Small octopuses recipes, How to cook small octopuses

He is a predator who prefers to live alone. On average, the size of an individual individual can be up to 50 cm, and the weight reaches up to 3 kg. The octopus is included in the list of primitive animals that have existed on earth for a long time. The mollusk lives mainly in tropical and subtropical oceans.

Octopus meat is tender and soft and tastes slightly sweet.

From one individual up to 75% of the meat is obtained from the total mass. In general, there are 4 categories of octopus, which differ in weight:

1. Individuals weighing no more than 2 kg.
2. Individuals weighing from 2 to 5 kg.
3. Individuals weighing from 5 to 10 kg.
4. Individuals weighing more than 10 kg.

The best are considered octopuses that are included in categories 3 and 4.

How to select and store?

The taste and quality of the dish have a direct connection with which octopus you choose.

There are several recommendations that will help you cope with this task:

Beneficial features

The benefit of octopus is the presence of easily digestible protein, which is necessary for the functioning of internal organs. It contains polyunsaturated fatty acids in large quantities, which reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The mollusk also contains a large amount of zinc, which resists the aging process of the skin and improves immunity.

When consumed regularly, the body is saturated with vitamin B12, which is a natural antioxidant that is important for saturating cells with oxygen.

Use in cooking

Octopus is a fairly popular food product, which in many countries is used to prepare original dishes, although for our country it still remains exotic. The mollusk is especially popular in Asian countries, where it is even eaten alive. In Italy, octopus is used to prepare first courses, and it is also used to make sandwiches, appetizers and salads. Many people prefer baked octopus in dough. The shellfish can be cooked either whole or in parts. In general, you can use any of the existing methods to prepare it: fry, boil, stew, pickle, dry, etc.

In some restaurants, shellfish are served stuffed with various products,

for example, vegetables, mushrooms, dried fruits or cereals. To vary the taste of octopus, for example, when boiled, you can use olive oil, herbs and spices, wine and soy sauce.

How to cook octopus with your own hands?

If you managed to purchase octopus, then to prepare it, you should follow these recommendations:

Octopus harm and contraindications

Octopus can cause harm if an individual intolerance to the product is detected. It is important to consider that if the mollusk lived in a polluted environment, then its meat may contain substances that are toxic to the body. Incorrectly cooked octopus meat can lead to serious poisoning.

We love seafood very much, especially juicy grilled octopus. I have such a character that when I try a dish and I like it, I definitely want to cook it myself. The first time we tried fried octopus was in Crete. We made an order at the tavern, I remember exactly that we did not wait long, and watched with interest as the cook fried the octopus on the coals. The meat was very soft, tender and juicy. Naturally, I immediately wanted to cook the octopus myself.

For a long time I was looking for a good recipe on how to cook octopus so that it was soft. I found some recipe on the Internet, wrote it down, and during the next vacation, when we stayed in an apartment with a kitchen, we bought frozen octopuses in the supermarket and I started cooking...

I found a photo in the family archive.
This is exactly that unfortunate time when I thought that to cook soft fried octopus, you just need to throw it into a heated frying pan and fry on both sides :)
The cooking process went like this: defrosted the octopuses, salted, peppered, heated olive oil in a frying pan, and I fried them for a few minutes on each side. The octopuses tasted bland and were completely impossible to chew, as if you were eating an eraser... In general, we threw out the spoiled seafood, and I started looking for a normal recipe for how to cook octopus so that it was soft. A couple more times I had to throw the failed dinner in a bucket. , but still, whoever seeks will always find, and I found him! Moreover, the recipe is absolutely easy to prepare and does not take much time.

Fried octopus recipe

Ingredients:

• Octopus 1 - 1.5 kg (can be chilled, can be frozen) frozen octopus was used in the recipe
• Olive oil 3 - 4 tablespoons for marinade and a little for frying
• Juice of half a lemon
• Garlic 5 - 7 cloves
• Ground black pepper 1 level teaspoon
• Salt 1 teaspoon
• Sour cream 200 - 250 grams

Preparation:

Since the recipe used frozen octopus, it had to be thawed first.

By the way, if we are vacationing in Crete, then there is no problem finding good octopuses in stores: there are both frozen and freshly caught. But in Moscow I had to search before I found a good seafood store. There is such an online store Delikateska.ru

, there we buy a whole octopus, and separately its tentacles, and a wide variety of fish, and delicious mussels, and caviar and many other products: fruits, vegetables, canned food, ingredients for sushi and much, much more.

Where to buy octopus in Moscow:

Delikateska.ru
store (by following this link and registering, you can get 200 rubles for your first order and free delivery).

Then we rinse it, put it whole in a saucepan (without cutting!), fill it with cold water and put it on the fire. When the water boils, then reduce the heat and cook the octopus for about an hour. I don’t salt the octopus when cooking, because I heard somewhere that seafood can become “rubbery” if you salt it right away. And besides, salt will then be present in the marinade.

After the octopus is cooked, take it out of the pan and wait until it cools.

At this time, prepare the marinade:

1. Pour 4 tablespoons of olive oil into a bowl
2. Juice of half a lemon
3. Add 5 - 7 chopped garlic cloves
4. 200 - 250 grams of sour cream of any fat content
5. 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
6. 1 teaspoon salt

Then we cut off the octopus's tentacles and head,

and put them in the prepared marinade overnight.

Octopus has long ceased to be a mysterious exotic and outlandish delicacy for us. This inhabitant of the deep sea can often be found in supermarkets and can be prepared at home just as well as in a restaurant. We invite you to take a closer look at this amazing mollusk. And the Maguro trademark will help us with this.

Correct clams

Most often, frozen octopuses are sold in stores. If you manage to find a fresh mollusk, carefully examine it from head to tip of the tentacles. The flesh should be firm and smooth, with a slight fishy aroma. When pressed, it easily restores its shape - this is a sign of a fresh product. This is also indicated by bright, unclouded eyes.

If you're cooking octopus for the first time, it's best to play it safe and use a high-quality frozen product. Such as the Maguro octopus. By the way, this brand supplies large whole octopuses from Indonesia, and mini octopuses from China. In addition to them, the branded line includes Far Eastern squid tentacles, which will also appeal to seafood lovers. In any case, the quality and freshness are beyond doubt. All these products are subjected to shock freezing, due to which they retain their taste and nutritional properties.

Exposure session

The frozen octopus, to the delight of the housewives, has already been gutted. But you will have to work hard on a fresh carcass. First, it is thoroughly washed under running cold water, paying special attention to the tentacles with suction cups. Then the head bag is cut off and all contents are cleaned out. After this, the “beak” located in the very center of the base, from which the tentacles diverge, is removed. Lastly, the eyes are cut out with scissors and, if necessary, the head sac is cut into fragments.

There is another important nuance in cutting octopus. The skin is not removed from fresh shellfish. It is extremely difficult to separate with the risk of damaging the carcass itself. To do this, immerse it in boiling water for about 5-10 minutes and immediately douse it with ice water. After this, the skin pulls off easily, like a stocking.

How to cook octopus in a slow cooker

1. Prepare the octopus: rinse under running cold water, clean the contents of their head, remove the eye and beak, cut the octopus into small pieces. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Place the octopus pieces in the slow cooker. Add: water; water + wine in equal proportions; liter of tomato juice; at your discretion, as well as onions, cut into large rings, chopped garlic, black and red pepper, rosemary, cloves to your taste.
2. Set the “Steam” mode for 20 minutes. This type of cooking octopus will preserve the beneficial properties of the product as much as possible. Serve with your favorite side dish.

The art of cooking

Like all seafood, octopus requires delicate heat treatment. If you overheat it, the pulp will become rubbery and tasteless. Cooking almost always begins with boiling.

The shellfish is placed in boiling water. Moreover, first they lower the tentacles, and when they begin to curl up and change color, they immerse their head. Do not add salt under any circumstances during the cooking process - it will make the pulp hard. But additions like peppercorns, dill, bay leaves or lemon juice are welcome.

Mini octopuses need 5 minutes, while larger ones take half an hour or longer. Please note that they are cooked on the lowest heat. Boiling water will hopelessly ruin the taste. Experts also advise throwing a wine cork made of cork into the pan. This will give the product tenderness and softness.

Useful tips

One result of improper cooking is stringy, tough meat. Incorrect product selection, preparation or prolonged frying can ruin the dish. Grilled octopus will turn out juicy and tender if you follow a few basic tips:

• ideally use fresh meat, the carcass should look beautiful, shine, have no defects, the color should be even, burgundy-brown;
• if you have an uncut rather large carcass, you need to remove the tentacles, cut off the base to which they are attached, turn it inside out and remove the mouth, as well as the eyes, rinse well to remove offal and ink;
• if you want to get a more delicate result, choose small specimens;
• if you use frozen seafood, defrost it only at room temperature, and then rinse it well to remove any mucus under running water;
• the carcass must be cleaned, but after boiling, then it will be easier to do;
• when cooking, you can put a plate on the bottom of the pan, this will prevent sticking and burning;
• before cooking, dip and remove the carcass from boiling water 3 times;
• the fire during cooking should be minimal;
• Do not overcook the meat on the fire, otherwise it will become tough.

Cooking according to the recipe, especially for the first time, as well as using the above tips helps to avoid mistakes and get the expected result. If you already have experience cooking seafood, experiment with marinades, spices and side dishes to create new flavors.

Octopus with fire

Fried octopus in spicy sauce is one of the most harmonious variations. Defrost the Maguro octopus carcass, wash, cut and cook under a closed lid over low heat. It's easy to check if it's ready - pierce the thickest part with a fork. It should freely enter the pulp. When the carcass has cooled, cut the tentacles into circles and the base into strips.

In a frying pan with heated olive oil, sauté 2 cloves of garlic and a red onion. Add 2 tbsp. l. rice vinegar, 4 tbsp. l. soy sauce, 1 tsp. grated ginger, ½ tsp. chili flakes and salt to taste. After slightly sweating the sauce, add the octopus and fry for a couple of minutes. Then remove it from the heat and let it brew under the lid for 10 minutes. You can serve octopus without a side dish as a hot appetizer.

Frozen octopus: recipe

All frozen shellfish are usually already pre-cleaned, and if you buy the product at the market, you can ask the seller to do this for you. If the octopus has not been pre-treated, wash and clean the carcass by removing the ink sac and internal organs by making a circular cut around the beak and pulling it back (the organs will be pulled along with it).

Place the octopus in a large saucepan with enough water to cover the meat until it comes to a boil. Now all that remains is to either simmer the seafood over low heat for less than 5 minutes, or cook for a very long time at just below a light boil (approximately 90 degrees). The timing in this case varies depending on the weight of the octopus. For a kilogram (4 servings) this will usually be about 2 hours (doneness check: when a knife inserted where the head of the carcass meets the legs, it goes through easily, without any effort).

Once the flesh is tender, you can use it in salads or chop it up and prepare it for an octopus pasta (or risotto) recipe. You can also fry it very quickly on high heat in oil afterwards to get a golden brown appearance.

Tired of wine

Octopus stewed in wine with the addition of aromatic herbs is a dish for discerning seafood connoisseurs. Prepare the Maguro octopus carcass as in the previous recipe, sprinkle with a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice, and leave for 20 minutes.

At this time, fry the chopped red onion in butter until golden brown.

Pour in the octopus slices and add a pinch of basil, thyme and anise. If you want to add a bright, fiery note, add chili powder. Pour in 100 ml of dry white wine and evaporate. Then add water until it barely covers the octopus. Next we introduce 2 tbsp. l. tomato paste, mix, cover and simmer until tender. You can complement this dish with pasta or wild rice.

Made for each other

Now we suggest baking the octopus in the oven. Boil 1 kg of potatoes in advance and cut into circles. Wash the thawed Maguro octopus carcass, dry it, wrap it in cling film and lightly beat it with a hammer. This will make it softer and more tender.

We cut the carcass into its component parts, chop it coarsely, put it in a deep dish with foil and put it in the oven for 10 minutes at 200°C. Drain the released liquid, brush the octopus with oyster sauce, sprinkle with chopped garlic, and place potato slices on top. Drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle with rosemary and salt. In this form, put the pan in the oven again, this time for 10 minutes at 250°C. Before serving, garnish the dish with cherry tomatoes and parsley.

As you can see, cooking octopus at home is easier than it seems at first glance. The main culinary secret is delicious and fresh shellfish of impeccable quality. The Maguro brand has made sure that just such a product ends up on your table. And you, in turn, were able to please the whole family with delicious octopus dishes.

Do you think exotic octopus meat tastes fabulous only in the dishes of chefs at elite restaurants? Don't underestimate your abilities! Believe me, everyone can cook delicious octopus at home. You just need a little patience, skills and knowledge of a few secrets. We will talk about them further.

Only fresh!

If you are offered chilled or fresh shellfish, focus on the following quality indicators:

• transparent eyes (no matter how creepy it may sound);
• shiny brownish skin;
• when palpated, the skin remains intact;
• light fishy aroma (intense indicates staleness).

The taste of an octopus dish depends on the initial size of the mollusk. Only experienced cooks can handle large specimens (body size more than 60 cm, weight more than 1.5 kg), so for home cooking it is better to take medium-sized and small mollusks. They are sold whole, so choosing them is easier.

How to properly prepare frozen octopus

Experienced chefs know how to cook frozen octopus. Without the proper skills, it is better to defrost it first. After removing the packaging, the meat is placed in a saucepan or deep bowl and defrosted at room temperature.

You should not fill it with cold water to speed up the process - a lot of useful substances will escape from the meat. You should absolutely not use hot water - it loses its delicate taste.

When the meat becomes soft, it is placed in a colander, allowed to drain, then cut and prepared according to any recipe for preparing fresh shellfish.

How to cut an octopus

The mollusk is a solid muscle, which is eaten. But he also has inedible organs. They must be carefully removed using the following algorithm:

• We thoroughly wash each tentacle under running water, removing dirt, sand, and mucus. The latter is problematic to remove from young individuals, but if it remains, the meat will taste salty or bitter. The mucus is scraped off with a knife or removed with a rough cloth while washing, and then each tentacle is wiped well with salt.
• Using a knife, separate the tentacles from the head just below the eyes, then remove the eyes themselves, the ink sac, and the beak. Rinse the meat again.
• It is almost impossible to remove the skin immediately; it is recommended to scald the meat with boiling water and then peel it. You can blanch in boiling acidified or salted water and clean the clam while hot.
• Afterwards, wash thoroughly again, beat and cut into small pieces.

We take it in parts

You can also find individual octopus tentacles TM NUCHAR on sale. Chilled or frozen - the rules for choosing them remain the same. Externally, their skin should be shiny, brownish, without damage. If black spots, tears are visible on it, and it separates from the meat, most likely the tentacles were stored incorrectly.

Press the tentacle and watch how quickly the surface recovers - the fresh one will definitely return to its original state. A sharp fishy smell indicates that the meat is not fresh.

Cleaning and preparing tentacles follows the same rules as for a whole octopus. It is important to thoroughly beat the meat before cooking, since large tentacles are taken from large individuals, whose meat is not as tender as that of young ones.

If you don’t have time for processing, buy octopus TM NUCHAR, which is marinated in its own juice and is almost ready to eat. To prepare dishes, the limbs are crushed: cut into circles, cubes, slices.

Cooking octopus on the grill

Immediately after cleaning, the meat can be baked in the oven or on the grill. This quick and easy recipe uses baby octopuses, but sliced ​​adult pieces will work too. You will need olive oil, garlic and lemon.

Grilled fried octopus takes about 10 minutes. Coat the meat with oil and place on a preheated grill. When it is browned, turn it over to the other side. After a gentle blush appears, remove.

Grilled octopus is served with a sauce of grated garlic, olive oil and squeezed lemon juice.

We cook quickly, but carefully!

Almost all recipes suggest using boiled meat. But first you need to remember: we cook octopus only in fresh water! It actively absorbs salt, which makes it hard, almost “rubbery”.

Another important point in the question of how to cook octopus tentacles or a whole shellfish: the method and time of cooking. They should only be lowered into boiling water with the tentacles forward: as soon as the immersed tentacles curl, lower the mollusk completely. Depending on the size, you need to cook it for 7–10 minutes, otherwise the meat will become tough. If you miss this moment, you will have to leave it to cook for at least an hour. The finished meat is removed and allowed to cool.

The same rule answers the question of how to cook small octopuses. The only difference is that their cooking time is minimal. Baby octopuses are often used for salads. How to cook octopus in this case? 800 g of prepared meat is mixed with 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic, a third cup of olive oil and left in a cold place for a couple of hours. Then put lettuce leaves, sliced ​​bell peppers, and herbs in a salad bowl, and top with pickled octopus. The final touch is to sprinkle the salad with lemon juice.

For cooking, you can use medium-sized clams. But then you need to cut the tentacles so that each piece has a sucker. This makes the salad look more beautiful.

How to fry octopus

For a fried dish, a medium-sized clam is usually taken: pre-boiled (about 5 minutes) and then cut into cubes. Separately prepare a mixture of several cloves of garlic, lemon juice (to taste), and olive oil.

This octopus recipe calls for frying pieces of meat in a hot frying pan over high heat, draining any water it releases. After this, the prepared mixture is added and fried again until all the water has evaporated (about 10-15 minutes). Before removing the meat from the heat, add pepper, oregano or any herbs to your taste. The finished dish is laid out on plates and served hot.

You can stew octopus!

When searching for an octopus dish with a photo, you probably came across incredibly mouth-watering images of amazing dishes. One of the best combinations is shellfish meat and beans. To prepare the dish, first soak and then boil a glass of beans in clean water (about an hour). During this time, prepare shellfish meat (2 kg): peel and boil with the addition of 1 onion and a tablespoon of vegetable oil (6 minutes).

While the beans are cooking, prepare the vegetable base in a saucepan or saucepan. In oil or lard, fry onion (1 onion), carrots (3 medium-sized), garlic (half a head), cut into slices. When they are sufficiently browned, pour in half a glass of dry white wine, olive oil (6 tablespoons) and bring to a boil. Cut the finished meat into pieces and place into the boiling mixture along with the beans. Pepper to taste (you can use a mixture of peppers), salt, mix well and cook over low heat for another 15 minutes. Place the dish on a plate and garnish with herbs.

Cooking young octopuses is not limited to these recipes. It is only important to properly wash, peel and boil the meat. Everything else is a matter of your imagination.

Octopuses in the cuisines of the world

Shellfish meat is common in the cuisines of Asia and Europe. It is used in seafood cocktails for making soups and salads. Squid is an ideal companion in such mixes. Greens, vegetables, legumes, as well as wine vinegar, olive oil and soy sauce go well with octopus.

More often the octopus is simply boiled. The Portuguese love to cook meat in batter, the Chinese top it with all sorts of sauces, and the Japanese combine it with seaweed, rice and wasabi. Italians prefer roasting and stewing, preferably with wine. Cooked meat is usually served with vegetables. The most extravagant way of consumption is adopted by Koreans - they eat shellfish alive!

The Romans and ancient Greeks were very fond of octopuses and constantly hunted them. Love has passed through the centuries and now the inhabitants of the Mediterranean, despite all the wealth of choice, happily eat octopuses in any form.

Salted, dried, fresh and boiled shellfish are healthy, especially with olive oil. Octopus has a lot of protein, and in addition, it strengthens the cardiovascular system well.

Recipes

What simple seafood recipes can you implement in your kitchen? If you bought frozen octopuses (small), then try making a salad. For it you will need:

• small octopuses - 150 g;
• lettuce leaves - 150 g;
• celery - 1 pc.;
• green onion - 30 g;
• olive oil - to taste;
• garlic, ground black pepper;
• bay leaf - to taste.

Add salt, black pepper, bay leaf, garlic, and octopus to a pan of boiling water. When the seafood is cooked, they need to be chopped finely. In another pan, cook the chicken fillet along with the carrots. Cool and chop the chicken. Wash the salad, dry it, put it on a plate. Then chop the onion, celery, mix with octopus and chicken, add salt and add olive oil on top.

Another interesting and simple recipe is octopus with potatoes. For preparation you will need:

• octopuses - 1 kg;
• potatoes - 1 kg;
• parsley - 1 bunch;
• garlic - 5 cloves;
• lemon juice from 1/2 fruit;
• olive oil;
• salt.

Peel the potatoes, cut them, boil them. Boil the meat and cut it (small octopuses don’t need to be chopped). Grease a baking sheet with vegetable oil, place potatoes, octopuses, pour lemon juice and olive oil, sprinkle with garlic and herbs, and salt. You need to bake in the oven until done.

How to clean an octopus with ink? If this is done incorrectly, you can ruin the dish. Remove the ink sac from the middle. If the octopus is fresh, then rinse it with water, remove the mucus from the tentacles, separate the head from them, and also remove the “beak” and eyes. Rinse the meat with water, scald with boiling water or boil, then remove the skin and place the carcass in the freezer for a couple of days. This is necessary to ensure that the meat is soft and not tough.

How long to cook frozen octopuses if they are large in size? In this case, heat treatment should not be too long, as with small seafood, if you do not want the octopus to be stringy and tasteless. During cooking, the main task is to destroy dangerous microorganisms. If the octopus is too large, it is better to divide it into parts and cook separately. So, we cook a 1 kg carcass.

Instructions:

1. Take a large saucepan, add water, bring to a boil, and add sea salt.
2. When the water boils, immerse the meat in it, then remove it, repeat this three times.
3. Cook the octopus over low heat until soft. Then leave it to cool in the same water.

Salt is added before cooking, not during or after, otherwise the meat will be tough. Frozen octopuses (how long they cook is higher) will be softer after cooking, unlike fresh ones. It is better to freeze the latter before this process. During cooking, keep the heat to a minimum; you need to dip the carcasses into already boiled water until they turn pink and curl. Remember that the film after heat treatment is easier to remove if the meat is immersed in ice water.

Octopus meat has a very delicious and original taste, but perhaps not everyone knows how to cook it. That is why I would like to offer a few that will help make octopus meat soft and incredibly tasty.

How to cook octopus?

This recipe will help you boil octopus meat. Products:

• bulb;
• carrot;
• salt, bay leaf;
• octopus - 1 carcass.

To begin with, the carcass should be rinsed in cold water, then placed in a large saucepan with water and add salt, onions, carrots, and you can also throw it in. Then boil and boil for 8 minutes. Naturally, the cooking time depends only on how big your octopus is. When it is ready, you should remove it from the water and let it cool. Then carefully remove the skin. Further, the finished meat can be used to prepare various salads, and can also be consumed boiled.

If you find that the octopus meat is very tough, this means you haven’t cooked it enough. In this case, you should put it in boiling water for some more time. Some experienced chefs recommend beating the octopus a little before cooking so that the meat is sure to be soft.

If you still don’t know, then the next recipe is for you. Plus, this dish will only take you 15 minutes.

Cooking octopus Corsican style

For this recipe, it is best to use small octopus carcasses. Compound:

• — 220 ml;
• octopus - 460 g;
• ketchup or tomatoes;
• vegetable oil;
• salt.

Initially, octopuses should be boiled in salted water for 4 minutes, then placed in a hot frying pan and fried in vegetable oil. Then pour in a little wine, add salt, chopped tomatoes (or ketchup), and then simmer for 9-11 minutes. Now you know exactly how to cook octopus deliciously and quickly. Serve the dish with potatoes or fresh vegetable salads.

Cooking octopus with vegetables

Products:

• garlic;
• shallots - 2-3 pieces;
• octopus - 2 medium carcasses;
• celery;
• thyme;
• lettuce;
• carrot;
• olive oil;
• red wine - 270 ml;
• pepper, salt.

At the first stage, you need to remove the beak and eyes from the octopus carcass, then rinse with cold water. Now the carcasses should be beaten off a little. Then coarsely chop the carrots, celery, garlic, shallots and chop the thyme. The vegetables should be mixed and fried, then add pepper and salt. After this, place the octopus carcasses with the vegetables and add a glass of wine. Now cover with a lid and simmer for 19 minutes.

While the octopus is stewing, you need to make the side dish. To do this, you need to carefully tear off and cut the core in half. Then place them in a heated frying pan, adding garlic. After this, place the finished octopus on a plate, and the fried lettuce next to it. Top with oil and garlic.

How to cook octopus with pasta

The amount of ingredients in this recipe is for five servings. Compound:

• pasta - 0.6 kg;
• octopus - about 1 kg;
• bulb;
• tomatoes - 3-4 pieces;
• wine - 160 g;
• vegetable oil - 1 cup;
• pepper, salt.

First, rinse the octopus well, then cut it into small pieces. Now pour vegetable oil into a high baking tray and place the octopus there. Place everything in the oven for 14 minutes. Then add finely chopped onion. After 12 minutes, pour in the wine. When the liquid evaporates, you need to add four glasses of water. When the water boils, you need to add pasta, pepper, salt and simmer the dish for 14 minutes, stirring constantly. Then add finely chopped tomatoes and simmer a little more until tender. The overall cooking process lasts no more than an hour. Now you know how to cook delicious octopus with pasta. The dish is served hot. Bon appetit!

1. Rinse the octopus under cold water. Prepare for cooking by first cleaning: remove the eye of the octopus, remove all the contents of their head. Rinse thoroughly with running water, trying to remove the mucus. Beat large octopuses with a mallet before cooking.
2. Fill a medium-sized saucepan with water. To prevent the octopus meat from being bland, add a finely chopped bunch of dill, celery, tomato and onion, cut into large rings, red pepper, cloves or cumin to taste. Bring to a boil. Place the prepared octopus in boiling water. Cook for about an hour, tightly closing the vessel with a lid over low heat. If your octopus is about 2-3 kilograms, the cooking system is the same, but the cooking time is reduced to 25-30 minutes.
3. Once the octopus has cooked for a while, add salt to the water to your liking. You can check readiness with a fork; if it goes into the meat easily, the octopus is ready. Let it sit in the broth for 2-3 minutes. Serve with boiled new potatoes. Season the dish with olive oil, add a mixture of ground paprika.
4. For convenience, when cooking octopuses, you can use an online timer with a signal on our website, and continue working at the computer. A timer sound signal and a pop-up window will warn you that the set time has expired. It is also worth noting that you will only hear the sound signal on a computer equipped with sound speakers (speakers).

How to choose an octopus?

Small and medium sized octopuses are usually sold whole and are easier to select.
No matter how strange it may sound, an octopus is chosen by its eyes. They are, so to speak, a mirror of his quality. A good and edible mollusk should have transparent eyes. A large specimen is cut up and on the shelves you can only see tentacles, which, naturally, have no eyes. Here you should focus on skin color. It should be shiny and have a beautiful brown color. You can take this product without hesitation. But it is better not to buy an octopus that has black spots at the ends of the tentacles and those whose skin is torn. They are either not fresh or were not stored correctly.

How to cook octopus correctly?

The octopus's tentacles are valuable.
The main thing is that they are not rubber. To do this, they can be beaten with a meat mallet. But there is another, peaceful way. It is necessary to strictly monitor the cooking time of the food and not allow the shellfish to become hard in boiling water. However, if time is lost, then you need to be patient and cook the octopus until it is edible. During cooking, the shellfish goes through several stages. You need to catch the moment and catch the octopus at the moment when it has not yet become stiff, or wait out this moment. There is a little trick to make the dish turn out great: during cooking, throw wine corks into the pan.

Octopus: recipe for cooking in the oven

This is probably the easiest way. We clean and rinse the carcasses in running water, and then blanch them for 30 seconds in boiling water. And then we bake the octopuses by placing them in an oven preheated to 90-95 degrees Celsius (200 Fahrenheit) for several hours. This makes sense, since with this method of heat treatment the seafood will retain more of its taste, but if you do not have 3-4 hours to spend on this method, then you can do the following.

1. Keep the boiling time to a minimum—less than 5 minutes—to achieve a lightly cooked but still tender texture.
2. Instead, use long, slow cooking (gently simmering over low heat) for maximum tenderness. Slow braising in the liquid will take approximately 1-2 hours, depending on how many pounds of octopus you are cooking.

How to cook octopus?

Octopus is included in almost all soups that contain several types of seafood.
The product goes well with squid. And now many chefs make cutlets from these shellfish. By the way, this dish is readily eaten by kids. Here it is important to remove the beaks of the squid and octopus, gut them and pass through a meat grinder. Add garlic, herbs and onions to the minced meat, then roll in breadcrumbs and fry. It is enough to keep the cutlets in the frying pan for two to three minutes. By the way, such dishes are very useful for artists. Octopus and squid are pure protein, which is good for your vocal cords and allows you to preserve your voice for a long time. It’s no wonder that the best singers are Italians, who eat seafood almost every day.

Any legumes will go well with an octopus dish, for example, beans, vegetables, herbs and, of course, soy sauce, olive oil or wine vinegar.

Octopuses like to cook in Asian and European countries. In Asian cuisine, shellfish are often simply boiled. Boiled tentacles are the basis of most salads and appetizers.

Before cooking, the tentacles are washed in water, preferably running water, then poured with cold water and only after the water boils, cook for 5 to 10 minutes. The time depends on the size of the octopus. It is very important that the clam cools in the same water in which it was boiled. The cooled octopus is taken out of the container, the skin is peeled and prepared according to the recipe you like.

The Japanese serve octopus with rice, seaweed and wasabi. The Chinese are clever and disguise the shellfish with sauces. The Portuguese prefer octopus in batter, while the Italians prefer to put it in soup for richness.

How to cook octopus? Recipe from ABC of Taste

In Mediterranean cuisine, the octopus' ink sac is first removed. However, it is not thrown away. The ink can also be used in many recipes. They even remove the beak and eyes. And after that, the carcass is washed in water, even beaten with an ordinary meat mallet, and cut into small pieces. More often in this cuisine, octopuses are simply fried in olive oil and then stewed with vegetables and wine.

You can eat octopus alive. At least that's what Koreans like to do. But in Russia they recommend making salads with octopus. They are light and nutritious at the same time. You can safely put lettuce leaves in the salad, add olive oil or wine vinegar, lemon. But the main thing is not to overdo it. For salad and sashimi, appearance is always important. Therefore, you need to try to cut the tentacles beautifully. Make sure that there is a suction cup on each belt or circle.

Popular octopus recipes

Octopus feijoada (Portuguese cuisine)

For this dish you will need 1.5 kg of octopus, 1 cup of beans, 5 cloves of garlic, 5 tbsp. olive oil, 2 tbsp. lard, 4 onions, salt, parsley and ground black pepper, 3 medium carrots and half a glass of dry white wine.

The beans need to be soaked for a day or two, dried and simmered over low heat. Cut the boiled octopus (with onions and olive oil). Saute chopped garlic in olive oil and lard in a saucepan. Next add chopped onions and carrots cut into slices. Season all this with salt and pepper and continue to simmer. Add white wine and bring the dish to a boil.

And then add chopped octopus and beans. Add water, add salt and pepper. Cook over low heat. Afterwards, take out a few spoons of beans, crush them with a fork and put them back. Stir and simmer until thickened. Before serving, sprinkle with chopped parsley.

Fried octopus (Maltese cuisine)

For the dish you will need 0.5 kg of octopus, 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, 4 pcs. onions, 2 tbsp. tomato paste, 8 pcs. olives, 1 tbsp. capers, 1 tbsp. chopped mint, 1 tsp. spice mixture and 1 glass of red wine.

First of all, you need to remove the octopus's eyes and ink sac. Rinse the carcass under running water. Beat and cut into pieces. Fry the onion in oil, add the octopus and fry for a few minutes. Then add all the other ingredients and simmer for two hours. Stir occasionally. It is necessary to ensure that the meat does not dry out and add hot water. This octopus can be served with potatoes or spaghetti. The side dish should be added at the end of cooking.

Octopus salad (Cypriot cuisine)

Take 300 gr. Octopus, 1.5 liters of water, 1 tsp. salt, 1-2 onions, 2-3 tomatoes, 2 tbsp. chopped parsley, 2 leaves of green onions, 90 g. Green olives, 2 tbsp. capers, 4 tbsp. lemon juice, half tbsp. sugar and 2 tbsp olive oil.

Cut the octopus, remove its beak and cook for 40-50 minutes in salted water. After this, dry the clam. At this time, peel the tomatoes and cut them. At the same time, chop the onion and add green onions and parsley. Mix well. In a separate container, mix oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Season the salad with the resulting mixture. It can be served with bread and butter.

Fried baby octopuses

Yesterday, while visiting Jaffa on business, I looked into a fish shop. And imagine my surprise when on the counter I saw small octopuses, albeit slightly frozen. I never thought that I could meet this in Israel. It’s not a problem to buy squid here, but octopuses! I decided to buy them, since such luck was coming into my hands. Let me make some fried octopuses!

What I need: 500 grams of small octopuses 2 tablespoons of olive oil 3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped 1 tablespoon of multi-colored peppercorns 2-4 small red chili peppers, finely chopped 1 tablespoon of fish sauce.

1. First of all, the octopuses need to be cleaned. To do this, I took a small sharp knife and removed the insides.

The entrails are located in the head area, to remove them you need to either cut off the head or make a cut and thoroughly clean out all the contents. Next, remove the beak. I took the carcass, spread the beak with my index finger and removed it.

Then she threw it away; they won’t need it anymore. I thoroughly wash the carcasses and make cuts on the head in 2 or 3 places. That's it, processing is complete. I place the cleaned carcasses in a shallow dish.

2. Preparing the octopuses for frying. To do this, I put the octopus, oil, garlic, peppercorns and chili in a bowl and marinate for 30 minutes. I heat up a very flat barbecue pan or you can use a cast iron one if you have one.

Fry 3 octopuses at a time, turning often, for 3 minutes or until they turn white.

Be careful not to overcook! The first batch is ready, I sprinkle it with fish sauce and squeezed lime juice. I serve it right away. If desired, you can decorate the dish with sprigs of cilantro (coriander) or several cloves of pepper.

This recipe can also be used to prepare squid. To do this, you need to wash the carcasses, dry them and cut them into squares or strips. Cook them the same way as octopus, just don’t overcook them, otherwise they will be tough.

Instructions

Fresh octopus should have firm flesh, have a marine fish-like appearance, the skin color should be brown, and the white of the eyes should be transparent and white. It is recommended to purchase octopuses weighing up to , they have more tender and soft meat.

Rinse the octopus

Skin from fresh octopus
octopus
Now octopus
octopus octopus octopus octopus
From the octopus
octopus
or stew it with wine.

note

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

• Octopus 2 carcasses,
• Garlic,
• Shallots 3 pieces,
• Celery 1 bunch,
• 1 carrot,
• Lettuce 2 pieces,
• Thyme branch,
• Olive 300ml,
• Dry red wine 300 ml,
• Salt to taste
• Pepper to taste.

Sequencing:

Remove the octopus's eyes and beak and rinse the carcasses thoroughly with cold water. Next, the carcasses need to be beaten a little, for this use daikon. Chop the shallots, garlic and thyme into large pieces.

Mix the vegetables and fry them in olive oil. Vegetables need to be well cooked, so stir them occasionally. Add salt, pepper and thyme sprig.

Place octopus carcasses in vegetables ( octopus

no need to do this before), add a glass of wine and leave for 2 minutes. Next, cover the contents of the pan with a lid and fry for 20.

While the octopus is cooking, prepare the side dish. Remove the leaves from the lettuce and cut the core into two pieces, in half. Crack the pan and fry the lettuce halves, inside side down, in olive oil and garlic.

Place octopus and fried lettuce on a plate and pour over. Add the juice released by the octopus.

Related article

An octopus is one big muscle. The larger the octopus, the tougher the meat. In order for the meat of this cephalopod to be soft, juicy and tender, it must be properly cleaned and prepared.

Instructions

Rinse the octopus

under running water, sort through each tentacle, remove all sand and remaining dirt.

Cut off the head slightly below the eyes, remove the tentacles, and set them aside. Cut it off and clean out the cavity of the carcass using a knife. Squeeze the beak forcefully, cut it out, and discard it. Rinse the head, cleaned of entrails, thoroughly inside and out.

Skin from fresh octopus

very difficult to remove.
Therefore, cooks most often leave it until they carry out heat treatment. If you still want to remove the skin, boil the octopus
in water for 5-10 minutes, cool it, and then remove the skin from the cold carcass.

Now the octopus

Can be cooked or frozen for storage.
Experienced chefs always recommend freezing the octopus
before cooking; this significantly softens the tough muscle meat.
Place the cleaned octopus
in the freezer and leave for at least a day, but preferably 2-3 days.
The water contained in the octopus
, turning into ice, will expand, tearing the fibers.
To defrost octopus
, simply place it in the refrigerator for 6-10 hours.

From octopus

you can prepare a huge number of dishes.
This meat goes great with tomatoes, butter, rice, wine and soy sauce. Octopus is not only great in salads, it's great as a main dish. For example, try cooking octopus
or stewing it in wine.

note

Octopuses are very useful. Properly cooked octopus meat is a source of calcium, magnesium, sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, potassium, phosphorus, iron, selenium and a huge amount of vitamins.

Octopus is an amazing ocean delicacy. The meat of young octopuses is very tender and has a distinct sweet and sour taste. It is mainly used for preparing main courses and salads.

You will need

• For the first recipe:

Instructions

To make the stew, take 750 grams of young octopus, gut it and cut into small pieces. Grate one carrot on a coarse grater. Peel three onions and chop into cubes. And then chop three cloves of garlic. Heat a frying pan and melt 40 grams of butter in it. Fry the onion for 2 minutes. Add the octopus and fry over low heat for another 5 minutes. Place the carrots in the pan and mix all the ingredients with two tablespoons of tomato paste. Season with basil, salt, pepper and oregano to taste. Cut 10 olives into slices and add to the octopuses, and also add the contents of one jar. Pour everything over with one glass of dry red wine and simmer for an hour over medium heat. Serve as a side dish.

Bake octopus with oyster sauce. First you need a bow. Cut 5 heads of red onion into thin rings, scald and dip for one hour in a solution prepared from 4 tablespoons of vinegar, a teaspoon of salt and a glass of water. Take a kilo of octopus and remove all the entrails, eyes and ink sacs. Boil a pot of water and immerse everyone in it for half a minute. Then peel off any darkened skin and films. Wrap the octopuses in cling film and pound with a kitchen hammer. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Line a baking sheet with foil and place the octopuses on it. Bake for 10 minutes and then drain any pan juices. Coat each octopus with oyster sauce and pepper. Increase the oven temperature to 250 degrees Celsius and cook for another 10 minutes. Place the finished octopuses on a plate, pour olive oil over them, garnish with cherry tomatoes and place pickled onions on top.

Prepare a salad from young octopuses. To do this, boil 1 liter of water in a saucepan and add 100 grams of dry red wine. Place 500 grams of gutted octopus in it and cook for 15 minutes over low heat. Then cool, remove the skin and cut into small pieces. Chop one onion into strips, chop 80 grams of lettuce and chop one large tomato into small cubes. Combine all ingredients, season with olive oil and the juice of half a lemon, sprinkle to taste. Mix everything thoroughly and garnish the salad with thin slices of lemon.

In fact, small octopuses are not small at all - they are quite adult and large individuals of the Aegina octopus species. You can use them to prepare all the same dishes that you are used to making with large ones, but it is much more interesting to use their miniature sizes and bring to life some special recipe.

You will need

• Marinated octopus skewers

Instructions

Prepare the marinade. Pour oil into a bowl or container, squeeze lemon juice, add pureed garlic and spices. Place the octopuses in the marinade, mix well and cover with cling film or a lid. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 12 to 24 hours.

Take a large saucepan, fill it with water, add salt and bring to a boil. Place them in boiling water and cook them for about 8 minutes, until al dente. Drain through a colander, place the pasta back into the pan, cover and set aside.

Place the octopuses in another large saucepan, add red wine vinegar and enough water to just cover the octopuses. Turn the heat to high and cook until they change color. Remove them from the heat immediately. Drain and set aside.

Cut the garlic into long thin petals. Heat the olive oil in a large deep frying pan and fry the garlic, add the chili pepper and tomato sauce. Heat the sauce for about 5 minutes, remembering to stir. Add spaghetti and octopus and mix well. Add mint leaves and cook for about a minute on high heat. Season with salt and pepper.

Helpful advice

If you get fresh, unpeeled octopuses, cleaning them is very easy. Take a knife and remove both eyes. Turn the octopus inside out like a glove. Find the beak located between the tentacles in the middle, where the head and body of the mollusk meet and cut it out as well. Remove all the insides, being careful not to tear the ink sac. Rinse the octopuses under running water.

In large supermarkets you can find products on sale that cannot be called familiar. But you still want to try them, just as you want new adventures, exciting events and new tastes. And then the questions creep up: how to cook it? Which side should you approach from? Including the octopus.

You will need

• one octopus weighing about 1 kg.

Instructions

First, understand the theoretical part: - cephalopod, it is eaten in many cultures. The Japanese, for example, prepare sushi with raw sushi. The body has no, it is entirely made of muscles. Muscles have a complex multi-layered structure; When cooked, the protein coagulates and the meat can become tough.

Take the octopus; choose better young ones, weighing up to 1 kg. The flesh should be firm, the skin should be shiny and brown, and the white part of the eye should be large and transparent. The smell of octopus is similar to ordinary fish, not very pronounced.

Wash the octopus in running cold water, going through each tentacle and removing dirt, possible mucus and other “surprises”. Then you need to gut it: cut the part of the head above the eyes of the octopus. Turn the body over and remove the entrails, eyes and ink sac. Then remove the beak: to do this, you need to squeeze up part of the body between the tentacles and cut out the organ. The skin from the tentacles can be pulled off the boiled octopus like a stocking.

To keep the octopus meat soft, there are two ways to prepare the octopus. The first method is. The water contained in the tissues will turn into ice and destroy the natural intramuscular connections. Rest the octopus for at least 24 hours and then leave to thaw on the top shelf of the refrigerator. You can do the same with purchased frozen ones. The second method is suitable when there is no time to freeze. This is a way to “scare the octopus.” Prepare two pans: fill the first with ice water, and fill the second with water and boil it. Take the octopus by the head and lower it alternately, first into a pan of boiling water, then into cold water. Five to six times will be enough. As a result of sudden changes in temperature, the connective tissue will be partially destroyed. Then place the octopus in boiling water and cook until done.

note

An octopus weighing about 1 kg needs to be cooked for an average of 40 minutes. If the weight increases by 1 kg, you need to increase the cooking time by another 15 minutes.

When hearing the word “octopus”, or simply “seafood”, many housewives clutch their heads and throw up their hands - they say, I don’t know how to cook and I don’t even know how to do it! That is why we invite you to read our article and make sure that octopus is not the end of the world at all, but just a representative of the depths of the sea, which is a very tasty component of many dishes.

Octopus has become popular in cuisines around the world not so long ago. It is still quite difficult to catch and almost as difficult to prepare. That is why only a real professional, or at least a person who has already dealt with it, agrees to cut it. But having gone through the entire stage of preparing octopus once, you will gain valuable experience and will never again be afraid of these marine representatives.

Essentially, the octopus is one big muscle. All of its tentacles are connected to the head through numerous ligaments and interweavings. They are the ones that pose a huge problem for most cooks, because if you clean them incorrectly, you can ruin the entire dish. Since the taste of cooked octopus directly depends on its size, it is necessary to select only medium-sized specimens. Even beginners can handle them, because the meat has not yet become tough enough, which means the cooking process will be quick and successful.

So, we begin to cut the cephalopod in the following way:

1. To begin with, it is recommended to carefully examine the purchased product. It should have brown meat and a slight fishy smell. All these signs indicate that the octopus was caught recently and is truly fresh.
2. Next, rinse it under running water. Carefully inspect each tentacle to ensure there is no dirt or sand left between them. In addition, make sure that the tentacles are free of mucus. It is sometimes present in young individuals. Experienced chefs recommend removing it during the cleaning process, otherwise the dish may get a bitter or salty taste.
3. We separate the head from the tentacles using a knife. The incision should be made slightly below the eyes. When the head is cut off, we remove the eyes and beak themselves. They can be thrown away immediately (they are not used for dishes). We wash the remaining parts again with running water.
4. Removing the skin from a raw octopus is an almost impossible task. Therefore, we recommend first scalding or scalding it in boiling water, and then removing the skin. But do not leave the meat in hot water for a long time, as it will immediately lose its taste and absorb all the water like a sponge.
5. Now the meat is ready for further cooking, but experienced chefs recommend first keeping the octopus in the refrigerator for several days. This will significantly soften the meat.

Prepared octopus meat will be an excellent addition to salads and appetizers. This cephalopod can also be an excellent main dish if, for example, it is stewed in red wine with vegetables.

In the section on the question Do small octopuses need to be cleaned? set by the author

the best answer is
*** TATI *** Enlightened (20212) Instead of green peas, you can also use potatoes.
Be careful with salt because octopus contains a lot of salt. I like O. with tomato, I made it recently. Or season the pasta with the same thing, I did it recently. If possible, I'll upload a photo. Answer from Grigory Ioseliani

[guru] Octopus in vinegar Peel the octopus, rinse, boil for 3 minutes in salted boiling water with bay leaf, black pepper and thyme, drain in a colander. Mix the octopuses with thinly sliced ​​garlic, pour in a mixture of vinegar, oil, finely chopped mint, salt, pepper, cover with a lid, and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least overnight. Serve as an appetizer with bread and wine. a handful of small octopuses; 1 clove of garlic; 2 tbsp. l. white wine vinegar; 2 tbsp. l. olive oil; mint leaves; Bay leaf; sprig of thyme; salt, black pepper

Reply from chevron

[guru] Frozen octopuses are sold already peeled and frozen....

Reply from Osokor

[gurus] these octopuses are already peeled, I cook them like this, with peppers and beans, I cut the bell pepper into small pieces and fry them, add small octopuses and fry everything together for 20-30 minutes, then open a can of red beans and add there + a spoonful of tomato paste, You can use any spices to taste, I often add 1 tablespoon of adjika + half a glass of water and simmer for another 15 minutes, in general it turns out delicious, you can serve it with potatoes or any cereal

“We now have Asian octopus available, which comes from the Far East and South Asia, and Mediterranean octopus. Mini octopuses are most often of Asian origin.

The difference between Asian and Mediterranean octopuses is colossal. The first ones take a long time to cook, they are rubbery, and cooks try not to work with them. They are probably good for industrial processing - but no matter how much I tried to do something with them, it was not the same. Small, unpresentable in appearance, they lose a lot of weight during the cooking process. They can be boiled, chopped and added to seafood cocktails, soups - but if we are talking about some kind of presentation, a beautiful dish, then this will not work with them.

Some Mediterranean octopuses come to us from China. But the Chinese don’t just re-stick the labels, they process the octopuses: they clean, wash, and package them.

Octopus is available fresh-frozen or boiled-frozen. If you do not have the skill, desire or time to cook octopus yourself, then choose the second option. By the way, this is what they do in many sushi bars: they buy octopuses already prepared and even cut into portions. Boiled ice cream can be quickly defrosted in hot water, sliced, thrown into a salad or pasta: a good solution for home use. But a freshly frozen product is always more interesting from the point of view of gastronomic experiments, because you will no longer be able to finish cooking an already boiled octopus if it seems too tough to you.

With fresh frozen octopus, everything is simple. You need to defrost it, remove the beak, take out a small bag from the head, it can also be easily cut off.

For cooking, you need a large pan so that the octopus does not feel crowded: for an octopus weighing 2.5–3 kg, you need a pan with a minimum capacity of 15 liters. During the cooking process, its tentacles curl and it takes up more space than when raw. Bring water to a boil, add salt. Someone else adds onions, carrots, wine, wine cork. No matter how much we tried to add a cork, we didn’t see a huge difference, but the Italians and Spaniards say that a cork is needed, then the octopus will turn out softer.

It would be a good idea to massage the octopus a little before cooking. Lay it out on the table, take a wooden rolling pin or other wooden object, and do not beat it, but rather massage it to soften the fibers a little. It certainly won't make him any worse. But fresh octopus needs to be beaten. The Japanese rub the octopus with daikon, also as if massaging it: they say that daikon juice makes the fibers softer.

Next you need to cook it so that the water barely boils. If it boils too much, the octopus will boil, the tentacles will fall off, the water will become cloudy, and a disgusting smell will appear. You need to check the readiness with an ordinary wooden stick: if it easily enters the tentacle in the thickest place, then it’s ready. If you overcook an octopus, all the suckers and the outer beautiful pink-red layer of skin will fall off, you will get a smooth white tentacle - fibrous, soft, loose, like cotton wool. But if you undercook the octopus, it will be rubbery.

Boiled octopus can be cut into a salad, served with olive oil, red pepper and salt (an excellent appetizer), whole tentacles can be fried in a frying pan or on the grill (very quickly until browned), or added to fish soup. But in general, octopus belongs to the category of products that are best not spoiled by anything - neither sauces nor aggressive spices. He is good and beautiful in his own right. As soon as you start adding it somewhere, you lose the taste of the octopus itself - and then what’s the point of an expensive product? You can just as easily take inexpensive squid and cover it with tomato sauce - it will be even tastier than octopus.

But mini-octopuses are just good in pastas, salads, and various sauces. They also come boiled and frozen. How long to cook them is the question. It happens that even an hour, although they are small, they are different in texture; the wand will help you. But, as a rule, they are already gutted and peeled, so all that remains is to boil them and put them to use.”

2 Taras Kiriyenko, chef of Touche wine bar:

“We have Mediterranean octopus (from Morocco or Tunisia, from time to time), at one time we sold Peruvian octopus, and at another time we sold Asian octopus. The first two are very good when cooked. Asian, like Far Eastern ones, are difficult, almost impossible to cook: they remain hard and rubbery. I wouldn't recommend wasting time on them. In restaurants they can be prepared sous vide, but for home use this is not an option at all.

Before cooking the octopus, you need to rinse it thoroughly: sometimes you get sand in the suction cups and tentacles. The head is usually not used and is cut off and discarded. Next are several options.

I have seen raw octopus fried, but this is rare. It is usually boiled to soften it and then finished off on the grill or in a frying pan. Some people cut off the tentacles and cook them separately, others beat them off.

As we do. Lightly salt the water, add some cherry tomatoes, lemongrass and lime leaves. When the water boils, you need to dip the octopus in this water several times, five to eight times. Each time you dive, the tentacles will curl up. At the stage when the tentacles are already wrapped in the lamb, you can completely place it in water and cook over low heat. A large octopus is unlikely to be ready before two hours. For average Moroccan octopuses, 1.5 hours is enough.

You can make carpaccio from boiled octopus: put the tentacles in a plastic bottle without a neck and put it in the refrigerator under a press, and when it cools down, cut into thin slices.

The classic combination is octopus and potatoes, which is how it is eaten in most Mediterranean countries. In Portugal, octopus is boiled in oil, resulting in something like confit. Italians add octopus to risotto. For example, we make risotto with wild garlic and serve it with a separately cooked octopus tentacle. Any grilled vegetable also goes well with octopus.”