Salt & pepper calimari

[Tab]

In the last 15 years I've gotten to like well (properly) done Calimari. Unfortunately I've had only two standouts.

Calimari as a rule is tricky to cook - too much and it toughens up. Most places overcook it just a little, anyway. Then they serve it either with marinara sauce or pepper rings.

The REALLY good ones I've had was once in San Francisco, and once here in New Hampshire (and I will be going back). Both had a sea-salt-ish batter with a touch of pepper - the one in SF was mainly salt, the one local was a mix - and exquisitely lightly fried.

Any others I've had come off as frozen pre-battered from Sysco. They suck.

But these two places (chinese, both) made exquisite versions of them - I could eat them all night.

Anyone know how to make a good calimari with the salt batter, and get it lightly fried? It's almost like they had the batter from a good mozzarella stick but with salt, and were cooked perfectly.

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Try **no** batter

Mix flour and salt (and pepper, if you wish) to taste. Then just roll the squid in flour to coat as completely as the squid will hold the flour. Essentially, the squid's own moisture and any surface water mixes with the flour to become an incredibly light 'batter'. Fry 'em up quickly - the frying time is measured in seconds, not minutes. Depending on how well your fryer (whatever you're using) holds temperature, they could be done in as little as 60 or 90 seconds.

I LOVE fried squid. The simpler the better.

[Tab]

2. I've made them before and i know they cook up quickly, but...

what kind of oil, do you think? I don't envision chinese restaurants using olive oil (low smoke point aside) and peanut might impart an odd flavor - or maybe not. Clear canola?

[Stinky The Clown]

5. Honestly, I use generic vegetable oil

But, I also have to say I don't save it. I use it and toss it. I do this mainly because we fry so very little that any 'saved' oil would go rancid before it ever got reused.

Peanut oil is wonderful for this. No 'odd' flavor whatever. I don't use it because it is so damned expensive.

You're right about olive oil ...... not good for this dish at all. Corn oil would be okay, but that's spendy, too. Canola is fine if you want to have a pure varietal oil. Me ..... as I said ..... generic vegetable oil.

[Warpy]

11. All the Chinese places I know use nice cheap soybean oil

which they purchase in five gallon pails.

I'm off calamari. I've tried them on glowing recommendations from friends at many places and always found the texture to be like chewing on old bicycle tires. This has been true of Asian and Italian places, alike.

The light batter was the only edible part of those particular plates.

[Tab]

14. It's worth looking for the few who do it right

but I agree, most don't do anything special and overcook it until it's rubbery.

A clue: if it says it's served with banana peppers (or something else), forget it. The only ones worth trying are the ones that advertise themselves as salty or salt and pepper - they're the only ones with a chance of being good. The rest is crap.

[mtnester]

3. Interesting video at Video Jug

http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-make-deep-fried-squid

[Tab]

6. First, I hadn't heard of VideoJug

Interesting - I'll have to explore it more.

Second, they've got you working with an un-prepared squid. I was thinking they'd have a bowl of rings from the supermarket, not something we have to remove the head from. :) What do you do with a leftover squid head?

Haven't finished the video yet... more fun is coming, I'm sure.

[mtnester]

9. Video Jug looks like something you can get lost in

make sure you let someone know when you go in, and leave some trail clues!
:)

[Warpy]

16. Got pigs?

Don't feed them the bone, though.

[Stinky The Clown]

8. That is **exactly** how I do it.

Exactly the same, except I use an electric frying pan instead of the sauce pan. It is safer (no open gas flame) and easier to control temperature. ..... unless I am making for a larger group ...... then I do the same thing but use my countertop deep fryer instead of a saucepan.

But the fundamental recipe ...... identical, right down to the cleaning and cutting part.

[NMDemDist2]

4. best calamari on the planet from my Northern Italian bosses in their restaurant

take a 1" thick steak and pound it until it's at least doubled in size and about a 1/4 inche thick.

make a breading with garlic salt and pepper, dried parsley, Romano and Parmesan cheese (out of the cans is fine) and Italian bread crumbs. about equal parts cheese and crumbs, spice to taste.

get your skillet good and hot, just to the smoke point of a light coating of EVOO and flash fry the thin steak a couple three minutes per side until nicely browned.

heaven.

it may take a couple tries to get the ratio of bread crumbs to cheese correct, it was a family secret. the old man would lock himself into the liquor closet to make the breading. it might be closer to 2/3 crumbs to 1/3 cheese by volume

or if you're ever in Sacramento California, stop by 10th and "S" streets at lunch time on Fridays for Old Ironside's Calamari.

[Tab]

7. I'm not sure how calimari enters into the steak recipe

(as interesting as the steak recipe is)

[NMDemDist2]

15. sorry, not a beef steak, a calamari steak (or more technically correct) a giant squid filet

they are available

[Tab]

17. Ah, that makes more sense

I didn't know they called them "steaks".

And who the hell pounds a beef steak into submission anyway? That said, I wasn't going to try to second-guess the Italians.

[Tab]

10. Bought some calimari today

could only get frozen, bought some oil. Will take a crack at it later today.

Right now am mixing up some beef jerky.

[NashVegas]

12. The Only Place(s) I've Ever Seen Fresh Squid

Was at dedicated seafood vendors not too far from a coast. If you're landlocked, I can't imagine finding good, fresh & unfrozen.

Good luck. For myself, I prefer to soak it in lemon-pepper sauce and grill.

[The empressof all]

13. For really crispy crust use a bit of cornstarch in your flour mixture

It's a trick I learned from a native Chinese friend of mine. The Cornstarch will not brown the meat and adds no flavor to the meat so your end product will not get as brown. With the squid it will work great.