If you love seafood and you are never tired of it, one of your favorite recipes could be fried octopus. In Italy, it is pretty easy to find fresh octopus at the market and that’s why we use to cook this seafood all year long. We cook it both as a tasty second course and as an appetizer but also in a salad with potatoes and it is very typical of the Apulian tradition.
Octopus has a meaty texture, and you have to prepare it properly, otherwise, it seems bubble gum chewy when you eat it. I’ll tell you how you can easily cook tender, tasty octopus at home.
How to make a tender, fried octopus
How do you tenderize octopus? This is one of the most common questions about the preparation of this food. In Italy, some suggest adding wine to the cooking water while others say to beat the octopus with a meat tenderizer. Once I read that the trick to keep the octopus tender is to let it cool to room temperature in the pot with the cooking water.
Before you choose your favorite method, you have to be careful when you buy it and consider that it shrink to almost half its size when cooked.
Fried octopus: crispy outer texture and tender meaty inside
Do you need to boil octopus before frying or can you fry octopus without boiling? And in case, how long do you boil octopus before frying? Of course, many of you were asking these questions about this recipe.
Before frying, you have to cook or braise the octopus to tenderize it, just long enough so that the tough and chewy flesh converts into silky gelatin.
After boiling, you can cut it into pieces, lightly dredge in flour and fry it until it looks crispy and brown on the outside.
What about octopus curl? This is used to give the seafood a typical shape with curled tentacles.
Fresh curled fried octopus
If you bought a curled octopus you will only have to clean it and you are ready to fry it. By curling, the octopus becomes soft, as this operation mainly breaks down the tentacles. The octopus sheds its skin and results in curled tentacles.
Clean the octopus by cutting off the part with the eyes. Then remove what’s inside the overhead pocket. Remove the beak that is in the center of the tentacles, applying pressure from the side you have cut. Finally, remove the skin from the bag. Take a handful of salt sprinkling it especially on the octopus tentacles, to remove all the impurities that may be there. Wash the octopus well.
Fresh uncurled fried octopus
If you don’t have the chance to buy a curled octopus, you can use this method to prepare this delicious recipe. Put two or three juniper berries inside a pot with a little water and bring to a boil. When the water boils, only immerse two or three times the final part of the tentacles to curl them. Leave the octopus in the water and cook for just 10 minutes, then let it cool inside the pot for another 10 minutes. Once this is done, drain the octopus and cut it into pieces of a few centimeters, leaving the final part of the tentacles whole.
Fried octopus Italian recipe: ingredients
Ingredients for 2 people:
- 1 octopus
- olive oil
- flour
- lemon
- parsley
- garlic
- salt
- pepper.
To flour: re-milled durum wheat semolina (to taste).
Best method to prepare fried octopus
- Clean the octopus and separate the tentacles;
- put the water, the lemon juice, the allspice berries, the garlic, and the stems of the parsley in a pot and add the octopus;
- cover the pot with the lid and cook over medium heat for 40-50 minutes;
- set it aside to cool;
- put the corn starch, the flour, salt, and pepper in a bowl and mix;
- add some seed oil in place a frying pan over medium heat;
- add the octopus pieces into the bowl and mix to cover their whole surface;
- transfer to the hot oil and fry it for 3-4 minutes until golden;
- remove and place on paper towels.
