Calamari Stew - Because Squid are Cool

Calamari Stew.  Photo by Rob Robitaille

Squid, or calamari as it is commonly called, is not one of the most common ocean dwellers used in todays kitchens.  I think there are many reasons behind this, but I would venture to guess that the number one reason is, well, look at the picture.  When you order calamari in restaurants, you rarely get the tentacles, which is a shame because they are tasty.  I get it, though.  Most Americans don't like food that looks too much like what it looked like when it was alive, especially things with tentacles.  Therefore, most calamari is cut into strip lengthwise, breaded, then deep fried and served with some kind of spicy sauce, at which point, it resembles squid about as much as a leather shoe resembles a cow.  Maybe if we understood the squid more, we would change our minds.

A squid is a cephalopod, and is related to the octopus and cuttlefish.  They live in the cold ocean, swimming in nice clean water and eating seafood.  They are bioluminescent, which means they can light up based on their moods, so I guess you could say that they are into the performing arts.  They also get around using water jet propulsion, so they are high tech.  Let see a pig or cow do that.  (Most commercially raised pork and beef don't spend their lives in clean water, in fact, it is quite the opposite.)  Then, after a living in the ocean, they are caught and sold fresh at fish markets, unless you live where it do, in which case they are cleaned, and frozen into big blocks and sold at the grocery store.  The latter is the kind I will refer to in this post as it is probably what most people have access to.  Relatively inexpensive for seafood, somewhere around five bucks a pound, they are fairly easy to obtain.

They require a bit of cleaning, even though the packaging may state that they are cleaned, which they sort of are in that most of the guts are gone and the skin has been removed from the bodies.  I will start with the tentacles.  They need to be cleaned in such a way that everything is removed except the tentacles and the part that holds them all together, essentially everything past the eyes and beak.  Sometimes there is extra "stuff" attached that used to be on the inside of the squid that needs to be removed.  If that freaks you out, don't use the tentacles as the bulk of what you buy is body anyway.  It is also a good idea to feel around inside the bodies with a finger because you will probably find a cuttlebone or two in a batch of squid.  In fact, I have never had a batch of squid that didn't have at least a couple of them.  It looks like a long, clear leaf and isn't good for anything.  

Once the bodies are cleaned, you are ready to cook with them.  They can be left whole, or sliced into rings, like I did in the picture above.  The important thing about squid, as with many types of seafood, is that they need to be cooked very quickly, or for a long time.  Anything in between and they are like eating rubber bands.  So, basically that means that you can dredge them in flour or batter and fry them until golden brown, in which case it is only a matter of a few minutes, or stew them for about an hour and a half.  The recipe above was adapted from my cioppino or the octopus stew, if you are interested.  I hope you will give it a shot, or at least try cioppino, if you want to ease into it slowly.  Enjoy.