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TAKE NOTE: THIS IS NOT FOR THE SQUEAMISH.
Please Fave the Original Submissions or check the links below to see lager versions of the step by step images:
click here: Step 1
click here: Step 2
click here: Step 3
click here: Step 4
click here: Step 5
click here: Step 6
click here: Step 7
click here: Fried Tempura Jumbo Calamari
To be able to clean, dress and break-down an animal to its usable parts is a valuable skill, so we’ve combined
TigerBread's tutorial into one submission for your convenience.
1.
Jumbo Squid: A "How To" / aka Breaking down Squid
**Medium Difficulty**
Breaking down an entire Jumbo Squid can be intimidating if you don’t know how to do it. However, I always believe it’s a good experience for anyone to break down their own meat regardless if it’s Fish or poultry. There is such a large disconnect from food in our society. People just don’t know how food goes from the farm or the sea to our plates. So, what better way is there to respect your food and everything involved into preparing it, than learning how to do it yourself?
Here’s a Step by Step Tutorial of how to break down Squid. Jumbo Squid as shown here, has a very similar anatomy as smaller squid, so once you get the hang of this tutorial, you’ll be able to break down any size squid for delicious Calamari.
Warning: Tutorial is not for those who are squeamish.
**********
Step One: Rinse and Scrub the Squid
When you buy Jumbo Squid at your local Fish Market, you can be sure it’ll cost you under ten dollars for a pretty decent sized fish. That’s really cheap considering you pay ten dollars for just six rings of Calamari at the restaurants. Buying your own Squid fresh at the Fish Market, you’ll get five times the weight or more for the same price or cheaper! It just involves some work to prepare it the way Restaurants do.
The First step is to rinse off your Squid and Scrub away any sliminess left over from the Fish Market. Take the Jumbo Squid and place it under cold running water. You can use a strong paper towel to help you scrub if you don’t like using your hands. Once cleaned of its natural slime, pat the Squid dry with some more paper towels and set on your cutting board. Be sure to have more paper towels ready, because the next part can get messy.
2.
Step Two: Removing the Eyes and Innards
Start by removing the eyeballs. You can do this simply by sticking your fingers directly on the eyeballs and pulling them forward so your knife has an easier time cutting away the connective tissue. Discard both eyeballs.
Now for the innards. With a firm grip, take hold of the Squid right above the eye sockets with one hand, and with the other hand take hold of the Squid’s fins. Slowly, but firmly pull in opposite directions to pull out most of the organs from its body. This should happen with little fuss since most of the organs are contained in a sack. You might have to reach inside the Squid if the connective tissue has difficulty ripping away from its organ sack. Simply tear away the connective tissue with your fingers. Once all the organs are removed, you can cut them off without breaking the organ sack by cutting the Squid in half at the eye sockets. Discard the organs.
Optional Step: The Ink Sack. Some people who are familiar with using Squid Ink in their recipes may wonder how to harvest the ink sack. You would do that during this step. The ink sack will be dark in color, and look like a thick vein. You may need to cut into the Organ Sack to access the Ink Sack. Cut out the Ink sack with a sharp paring knife without puncturing the Ink sack. Once removed, simple cut open the Ink Sack into an ounce of Red Wine. Keep it refrigerated. Use within that day.
3.
Step Three: Re-Rinsing
This step is actually optional. I like to give the tentacles and the body another rinse before removing the Beak and the Cuttlebone. Squid can get slimy so a quick rinse will help with that. We don’t want our knives to slip and accidentally cut ourselves. As you can see in the picture, once rinsed, the Beak is less slimy and will surely be easier to cut away.
4.
Step Four: Removing the Beak, the Cuttlebone, and any leftover Innards.
We’ll start by removing the Beak. The Beak is connected to its Beak Muscles which can easily be pulled forward so your knife can slice the muscle and the beak right off together. Discard the Beak and Beak muscle.
Next, the Cuttlebone needs to be removed. In the picture, you can see the Cuttlebone. It is the long thin, plastic looking bone. It’ll feel hard, and sometimes brittle. Like a thin plastic. You’ll want to remove the entire Cuttlebone with your fingers since they can be a choking hazard when accidentally eaten. Discard the Cuttlebone.
Finally, reach inside the Squid’s body and pull out any remaining organs left over. Discard the organs.
5.
Step Five: Cleaning and Separating the Tentacles
On a Jumbo Squid, you may notice that the tentacles have a hard, bony ring around each sucker. These rings should be cleaned off. Just pick off each bony sucker ring with your finger under some cold water until all the tentacles are clean. On smaller Squid, you may not need to do this.
Separate each Tentacle with your knife to prepare them for the fryer.
6.
Step Six: Removing the Skin
The Skin is edible, and actually very delicious in soups. However, for Fried Calamari, it’s best to remove the Skin since the Skin does release a pink purple color when cooked. We don’t want our beautiful pale batter to get discolored. To remove the Skin, gently and faintly score the skin once down the middle, and peel the skin away. When you get to the fins, you can leave them as is because the coloration of the Fins are not as prominent as the body.
Fun fact, all those dark spots on the skin are used as camouflage. Those dots allow the Squid to change color in the wild!
7.
Step Seven: Slicing, and Portioning for the Fryer.
Slice the Squid to make Calamari rings. They can be as thick or as thin as you like. I like my Calamari thick so that is what is shown in the picture. Once the rings are sliced, turn the rings inside out so they are more springy when battered and fried.
The Fin can be sliced into strips. They’re thin so they won’t have a strong Calamari flavor, but that’s ok. The batter will be well seasoned so the fins will be just as enjoyable.
The Tentacles have been portioned out in an earlier step, so in the photo shown, we have everything ready to be dipped into the batter.
I hope this Tutorial was helpful and educational! Take care and Happy Eating!
8. See how to use your Squid in this great recipe from TigerBread
click here: Fried Tempura Jumbo Calamari
Please Fave the Original Submissions or check the links below to see lager versions of the step by step images:
click here: Step 1
click here: Step 2
click here: Step 3
click here: Step 4
click here: Step 5
click here: Step 6
click here: Step 7
click here: Fried Tempura Jumbo Calamari
To be able to clean, dress and break-down an animal to its usable parts is a valuable skill, so we’ve combined
TigerBread's tutorial into one submission for your convenience.******************************1.
Jumbo Squid: A "How To" / aka Breaking down Squid
**Medium Difficulty**
Breaking down an entire Jumbo Squid can be intimidating if you don’t know how to do it. However, I always believe it’s a good experience for anyone to break down their own meat regardless if it’s Fish or poultry. There is such a large disconnect from food in our society. People just don’t know how food goes from the farm or the sea to our plates. So, what better way is there to respect your food and everything involved into preparing it, than learning how to do it yourself?
Here’s a Step by Step Tutorial of how to break down Squid. Jumbo Squid as shown here, has a very similar anatomy as smaller squid, so once you get the hang of this tutorial, you’ll be able to break down any size squid for delicious Calamari.
Warning: Tutorial is not for those who are squeamish.
**********
Step One: Rinse and Scrub the Squid
When you buy Jumbo Squid at your local Fish Market, you can be sure it’ll cost you under ten dollars for a pretty decent sized fish. That’s really cheap considering you pay ten dollars for just six rings of Calamari at the restaurants. Buying your own Squid fresh at the Fish Market, you’ll get five times the weight or more for the same price or cheaper! It just involves some work to prepare it the way Restaurants do.
The First step is to rinse off your Squid and Scrub away any sliminess left over from the Fish Market. Take the Jumbo Squid and place it under cold running water. You can use a strong paper towel to help you scrub if you don’t like using your hands. Once cleaned of its natural slime, pat the Squid dry with some more paper towels and set on your cutting board. Be sure to have more paper towels ready, because the next part can get messy.
******************************2.
Step Two: Removing the Eyes and Innards
Start by removing the eyeballs. You can do this simply by sticking your fingers directly on the eyeballs and pulling them forward so your knife has an easier time cutting away the connective tissue. Discard both eyeballs.
Now for the innards. With a firm grip, take hold of the Squid right above the eye sockets with one hand, and with the other hand take hold of the Squid’s fins. Slowly, but firmly pull in opposite directions to pull out most of the organs from its body. This should happen with little fuss since most of the organs are contained in a sack. You might have to reach inside the Squid if the connective tissue has difficulty ripping away from its organ sack. Simply tear away the connective tissue with your fingers. Once all the organs are removed, you can cut them off without breaking the organ sack by cutting the Squid in half at the eye sockets. Discard the organs.
Optional Step: The Ink Sack. Some people who are familiar with using Squid Ink in their recipes may wonder how to harvest the ink sack. You would do that during this step. The ink sack will be dark in color, and look like a thick vein. You may need to cut into the Organ Sack to access the Ink Sack. Cut out the Ink sack with a sharp paring knife without puncturing the Ink sack. Once removed, simple cut open the Ink Sack into an ounce of Red Wine. Keep it refrigerated. Use within that day.
******************************3.
Step Three: Re-Rinsing
This step is actually optional. I like to give the tentacles and the body another rinse before removing the Beak and the Cuttlebone. Squid can get slimy so a quick rinse will help with that. We don’t want our knives to slip and accidentally cut ourselves. As you can see in the picture, once rinsed, the Beak is less slimy and will surely be easier to cut away.
******************************4.
Step Four: Removing the Beak, the Cuttlebone, and any leftover Innards.
We’ll start by removing the Beak. The Beak is connected to its Beak Muscles which can easily be pulled forward so your knife can slice the muscle and the beak right off together. Discard the Beak and Beak muscle.
Next, the Cuttlebone needs to be removed. In the picture, you can see the Cuttlebone. It is the long thin, plastic looking bone. It’ll feel hard, and sometimes brittle. Like a thin plastic. You’ll want to remove the entire Cuttlebone with your fingers since they can be a choking hazard when accidentally eaten. Discard the Cuttlebone.
Finally, reach inside the Squid’s body and pull out any remaining organs left over. Discard the organs.
******************************5.
Step Five: Cleaning and Separating the Tentacles
On a Jumbo Squid, you may notice that the tentacles have a hard, bony ring around each sucker. These rings should be cleaned off. Just pick off each bony sucker ring with your finger under some cold water until all the tentacles are clean. On smaller Squid, you may not need to do this.
Separate each Tentacle with your knife to prepare them for the fryer.
******************************6.
Step Six: Removing the Skin
The Skin is edible, and actually very delicious in soups. However, for Fried Calamari, it’s best to remove the Skin since the Skin does release a pink purple color when cooked. We don’t want our beautiful pale batter to get discolored. To remove the Skin, gently and faintly score the skin once down the middle, and peel the skin away. When you get to the fins, you can leave them as is because the coloration of the Fins are not as prominent as the body.
Fun fact, all those dark spots on the skin are used as camouflage. Those dots allow the Squid to change color in the wild!
******************************7.
Step Seven: Slicing, and Portioning for the Fryer.
Slice the Squid to make Calamari rings. They can be as thick or as thin as you like. I like my Calamari thick so that is what is shown in the picture. Once the rings are sliced, turn the rings inside out so they are more springy when battered and fried.
The Fin can be sliced into strips. They’re thin so they won’t have a strong Calamari flavor, but that’s ok. The batter will be well seasoned so the fins will be just as enjoyable.
The Tentacles have been portioned out in an earlier step, so in the photo shown, we have everything ready to be dipped into the batter.
I hope this Tutorial was helpful and educational! Take care and Happy Eating!
******************************8. See how to use your Squid in this great recipe from
TigerBreadclick here: Fried Tempura Jumbo Calamari
Category All / Tutorials
Species Unspecified / Any
Size 595 x 842px
File Size 128.4 kB
You can definitely eat the organs! Though, sometimes these parts have a muddy, or "dirty" aftertaste. I suppose in a fish stock it won't be as apparent. The Innards are also the most potent smelling of the fish so when you cut open the sack holding the organs, just expect a strong fishiness. Be sure to clean the innards very well to wash away the strong odor before cooking. Just be sure to discard the beak, cuttlebone, and the inside of its head near the eyes.
You can easily use an oz of water or an oz of vinegar if you prefer! Squid Ink in it's pure raw form can get sticky once it oxidizes, and this makes it harder use. You can really just use any flavoring liquid you wish as long as the Ink is diluted a bit for easier prep and usage. Red Wine and Squid Ink is just one of the more common mixtures when cooking European food whether it be Greek, Italian, or another tasty European cuisine.
In Asia, you will often find the Squid Ink is mixed into an oz of the already highly fishy Fish Sauce! Sometimes Lime Juice. It deepens the color, and gives it a subtle taste difference.
In South America, they use Tequila, Rum, and/or some special cold chicken or pork broth. I believe they also will mix guava juice with Squid Ink for more complex flavor profiles.
Long story short short: Use any liquid so the Ink doesn't get sticky.
In Asia, you will often find the Squid Ink is mixed into an oz of the already highly fishy Fish Sauce! Sometimes Lime Juice. It deepens the color, and gives it a subtle taste difference.
In South America, they use Tequila, Rum, and/or some special cold chicken or pork broth. I believe they also will mix guava juice with Squid Ink for more complex flavor profiles.
Long story short short: Use any liquid so the Ink doesn't get sticky.
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