In this article, we will look at the main ways to clean a squid from a film. If you are ready to learn something new from cooking, we begin!
Cleaning squid from the film: simple and fast
AT ideal your squid must be fresh. But if you live far from the places where it is caught, then you will have to use frozen, which will complicate the process a little and affect the taste of the product. But you don’t have to choose, but you want to serve a mollusk on the table. We will learn how easy it is to peel squid from the film!
If the hostess managed by hook or by crook to get a fresh future decoration holiday table, then the cutting process is a little more complicated. Only the mantle, wings and tentacles are suitable for food, so your seafood must be guillotined, cut off his head just behind the eyes.
Then you need to get rid of the natural filler of the torso - the insides. They are also not very good for food. To do this, stick your hand inside the squid and, holding its chord, turn it inside out like a T-shirt. So it will be much easier for you to remove everything superfluous from it.
Freshly frozen squid is already sold without a head, so the process of cutting the carcass is accelerated, you do not have to cut off anything extra, just clean it from the inside. Then follows the transition to the removal of films, which seems time consuming. The process is actually not that complicated.
We remove the film
How to clean the squid from the film? Simply and easily! For a few seconds, lower it into a container of boiling water or scald it with boiling water. From a sharp temperature drop, the film shrinks and turns into tatters, which, when washed, leave on their own. This method is suitable for fresh or frozen squid.
Don't know how to peel frozen squid from the film? Here, too, the temperature difference is used. To begin with, the mollusk must be thawed, then lowered into boiling water, quickly pulled out and poured over ice water(or put on ice). The surface color film, just as in the first case, will shrink and will not cause you any more trouble.
The transparent film, which should also not be forgotten, must be gently pry off with the tip of a knife and pulled off. Otherwise, the taste will be hopelessly spoiled, and picking out pieces of an incomprehensible substance from the interdental space, you see, is not the most fun activity.
But the best option on how to clean the squid from the film, of course, is mechanical. Still, immersion either in boiling water or in ice adversely affects the taste ready meal, so just be patient and carefully and gently shoot everything by hand. It will take more time, but your household and guests will not say that you tried to poison them with an unknown and terrible-tasting dish from some alien beast.
Features of squid
As a biological species, squids appeared about 200 million years ago, in the Triassic period. The way they move is not found in any other living organism on the planet. These mollusks have a built-in “engine” that works on the principle of sucking water into itself, it releases it with force through a kind of “nozzle”, which gives it a speed of up to 30 km / h. The largest specimens are up to 17 meters long and weigh up to 280 kg. Developed nervous system, some semblance of intelligence, a whole arsenal for attack and defense put it an order of magnitude higher than invertebrates. That is how they have managed to survive to this day.
Squids prefer salt water, at least 33%, so you won’t meet this monster in the “lightly salted” seas (such as the Baltic). Due to the admixture of copper, the blood of squids has a blue color, but crayfish with scorpions can boast of this. But three hearts - only these Wells have this, and the "ink bag" is also exclusively their evolutionary invention. Not only does the discarded ink retain the shape of a squid, but the fish attacking this “cloud” become blind and lose their sense of smell due to the paralyzing property of this liquid. And while the fish is trying to understand what is happening to it, the squid quickly changes color and rolls away.
Squid dishes
You have already learned how to quickly peel squid from the film, now let's get acquainted with some dishes from these ancient monsters, for example, with Chinese squid.
You will need: a kilogram of squid, a couple of onions, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tbsp. l. soy sauce, 2 tsp sugar, herbs, salt and pepper to taste. We lower the peeled squids for 2 minutes in boiling water, then we recline them in a colander. Fry the onion cut into half rings until golden brown in a frying pan, then add the squid chopped into strips or rings and fry for a minute. Add sugar, salt, pepper, sauce, mix quickly and fry over high heat for another two minutes. Turn off the fire, squeeze the garlic, mix again, put in a bowl for salad, decorate with herbs and serve.
No less tasty are squids with vegetables. You now know how to clean a squid from a film, so let's move on to the process itself. For 600 g of clam pulp we take two large carrots, two onions, pepper ( better mix), 1 tsp. salt, 3 tbsp. l. unrefined vegetable oil and spices to taste.
Squids cut into rings, onions - large, carrots three on coarse grater. We put everything in a suitable bowl and add the rest. The mass must be mixed and left for 20 minutes to soak the dish. Then we lay out the result in dry, clean jars, tighten the neck with foil and put it in the oven for 1.5 hours, heated to 220 degrees. Can be served both hot and cold.
Cleaning method No. 3
Just in case, here is another method on how to quickly peel squid from the film. We lower the gutted squid into the pan and begin to heat it. As soon as the water becomes hot, add salt, and after a minute and a half after boiling, quickly drain and rub the film with our hands under a stream of cold water. Thus, you will get a squid not only peeled, but already cooked.
So, now you know how to clean the squid from the film. You can choose any method, depending on whether you have time and how important it is for you to preserve the taste of this unique marine life.
Summarize
So we figured out how to clean squid from the film, photos of the processes were presented to you in the article. Prepare for health!
squids- These are cephalopods that live in almost all the seas of the earth. In domestic stores, you can currently buy mainly mollusks from the Far Eastern seas. The most common and delicious is the Pacific squid. The length of his body without a head and tentacles is from 20 to 35 cm. The value of this species is in the high content of protein and other useful substances.
In addition to this species, the Commander squid also enters the trading network. On average, its body length is 10 cm longer than that of the Pacific. Less protein in it, but more water. Due to this, its meat is more tender after heat treatment.
Southern species of squid are larger, many of the meat has a specific flavor. On sale, they are less common than the Pacific and Commander squid.
In the trading network you can find a very light squid fillet. If there is no information on the packaging that the fillet is cooked in the sea, you should not buy such a product. As a rule, the caught squid is frozen and sent for processing to China. There, the mollusk is thawed, cut into fillets, bleached and re-frozen.
For use in home cooking it is preferable to butcher and clean the squid yourself.
How to clean squid quickly
If the squid is purchased whole carcass with a head and tentacles, then it is first butchered. To do this, they cut off the head, grope and take out a solid "beak" from it. The head itself and the tentacles are not thrown away, it can be used in salads, soups and second courses. The entrails are carefully removed from the body of the squid. After that, it remains to clean the carcasses from the colored skin. You can do this according to the diagram below.It is more profitable to buy cut, frozen, but not peeled squid carcasses from the upper skin.
They must be thawed before cooking. room temperature. Thereafter:
1. Get a transparent cartilaginous arrow from the carcasses. This is a vestige of the inner shell.
2. If there are leftovers internal organs, they also need to be removed. After that, put the carcasses in a suitable pan and pour boiling water over them.
3. The upper skin will curl up, it remains only to rinse the clam and use it in various dishes.
How to fry squid in two minutes
Very fast and you can cook fried squid. For one serving of fried squid you need:- two peeled squid mantles;
- 3-4 g of salt;
- 2 g black pepper, ground;
- 30 ml of oil.
2. After a quarter of an hour, heat the pan without oil. It is convenient to use either a grill pan or non-stick cookware.
3. Put the squid in a hot pan. First, put it on the side where the cuts are, and after 40 - 50 seconds, turn it over to the other side.
Another minute later fried squid ready. Give them the shape of a tube and serve with any sauce.
How to quickly cook a simple squid salad
For two servings of squid salad you need;
- 300 g of peeled squid;
- 70 g mayonnaise;
- pepper to taste.
2. Cut the cooled squid into rings.
3. Add pepper and mayonnaise. Mix and serve.
I must add that many seafood are quite expensive. Squids are the most budgetary of them, they are available to most consumers. The taste of these clams, properly prepared, is excellent and dishes from them should be on the family menu.
How to clean squid? Far from being an idle question for hostesses who are going to pamper their family for the first time with this delicious and very useful product. Nutritionists advise including the meat of this mollusk in your weekly diet.
Fortunately, it harmonizes perfectly with side dishes of cereals and vegetables; you can cook a lot of hot dishes and cold snacks from it. But before you cook these clams, you need to learn how to clean them correctly and quickly. This will be discussed in our article.
Choose the right squid
How to buy quality squid?
To buy shellfish good quality, two points should be noted.
- Shellfish carcasses should not be stuck together or frozen to each other. If they cannot be separated, you have a product that has undergone a re-freezing procedure.
- Quality squid meat should be exclusively white. The presence of bluish or pinkish shades eloquently indicates that the color of the skin was absorbed into it during the thawing of the product.
Having found such a product on the counter, never buy it: you will be tormented with cleaning, and the taste will disappoint, and it may be unsafe for health.
How to choose squid - tips and review in the video:
Some housewives try to choose squids with larger and brightly colored carcasses. This is a fairly common mistake, since such clams are old.
The meat of medium-sized and slightly colored inhabitants of the sea is more tender and tasty.
How to quickly and correctly clean squid from the film? Multiple cleaning methods
How to quickly clean squid from the film? There are several simple and extremely effective methods, having mastered which, the hostess each time will spend less and less time on this procedure.
Why is it necessary to free mollusks from colored and transparent films? So that the carcasses do not decrease in volume, and the meat does not become rigid, since all these metamorphoses often occur due to the fault of the transparent film, which acquires special rigidity during the heat treatment of the product.
Cold cleaning
Using this technique, you can clean either freshly caught or properly frozen squid. There is no need to apply any thermal effect here.
- Taking the headless carcass, carefully separate the thin film and begin to gradually tighten it. Ultimately, she will retire completely, leaving a semblance of a "stocking" in her hand.
- After cleaning the mollusk from the skin, the insides and the chitinous plate (chord) are removed from it.
hot method
How to properly clean frozen squid? Mollusks that have been repeatedly frozen are best cleaned with short-term thermal exposure.
How to clean squid - video:
Let's take a step-by-step look at the process of cleaning not headless carcasses, but whole squids (with a head and tentacles).
- You should defrost shellfish naturally by leaving it at room temperature for a couple of hours.
- Gently pulling on the head, the insides are removed from them.
- The tentacles are cut off almost at eye level.
- The hard beak of the squid, hidden among the tentacles, is unfit for food. It is carefully removed and immediately checked for debris.
- Be sure to remove the flexible spine, resembling a narrow strip of transparent plastic. It is not difficult to find it: it is well felt inside the carcass.
- After all these manipulations, the carcasses can be considered prepared for film removal.
- Washing the squid carcasses in in large numbers running water, they are dried with napkins.
- Pouring boiling water into a deep container, one of the prepared carcasses is sent into it for a couple of minutes. During this time, the skin will separate from the pulp, but the meat itself will not have time to cook.
- Subjected to thermal action, in boiling water, a thin film will inevitably curl up. Having taken the mollusk out of boiling water, it is cooled a little, after which the layers of the burst film are removed under a stream of cold running water. As a rule, the separation of the peel, processed hot water, happens without problems.
Contrast shower method
You can quickly clean frozen squid carcasses using this simple method.
Cleaning boiled clams
Inexperienced housewives often have a question: when to clean squid - before or after cooking? It is quite acceptable to boil unpeeled carcasses of mollusks whole, without pre-cleaning.
- After boiling, they are slightly cooled, and then the film lining them is removed with a solid stocking.
- Sometimes the skin on mollusks under the influence of hot water bursts and curls up, forming a kind of small balls. In such situations, a soft kitchen brush can help out. It is enough to rub the surface of the boiled mollusk with it, as there will be no trace of the remnants of the film.
- Most often, shellfish intended for salad are pre-boiled.
How to cook squid correctly?
Having learned how to clean squids, they move on to their cooking. by the most in a simple way cooking any product is boiling, but it should also be done correctly.
Cooking seafood is not at all difficult, but you should know a few mandatory rules that cannot be violated.
If clams are cooked too long, their meat will become like tasteless gum. The first sign that squids are overcooked is a significant decrease in their original size. When boiling seafood, you need to look at the clock.
If the clams are boiled separately, the maximum time they stay in boiling water should not exceed four minutes. As part of complex vegetable side dishes, sauces or pilaf with seafood, it is permissible to expose them heat treatment within half an hour.
The fastest way to boil squid
- Squids, in order for them to be soft, must be kept in a boiling broth for no more than 20 seconds: only under this condition will their meat acquire the necessary tenderness.
- For a pleasant fragrance good cooks put a bag of tea leaves or half a lemon in a saucepan with boiled water for cooking clams.
The second option for cooking boiled clams
- The water intended for cooking seafood is slightly salted, brought to a boil and flavored with dill and fennel seeds (it is also possible to add finely chopped dill leaves).
- Prepared carcasses of mollusks are sent to the bubbling brine and the flame is immediately turned off.
- Having tightly covered the container with a lid, give the squid a quarter of an hour so that they can sweat in the brine.
- After that, boiled clams recline in a colander and cool in a tightly closed saucepan.
How to boil squid intended for a light snack?
To prepare this dish you will need:
- Squids - 500 g.
- 1 orange.
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Fennel - 2 small heads.
- Olive oil).
- Juice of one half lemon and one orange.
Cooking method:
- Well-cleaned squids are rinsed with running water.
- Fennel cut into neat strips.
- After peeling the orange, remove all internal films from it.
- Lightly boil the fennel in a pot of boiling salted water.
- Squids are added to the fennel, the contents of the pan are brought to a boil, after which the broth is drained.
- Boiled squid and fennel season olive oil, fruit juices seasoned with spices.
- Remove the skin from the tomatoes and remove the seeds, cut into even slices.
- All the ingredients of the appetizer (squid, slices of oranges, tomato slices and boiled fennel greens) are beautifully placed on a painted dish. You can put a few large boiled shrimp on top.
Another squid recipe - in the video:
What delicacies can be prepared from squid?
Recipes for cooking squid in modern cooking are so diverse that they cannot be listed. We will only briefly describe the main methods of their culinary processing.
At home, the following dishes are made from squid:
How is fried squid prepared?
Before preparing this dish, squid carcasses, of course, should be cleaned. You should not abuse the use of spices, since the specific aroma of all seafood is very easily interrupted by the smells of other components of the dish.
The frying time of squid, as is the case with all other methods of their preparation, should be minimal.
Crispy squid in breadcrumbs
It's extremely tasty and nutritious dish simply indispensable during family holidays and friendly parties. He is credited with the properties of an excellent aphrodisiac.
Components:
- Squid - 0.5 kg.
- Eggs - 2 pcs.
- Breadcrumbs.
- Sour cream-mayonnaise lezon (consisting of equal amount mayonnaise and sour cream).
- A mixture of vegetable and butter for frying.
- Spices set.
How to cook?
- Carcasses cleaned from films are cut into small strips or rings.
- Prepare the lezon from a mixture of mayonnaise, sour cream and spices.
- Pieces of squid are dipped in ice cream, after which they are thoroughly rolled in the breading mixture.
- Roasting is carried out for 4 minutes on a mixture prepared from cow and vegetable oil.
- Lay the fried rings on a paper towel to absorb excess oil.
- After that, the delicacy is beautifully laid out on a flat plate, decorated with greenery and served at the table with pickled cucumbers.
- Similarly, squids are prepared in beer batter in which they put egg whites, a small amount of flour and beer.
- This dish goes great with many types of sauces.
Deciding to pamper your family with a sea exotic delicacy, the best option hearty, healthy and unusual in taste of the dish, will be the preparation of squid.
But first of all, squid, you should choose and clean it correctly, because it directly depends appearance dishes and taste qualities.
The right choice of squid
Best for light cleaning fresh squid, it is very easy to remove the covering film from it. But unfortunately, frozen products are sold in supermarkets, and in order to avoid problems with cleaning and cooking seafood, you need to be able to choose the right one. The important point is that the squid should not be thawed and re-frozen, as all this will complicate the process of cleaning it. For this, when choosing a product, it is recommended to pay attention to the following:
The squid carcasses should separate easily and not stick to each other. If they are difficult to separate, this means they are re-freezing.
The carcass meat must be white. If it has a red or bluish tint, this also means that the seafood has already been thawed, after which the meat took on the color from the skin of the squid.
And, of course, at home, squids are stored in the freezer, they are not thawed before cleaning and cooking. Remember this.
Cleaning and cutting squid
1. First of all, the frozen squid carcass should be doused with boiling water, then immediately put in cold water, this method will simplify the process of removing the skin from the squid.
2. Cut off the clam's head - if there is one, and tentacles (they will come in handy in cooking).
3. Gut the insides well.
4. Feel for a transparent, thin chord (mollusk spine) on the mantle and pull it out.
5. With the reverse side of the knife, peel the squid from the outside and inside. In some cases, the film is well removed from the wide side of the mantle to the narrow one, in one movement, like a stocking. The carcass, after cleaning, should become white.
6. Rinse the squid carcass thoroughly under running water.
7. Previously separated tentacles also need to be cleaned. This is done easily, since the skin on them is more delicate than on the squid mantle itself and is well removed after scalding with boiling water under running water.
According to the results of cleaning the squid, two products will be obtained for cooking: a carcass and tentacles.
Secrets of cooking delicious squid in many ways
Pour water into prepared saucepan. Add salt to it Bay leaf, allspice (peas), then wait for the water to boil.
Dip the cleaned squid carcasses in boiling water for 10-15 seconds. Then immediately pull out to avoid overcooking the fillets.
There is another way to cook. Everything is done in the same way as in the previous method, but after the water boils, the carcasses are lowered into the boiled water and removed from the fire. Then infused for about 10 minutes.
Roasting squid
Before you start frying seafood, you first need to boil it in one of the above ways.
Then cool the boiled squid and cut into strips or rings.
Prepare the ice. To do this, beat the eggs, add spices, sour cream or mayonnaise to them.
Dip the chopped fillet in the ice cream and roll in breadcrumbs for breading.
Fry in a frying pan with a small amount vegetable or butter for 3-5 minutes.
In the same way, the dish can be cooked in a deep fryer.
The tentacles left when cutting the squid can be boiled or fried according to one of the recipes.
Stuffing squid
Pre-cleaned shellfish carcasses are lightly beaten. Then the cooked filling (it can be mushrooms with onions and eggs, vegetable or even meat filling) stuff the beaten carcass more than half.
The edges are fastened with a skewer. Stuffed squid stew in an oven preheated to 180 degrees with the addition of water for 10-15 minutes. For 2–3 min. until cooked, sprinkle with grated cheese. Baked until golden brown.
1. In order for the clam meat to be soft, its cooking time should not exceed 15 seconds.
3. Some cooks, to give more flavor, add a slice of lemon or one bag of black tea to the water during cooking.
Cooking options for this delicacy great amount. It all depends on your desires and food preferences.
Now, having learned how to choose the right, as well as easy to clean seafood, you can pamper people close to you with dietary, satisfying and, at the same time, healthy meals from squid.
Lots of original recipes seafood dishes remain unused if the hostess does not know how to clean squid at home correctly and quickly. But you only need to decide on an experiment once and learn a simple process. In the future, a healthy and nutritious squid will become the best part variety of salads, will decorate the table fried, boiled, stewed or pickled.
A smart choice is the key to success
In order to get a tasty and healthy seafood on the table, you need to choose it correctly in the store. It depends on how easy the films are to be cleaned and how tender the cooked meat is. It is not recommended to buy peeled squids, since some of the nutrients have already been lost, and the taste will be much worse.
- You need to choose not large individuals, but smaller ones. Then you can avoid the effect rubber meat the skins will peel off easily.
- If frozen squids were stored with violations and have already been thawed, they will be bitter when cooked, so you only need to pick up carcasses that have not stuck together.
- It is necessary to ensure that the meat under the film is white. If a temperature regime not supported, it will become the color of the film - bluish or pinkish.
Sometimes the carcasses lie on the display case for a sufficient time to change the taste. To be sure of the correct storage, offer the seller to serve you carcasses from the briquette. If you are refused under the pretext that they “do not tear off”, then such a product does not suit you, you need to purchase properly frozen squids.
- Before cooking, the meat must be kept frozen, then the taste will be preserved, and it will be easy to clean.
How to remove the film from frozen squid?
The process is incredibly simple.
- Prepare a pot of boiling water.
- Take the squid out freezer and put them in a bowl.
- Pour boiling water over seafood. At the same time, almost all of the skin will come off on its own.
- Drain immediately hot water and rinse the contents of the bowl under running water, carefully peeling off the remaining film. It is better to act quickly, otherwise squids cook very quickly and can even be cooked if they are not removed from boiling water in time.
- It remains only to remove the insides and the flexible spine.
Is it possible to remove the film from defrosted meat?
There are situations when squids get home already defrosted. summer heat and unforeseen delays along the way should not interfere with cooking tasty dish. To do this, you need to perform the following algorithm.
- Prepare a pot of boiling water and seasonings (salt, bay leaf and pepper).
- Cut the carcass lengthwise and remove the insides.
- Rinse the meat well.
- Boil carcasses in seasoned boiling water for 2-3 minutes.
- Take out the squid. In this case, the films will remain in the water, calving themselves.
How to work with chilled squids?
If the squids were just recently taken from the seabed and they fell into your hands chilled, this is a great success. The meat will be the most delicious and nutritious. However, the difference will be in the presence of the head and tentacles. Squids will have to be cleaned on their own at home. If the head needs to be permanently removed, the tentacles can be eaten. They are cut off at the very eyes. There is also a film on them, the principle of working with it is the same as for a whole carcass.
And to clean the skins, you need to perform a number of simple steps.
- Prepare a pot of boiling water.
- Put the squids with the insides and the chord already removed in a colander, pour boiling water over, and then immediately with cold water.
- Pull the skin from the larger part to the thin one, just scrape off the wings.
- Treat the tentacles in the same way. The only difference is that it will be even easier to remove the film, it will practically come off by itself under the action of boiling water.
Ready-made squid carcasses can be cooked most different ways. They can be boiled for several minutes on high heat or forty minutes on low heat. You can fry thin rings separately and with vegetables. They are delicious if the meat is marinated, stuffed, stewed and baked. In this business, the main thing is to precisely control the process so as not to overdo it with heat treatment: no one likes tough meat with a rubbery taste. The time that the carcasses spent under boiling water also counts.
You have to be careful when filming. Both colored and transparent are subject to removal. If you leave a piece and cook meat with it, the piece will be hard and compressed. Properly processed seafood will become a real delicacy that can become gourmet dish haute cuisine cooked at home.
