Calamary is one of those sea products that enjoy popularity with millions of people across the globe. This is an extremely delicious and gentle product that requires careful processing and attention. Unfortunately, not all housewives are aware of the nuances of processing and cooking the product, which is often reflected in the quality and taste of the dish. If you wish to improve your cooking skills, then pay attention to the recommendations mentioned below.
Calamary Processing Tips
As a rule, calamari is sold frozen. To unfreeze the product, you should place it in water, the temperature of which should not exceed 20 degrees. The product will be ready to further cooking when its body becomes flexible.
Just like any other sea product, calamari is rich in minerals, microelements and other nutrients that cannot be found in other products. To preserve these nutrients in the ready-made dish, however, it is recommended to parboil the product for about three minutes prior to cooking it.
It is easier to carve the product using a sharp knife. Make the cut through the back of the product, but make sure it is not too deep. Then parboil your calamari and remove the skin. By the way, you can also remove the skin in two other ways. These are the thermal and cold methods.
The thermal method implies placing the calamary fillet into the hot water for about 5 minutes. Having removed the product from the water, you will notice that the skin can easily be taken off. The final step is washing the product under cool water. If you are pressed for time, but you still need to remove the calamary skin, you can just put it into the boiling water for 30 seconds only. This solution, however, is not the best one, because the product may get pink color and unpleasant taste.
The cold method of calamary skin removal implies placing the frozen product into the cold water until it unfreezes. In this case, the skin can easily be removed without any serious effort. By the way, this method helps preserve the maximum amount of nutrients, which is exactly what you need.
When cooking calamary fillets, you can also choose between three ways. These are boiling, parboiling and steaming. If you decide to boil the product, just place the fillet into the boiling salted water and cook for 5 minutes. If you overlook the right time, the calamari will become dry and rubber. The same is about parboiling the product. The best cooking method, though, is steaming, which should not last longer than 10 minutes and helps preserve more nutrients as compared to other methods of cooking.
As you see, it is not that difficult to process and cook calamari. You just have to know the nuances and cooking techniques to make the process a success!
