Guide in cleaning and cooking octopus for lunch

Octopus is a delicious meat available for you to enjoy for lunch. You will immediately fall in love with the unique taste that octopus meat can offer to you. When you are moving forward with the decision to cook octopus meat for lunch, you need to be aware of how to clean and cook it accordingly. This article will provide a basic understanding on how to do it.

How to clean octopus?

Before you clean octopus, you need to check and see whether you have bought fresh octopus or frozen octopus. Fresh octopus comes with a whiter looking skin. It is widely being used because it can provide a tender experience after cooked. That’s because the process of freezing can tenderize octopus flesh. It is recommended for you to think about spending your money to purchase frozen octopus instead of going forward with fresh octopus.

Even if you purchase fresh octopus, you will need to think about cleaning it. In fact, you should clean tentacle by tentacle. This will help you to remove residue in an effective manner. While cleaning octopus, you should remove the eyes and innards. Then you need to focus on cleaning the interior of octopus head thoroughly.

Now you are ready to throw in octopus to the pot. However, some of the recipes will ask you to cut the octopus into multiple pieces. It varies from one recipe to another. If your recipe is asking you to cut octopus into pieces, you should do it only after you cook octopus. Otherwise, you will not be able to get the best cooking experience.

How to cook octopus?

Now you are aware about the steps, which you need to follow in order to clean octopus. Along with that, you should also be aware about the steps that you should follow to cook octopus as well. There are numerous methods available to cook octopus. Here are some of the most prominent cooking methods out of them.

Boiling octopus

Boiling octopus is a lighter and a quick cooking method available for you to consider. If you are planning to boil octopus, you need to make sure that you are getting hands on a large stockpot. Then you can fill the stockpot with water and then add other herbs and vegetables based on your preferences. These ingredients you add will be able to contribute towards infusing flavor into octopus meat in an effective manner.

When the water in the stockpot is about to boil, you can add octopus. Then you should cover the pot. You should next boil octopus for a duration of around 20 minutes. Then you will be able to end up with having tender octopus. This tender octopus is something that you can serve. You will be able to enhance the flavor based on your preferences.

Grilling octopus

Grilling octopus is another popular method available for you to proceed with preparing it. It can help you to end up with a delicious output. You should place the octopus tentacles on the grill and then add flavorful smoke. However, you should make sure that you are pre-cooking octopus before you take it to charcoals. You will be able to follow the above-mentioned boiling method and pre-cook octopus, before you can start grilling it. Adding octopus straight into the grill is never recommended because it will make you end up with getting dry and tough meat. You will not be able to enjoy such meat.

Temperature of the grill should be maintained accurately while you are grilling octopus. After grilling octopus in a covered grill for a duration of around 5 minutes, you should flap it. Then you will be able to make sure that your octopus is perfectly browned in color. You will then be able to dress it with herbs and fresh lemon.

Roasting octopus

If you want to make octopus transform into tender perfection, roasting is the right option available to consider. It is true that roasting octopus will take some extra labor and time. However, you will fall in love with the results that roasted octopus can provide to you at the end of the day. You will love the texture provided by roasted octopus as well.

You should make sure that you are sprinkling a bit of salt on the roasted octopus and cover it with a foil covered baking sheet. Then you can cover it with an additional layer of foil. This will help you to create a contained environment, which will retain the taste of octopus. You should also make sure that you are placing octopus on a low rack containing 250 degrees temperature. You should place it for two hours and take put. Then you can allow octopus to cool down and then serve.