I am often tempted to buy a whole Octopus when I see them on my fish merchant's slab, but the 3 hour cooking time is slightly off-putting.
The easiest way for me to obtain my occasional 8-legged (armed?) treat is to buy them canned. There are plenty of different makes available, and, up until now, they have all been very good.
My preference is to eat the pieces with a small salad, and buttered wholemeal bread, as a lunchtime titbit.
And being reasonably weight conscious, the garlic flavoured oil in which they're packed is (reluctantly) given to the dogs. Woe is me!
Delicious.
Haven't seen that here.
ReplyDeleteSounds like one to investigate for lunch on my next Breton foray. I love octopus
ReplyDeleteI only had octopus once, cooked by a Thai friend living in England. It was incredibly chewy, I note that you mention a 3 hour cooking time, maybe that's the secret.
ReplyDeleteOr buy the tins.
DeleteWhile I lived in Germany, I used to rent a villa in Carqueiranne so that I could ride over to Monaco for the Grand Prix, I used to spear fish for octopus and recall being shown how to flip their bodies inside out to kill them and then having to beat them for hours on a rock to soften them up before cooking. In Angola it is squid, which we tend to grill and serve with salad, boiled new potatoes and an olive oil dressing made with chopped onion and parsley. Your octopus in tins looks delicious. I did hear of a preparation technique which involved slicing the octopus up and soaking the flesh in milk overnight before deep frying it in breadcrumbs.
ReplyDeleteThe bashing of them on rocks is common to all med' countries. I think, like squid, that they are either cooked for hardly any time, or cooked for hours. As far as I've understood, the 'hours' method is the best. My favourite way of eating squid is simply grilled whole on a BBQ. I'm not so keen on battered deep-fried rings!
DeleteAlways living quite a way from a fishing port has meant that both octopus and squid are total anathema to me Cro.
ReplyDeleteIf they have it in Waitrose I'll try some and think about the Monaco Grand Prix to take my mind off what I am eating.............
ReplyDeleteI tasted it once, never will again.
ReplyDeleteIt put me off after seeing them in Spain bashing the life out of the poor things.
ReplyDeleteLooks interesting but I'm not an adventuresome eater! Enjoy!
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