How to boil squid so that it is soft?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Until recently, of all seafood on the free market, only sea herring could be found. Today the situation has changed radically. In every city, shops have shrimp and mussels, oysters and squid. And often housewives are faced with such a problem that they do not know how to cook them properly.

Cooking squid deserves special attention. On the shelves today it is found in a variety of forms, canned and frozen, dried. It can be cooked as an independent dish, added to salads and stuffed. There are a lot of recipes. But in order for the dish to turn out delicious, you must first figure out how to boil squid. In practice, it turns out that this task is not so simple.

Problem 1

Every second housewife faced the fact that, having bought an outlandishseafood, threw it away, because after cooking it became completely rubbery and inedible. This does not mean that the product is bad. You just need to first study the instructions on how to boil squid, and then move on to action. Today we will consider in detail all the stages of preparation.

Defrost

Most often, frozen carcasses 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 put it on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator overnight. Finally, you can put the bag with the product 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 just at room temperature. Now let's look at how to boil squid.

Preparing for cooking

Today, frozen carcasses without tentacles and heads can be found on sale. In this case, after defrosting, it remains only to remove the film and you can start cooking. If the squid is not butchered, then first you need to get rid of the inedible parts. To do this, you will need to follow these steps:

• Grab the head of the squid around the eyes and pull while holding the carcass with your free hand. This way you can easily remove all the insides.
• The second stage is the removal of the chitinous film, which is easily felt inside the carcass. You just need to pull it with your fingers, and it will fall behind freely.
• After thatyou need to remove the outer film. It is easy to identify, it has a reddish-white color. But it is quite difficult to remove, so fill the carcasses with hot water and hold for about a minute. Then rinse with cold water and remove the film by prying 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 your table, which you can safely put in the pan. Now let's look further at how to boil squid.

To clean or not?

Sometimes someone from the family makes a purchase 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. It's actually very easy to understand. The cleared frozen carcasses of white color. During heat treatment, it only becomes more saturated. Unpeeled squids are pink or purple.

Several ways

Professional chefs can name quite a few options for heat treatment of carcasses. But we need to study only the simplest and most reliable methods 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, cooking in cold water.

To do this, you only need to put the carcasses in a saucepan and pour cold water. Put it on medium heat. Don't go too far, that's the key. When the water is warm and noisy, add some s alt. Now we are watching closely. As soon as the water begins to boil, immediately turn off the fire anddrain the water. You do not need to wait a minute, otherwise the carcasses will become tough. Now you know how to boil squid 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, you really want to wait a little more to be sure. To make sure they weren't raw. This is a bad practice that has ruined a lot of food.

Cooking in boiling water

This is the most popular way that most housewives like. It's quick, easy, and it turns out great every time. Put a pot of water on the stove and bring it to a boil. As soon as bubbles appear, throw in the s alt. Now lay out the squid carcasses and mix. Don't leave the stove. Moreover, do not even remove the skimmer and plate away from you. As soon as the boil resumes, immediately turn off the heat and remove the carcasses.

Since it is not difficult to boil squid for salad, this can be done directly in the process of its preparation. It takes even less time than boiling eggs.

Pour boiling water

In fact, chefs almost never use this method. But if the electricity is suddenly turned off, and there is boiling water in the thermos, then you can try. Cooking begins even at the stage of removing the film. Fill the carcasses and remove the inedible part. Now rinse them well and pour boiling water over again. Lightly s alt and leave for a minute. And repeat the procedure again. That is, rinse again and fill with newportion of boiling water. This time you can transfer the squid to a cutting board and chop.

Subtleties of cooking

Despite the fact that we have already covered the basic technique, there are still many recommendations that should be followed to make the dish really excellent.

• Water for cooking delicacies is taken so much that it slightly covers the carcasses. Do not pour a full pot, otherwise it will be difficult to control the cooking process.
• The question of adding spices is also very important. Professional chefs, giving recommendations on how to boil frozen squid, note that in addition to s alt, no other spices and additives need to be added to the water. This is especially true for acids and sauces. This will overpower the clam's own taste.
• If you want to give it a special touch, you can add peppercorns, dried or fresh herbs. The piquant taste of seafood can be emphasized with orange or lemon peel. But everything is good in moderation, so try to add very little.

Can I boil frozen clams

To make squids soft, it is not difficult to boil them correctly. Often, housewives ask themselves: is it possible to throw the peeled carcasses into the pan immediately from the freezer? Doing this is not worth it. The meat will darken, become unpleasant in appearance. It will cook in about 2-3 minutes, but you will have to additionally control the process. If you are cooking them for the first time, then it is better to defrost them first, and only then subject them to heat treatment. Professional chefs and culinary experts advise you to follow the instructions above and not deviate from it.

How to cook rings

Often, stores sell not carcasses, but such a semi-finished product. It is great for fried in batter. It makes an amazing beer snack. But such squids are quite suitable for a salad. How to boil rings? There is nothing difficult in this. They also need to be thawed by leaving at room temperature or dipping in warm water. Thawed rings need to be cooked a little less than whole carcasses. This takes about a minute and a half.

If you overcooked the clam

The main rule is to cook the clam for no more than two minutes. Then its meat will be juicy and tender, and the salad turns out to be unusually tasty. If seafood is overexposed, it becomes dark and tough. They become completely rubbery.

If this has already happened, then the situation can be salvaged in some way. To do this, leave the squid to cook for another 30 minutes. This method has a number of disadvantages. The volume of the resulting meat will greatly decrease, all useful substances will be boiled out of it. The squid will still not be as juicy and tender as if it had been cooked the right way.

Instead of a conclusion

Boiled shellfish 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 quicklyand can cause serious poisoning. If you can’t use them right away, you can put them in the freezer. After defrosting, the 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.