How To Cook Octopus

Author: Leticia Celentano Time for reading: ~2 minutes Last Updated: August 08, 2022

CHAPTERS (Table Of Contents)

Octopuses are not the most part of the guests on our table. Nevertheless, it is interesting to know how to cook octopuses correctly so that the meat does not become rubbery. Octopuses are cooked in different ways: boiled, stewed, fried, baked, marinated.

How to boil fresh octopus

Octopus meat is tender and tasty. Interestingly, during cooking, their meat acquires a pink hue and becomes much more beautiful. When cooking octopuses, consider some of the nuances:

- cook octopuses on low heat and under a closed lid;

- before cooking, rinse the carcass well, remove the eyes and the “beak”, the contents of the head;

- the cooking time of octopuses depends on their size and type, ranges from 5 minutes (frozen small octopuses) to 1 hour (large octopuses);

- large octopuses are beaten off before cooking;

- instead of water, you can use chicken broth for cooking;

It is better to cook frozen octopus than fresh, as freezing softens the meat of the octopus.

Recipes with bay leaf ingredient

Recipes with the ingredient frozen octopus

Recipes with the ingredient black peppercorns

Recipes with salt

Ingredients:

Water
Bay leaf
Onion
Frozen octopuses
Black peppercorns
Salt

We will need:

How to cook octopus step by step instructions with photos

Step 1

For work, we need octopus, salt, onion, bay leaf, black peppercorns, water.

Step 2

Frozen octopus should be thawed by putting it in the refrigerator for a day, and then rinse well from mucus. Eyes, beak and ink bag should be removed before cooking. For frozen octopus, skip this step as most frozen octopus are often sold without these parts.

Step 3

Fill a large saucepan 2/3 full of water, add pepper, bay leaf and peeled onion. Cover with a lid and bring to a boil.

Step 4

Dip the octopus in boiling water 3 times for 3-4 seconds and take it out (this is called "scare the octopus"). At the same time, the tentacles noticeably shrink and become elastic, but then the meat will remain soft, not rubbery.

Step 5

After bathing the octopus in this way, immerse it completely in water, quickly bring to a boil, and then reduce the fire, cover the pan with a lid and cook for 25 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the octopus. Before the end of cooking, add salt to the water. You can check the readiness of the octopus with a fork or knife.

Step 6

Remove the octopus carcass from the water. Our octopus is ready to go.

How To Cook Octopus

CHAPTERS (Table Of Contents)

How to boil fresh octopus

How to cook octopus step by step instructions with photos

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