Earlier I mentioned that we had had some squid grilled whole (uncleaned) in Portugal. My kids wanted me to make some fried squid and unlike the Spanish fish counters we had seen there were no ready cut squid rings for sale. In the UK when we buy squid at the fish counter it is already cleaned; though I remember that was not the case when I first cooked squid in the early 1980s.
I bought four squid early one morning at this roadside stand in the next village. This was not cleaned, but cleaning is very simple. If you are not sure how to do it the following is how you do it.
The bulk of the squid's body is a mantle with a swimming fin on each side. Below the mantle is the head and tentacles hang from the head. To prepare the squid:
1. Cut the tentacles off from the head.
2. Hold the top of the mantle in one hand and tug the head with the other. The head should come free from the mantle and bring the innards with it.
3. Put your fingers into the mantle to remove the bone - which looks like clear plastic - plus any of the innards that did not come with the head.
4. Wash out the mantle and the tentacles
In the picture you see the end result:
a) the tentacles are on the upper left of chopping board,
b) the mantle is on the upper right,
c) the bone is in the middle,
d) the head and innards are at the bottom of the board.
Sometimes there may be some hard tissue attached to the tentacles which I cut off.
Squids normally have a mottled skin with usually either a pink - like in this posting - or black colour. The skin is easily separated from the mantle or fins to leave white flesh - as seen in the bowl at the top left. The squid is now ready to be cooked.
2007-09-03 @ 20:19