiff. Now you know how to boil squids so that they are soft and decorate any salad.
Surely many have already seen their mistake. Of course, when you cook them for the first time, I really want to wait a little longer for fidelity. To probably not be raw. This is a bad practice, because of which many dishes were hopelessly ruined.
Cook in boiling water
This is the most popular way that most housewives like. It’s quick, easy, and it’s just great every time. We put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. As soon as the bubbles appear, throw the salt. Now lay out the squid carcasses and mix. Do not leave the stove. Moreover, do not even remove the slotted spoon and plate far away from you. As soon as the boil resumes, immediately turn off the heat and remove the carcasses.
Since boiling squid for salad is not difficult at all, this can be done directly in the process of its preparation. It takes even less time than boiling eggs.
Pour boiling water
In fact, cooks almost never use this method. But if you suddenly turned off the electricity, and there is boiling water in the thermos, then you can try. Cooking begins at the stage of film removal. Fill the carcass and remove the inedible portion. Now rinse them well and pour boiling water again. Lightly salt and leave for a minute. And repeat the procedure again. That is, rinse again and fill with a new portion of boiling water. This time you can shift the squid on a cutting board and chop.
The subtleties of cooking
Despite the fact that we have already examined the basic technique, there are still a lot of recommendations that should be followed in order for the dish to turn out really excellent.
- Water for cooking delicacies is taken so that it slightly covers the carcasses. You do not need to pour a full pan, otherwise it will be difficult to control the cooking process.
- The issue of adding spices is also very important. Professional chefs, giving recommendations on how to boil frozen squids, note that in addition to salt, you do not need to add other spices and additives. This is especially true for acid and sauces. This will kill the mollusk's own taste.
- If you want to give it a special note, you can add peppercorns, dried or fresh herbs. The spicy taste of seafood can be emphasized with the help of orange or lemon peel. But everything is good in moderation, so try to add quite a bit.
Is it possible to boil frozen clams
To make squids soft, it’s not difficult to boil them correctly. Often, housewives ask themselves a question: can peeled carcasses be thrown into the pan right from the freezer? Do not do this. The meat will darken, it will become unpleasant in appearance. It will cook in about 2-3 minutes, but you will have to additionally control the process. If you are preparing them for the first time, then it is better to first defrost and then heat them. Professional chefs and culinary experts advise you to act on the above instructions and not to deviate from it.
How to cook rings
Often, not carcasses are sold in stores, but such a semi-finished product. It is great for frying in batter. It turns out an amazing beer snack. But such squids for salad are quite suitable. How to boil the rings? There is nothing complicated about it. They must also be thawed, leaving at room temperature or dipped in warm water. Thawed rings must be cooked a little less than whole carcasses. About one and a half minutes are enough for this.
If you digested a clam
The main rule is to cook the clam for no more than two minutes. Then his meat will be juicy and tender, and the salad will turn out to be unusually tasty. If the seafood is overexposed, then they become dark and harsh. They become completely rubber.
If this has already happened, then the situation can be saved in some way. To do this, leave the squid to cook for another 30 minutes. This method has several disadvantages. The volume of meat obtained will greatly decrease, all useful substances will be boiled out of it. Squid will still not be so juicy and tender, as if it were cooked in the right way.
Instead of a conclusion
Boiled mollusk carcasses are stored in a plastic container for no more than two days. It is best to use it immediately after boiling. Seafood spoils very quickly and can cause serious poisoning. If you can’t immediately use them, you can put them in the freezer. After defrosting, carcasses will lose some of their properties and will no longer be so nutritious, tender and tasty. Therefore, it is advisable to eat it immediately after boiling.