How to clean squids and how much to cook, how to quickly clean them from film, video

Squids - representatives of the oceanic depths - belong to the class of delicacies and dietary products. Consisting of protein in combination with polyunsaturated fats, vitamins, valuable micro and macro elements, they are incredibly healthy and tasty. But only if they are correctly selected, cleaned and boiled. And how to do this, you can find out right now.

How to choose the right squid

For residents of most of Russia, squid is still an exotic product. Most often they are sold frozen. But they can be not only freshly frozen, but also peeled, cut and even cooked before freezing. Here it is worth figuring out which products to give preference to. And, of course, you need to pay attention to the appearance:

• Size matters. Small mollusks, inhabitants of the northern seas, are palm-sized or slightly larger. They taste more delicate than their larger counterparts..
• Large cephalopods are often processed into the so-called sea cocktail. But you can find on sale and whole carcasses or fillets. Usually these are imported products (Filipino, Peruvian). Overgrown squids have tough meat and a specific ammonia odor, which, as a rule, is eliminated even at the production stage by soaking in special chemical solutions.
• By the size of the rings (when choosing this product option), you can roughly determine the size of the squid from which they were cut: the wider the ring, the larger the squid used.
  

  The width of the ring will indicate the size of the squid

• If the squid is unpeeled, the skin color can be any: gray, pink, purple and others. It depends on the habitat and age of the mollusk.
• Experts say that squid meat can only be white. However, fresh without treatment (thermal or chemical) it is not milky white, but rather a creamy shade.
• When choosing peeled squids, you need to understand that someone cleaned them somehow. In production, this is often done precisely by chemical means, by immersing and soaking the carcasses in a special solution, from which the film dissolves in the mollusks. This is faster and cheaper than using other methods.
  

  Sometimes squid cleaning and shock freezing is carried out directly on fishing trawlers. Already covered with icing, they go to production, where, in fact, they are only packaged in packages. The composition of the solution by which the carcasses were processed at sea is not always known to the manufacturer onshore.

• The color of the peeled squid should be only white, clean and beautiful. Any shades of red or yellow indicate a violation of the technology of production or storage.
  

  The cleaned squid after heat treatment should be only white

• The packaging of frozen squid should not contain ice, hoarfrost and snow. Otherwise, this indicates its thawing during transportation or storage and subsequent re-freezing. Technologists warn that the more the product has been processed, cleaned or re-frozen, the less taste and healthy properties are preserved in it. Therefore, it is better to purchase frozen unpeeled squid.
  

  Squids with ice - not the best option

• Do not confuse the thick ice crust and glaze, which is formed during the initial freezing of the product. With a small mass fraction, it should not be outwardly noticeable.
  

  Under Russian law, frozen marine products may contain up to 8% ice glaze. However, its content in foreign products is not regulated. There may be 20, and 30%, which will be honestly indicated by the manufacturer on the packaging. You need to understand that when you buy such a package of squids, for example, with a total weight of 1 kg, you simply pay 200-300 grams of water.

• When choosing a package, do not take the one that lies in the freezer above the freezing line. Obviously, storage standards have already been violated.
  

  In the commercial equipment there are marks indicating the place of proper storage

To properly defrost squid, simply remove the carcass from the freezer and leave it in the refrigerator overnight.

Video: how to choose frozen squid

Chilled squids may also be on sale, that is, products that have not been frozen. Here, too, there are points that are worth paying attention to:

• Squid is a perishable product. If you live away from the oceans where these cephalopods live, it’s obvious that chilled squids cannot be sold. They would just go bad during transportation.
• Sometimes unscrupulous sellers get chilled squid from frozen. Cheating can be easily distinguished by external signs: fresh squid has a small transparent “tail”, it will no longer be on the frozen product.
  

  Fresh squid has a transparent tail

• Squid carcasses should be easily separated from each other, not be sticky.
• And, of course, not to have an unpleasant smell.

Video: how to choose chilled squid

When and how to clean squid

There is an opinion that it is possible to clean squid both before and after cooking, as anyone sees fit. This leads to the fact that many housewives choose the second option: after cooking, squids are cleaned much easier.

I tried to clean them a couple of times before cooking, but it takes much more time, and the end result was no different. Boiled squids can be cleaned much easier and faster, so I don’t experiment anymore, I clean as usual after cooking.

However, you need to clean the squid before cooking. The entrails during cooking can give bitterness and an unpleasant aftertaste, and the film will not allow the squid to fully recover.

I clean the squid before cooking. I tried to clean after cooking, they are easier to clean, but it seems to me that if you clean the squid before cooking, then they will be cleaner :). Their skin turns gray-violet during cooking, and the water turns gray. And if you clean them before cooking, the water will be pinkish, this color is somehow more pleasant to me.

Moreover, in fact, cleaning raw squid is not so difficult using a manual mechanical or thermal method.

Cold removal of viscera and film removal

If you happen to get fresh unfrozen squid with all the insides and even the head and tentacles, do not worry, you can clean it correctly. The only difficulty you may have to face is that it is very slippery.

How to clean squid:

1. First you need to separate the head from the carcass. Can be cut with a knife. But also it will not be difficult to do without tools at all. You just need to grab the clam carcass with one hand, the head with the other and pull it in different directions. This will not require much effort.
   

   Inside the squid may be a "yellow bag" - this is caviar. It is too small and does not represent nutritional value.

   

   By pulling the squid in different directions, you can decapitate it

2. Fingers should remove all contents from the squid carcass as much as possible.
   

   Remove squid with your fingers

3. Then remove the chitin plate. It should be felt with your fingers and pulled out. Be careful, she's sharp.
4. Further cleaning squid is best done in containers with cold water. So the squid is washed well, and the film is easier to remove. Sometimes it is advised to cut the squid so as not to miss anything, but this is not necessary. Squid can simply be turned inside out like a stocking, and remove everything that remains after the initial cleaning.
   

   Squid can be turned inside out

5. The film is also easy to remove. The whole secret to successfully removing the film is that it needs to be tampered with. You can use a fingernail. Or use a knife. And then pull over the edge.
   

   The film is easily removed if you pry off the edge and pull it to the side.

6. There is also a film on the inside of the squid: very thin and transparent. It must also be removed. On this cleaning squid carcass is finished.
   

   The washed squid carcass should be washed under running water

7. The squid tentacles are cleaned in the same way. But first you need to cut off the head of the squid and jaw. You can use a knife or scissors, as convenient.
   

   Cut the squid's head so that only the tentacles remain

8. The tentacles can be divided and cleaned each separately. Or especially not to bother, scruff a knife not very carefully. If the film remains, it will move away during cooking.
   

   Brush the tentacles with a knife

Video: how to clean squid without heat treatment

Squids, cleaned cold and hot, outwardly different. The first is darker and softer. Second, resilient and white.

Heat treatment or hot film cleaning

If you are unable to remove the film from the squid before cooking, try the hot cleaning method. In fact, this is the same as cleaning after cooking - the film itself moves away from the carcass.

How to do:

1. Put the squid carcasses in the pan.
   

   Put the carcasses in the pan

2. Pour them with hot water from the kettle. It is not necessary to bring water to a boil, a temperature of 70 ° C will be quite enough.
   

   Pour the carcasses with hot water

3. Leave on for 30 seconds. The film coagulates under the influence of hot water, and it will be very easy to separate it.
   

   Hot-squid squid is easy to clean.

Video: a hot way to clean squid

You can also use the temperature difference method. The only difference is that after hot water the squids go straight to the cold, as in the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”. The only difference is that after all the diving, they will not become a good fellow, but they will easily be cleaned, and you will not get burned with hot water.

Video: quick cleaning with temperature difference

https://youtube.com/watch? v = 0psAJrLS80w

How long does it take to cook squid so that it is tender and tasty

You can cook squids whole or previously cut into circles or stripes. So that they do not curl during cooking, you can make shallow cuts in the form of a lattice in two directions. It is important to consider the cooking time: it should not exceed 2-3 minutes. Otherwise, the mollusk will turn out like a rubber: hard and tasteless.

If you missed the proper cooking time, but the softness of the product is very important for you, cook the squid for another 30–40 minutes. And they will become soft again. True, protein by this time will already begin to break down, and nutritional value will tend to zero. But in practice, this method along with the correct one is used by cooks. That is why it is better to cook squid yourself.

You can cook squid in ordinary water, adding only salt to taste. These clams are great for salads. But if you want to enjoy the taste and aroma of seafood, it is better to use a special cooking recipe.

Special recipe for squid:

1. Boil water in a pan.
2. Add lemon, salt, fresh thyme, pepper and any spices to your taste. Squid absorbs their aroma, and will become especially tasty.
   

   Lemon, herbs and spices add a unique flavor to squid

3. Then immerse in squid broth (for 2-3 minutes, no more). If you want a particularly refined aroma, put a cork of white wine in the pan.
   

   Squids cooked with white wine corks will be especially tasty

Now you know how to choose, clean and boil squids. So, you can enjoy a tasty and healthy product.