How do I prepare to serve an Octopus for dinner?!
Answers: I'm having guests. . . .
If your Octopus is fresh then give it a damn good beating. In Greece this can be seen against every habour wall...the whacking of fishy flesh against ancient stones! Then hang the beast to dry in the sun and wind, as the Chinese do their duck.
Now if your Octopus in frozen some of this attack has been done for you by the freezing process. De-thaw slowly (not in the microwave) and then give a good bashing with a mallet.
Dry well...even in front of a fan heater, or in a slow oven, or out in the sun. Best on a BBQ, second best: fried with lots of garlic in paella, But you'll love it anyway....very healthy too.
First give them all a blindfold.
Go raw.
You can boil it until it is soft with some laurel leaves and whole pepper corns 1/4 cup of vinegar. Serve with olive oil as an appetizer. Boil some elbow macaroni with some tomato sauce when almost cooked add the boiled octopus serve with cheese.
No, I don't know how to prepare an octopus.
hey,it's not gross!
I know it has to be hung for a while, that's what the Oriental people across the street would do. I've only ever had it once and it was tough as old boots so I wouldn't go out of my way to have it again.
I have never tried this.
OCTOPUS FRITTERS
Printed from COOKS.COM
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2 sm. octopus weighing about 1 1/2 lbs. each, cleaned
1 tsp. salt
1/3 c. cooking oil
2 yellow onions, peeled & minced
2 eggs
1 c. flour
Boil octopus for 20 minutes in rapidly boiling water. Drain, drop in ice water. With coarse brush, scrape away purple skin. Cut off head, mince octopus. Make batter of onions, salt, eggs and flour. Add octopus. Shape into flat cakes 3 inches in diameter. Brown fritters in hot oil. Serve with butter.
Good Luck.
It is the kind of dish I would try out before serving to others.
Grilling is the best! Before you grill it however you may want to flash boil it with a cork (yes, from a wine bottle) to tenderize it.
When you're ready to grill it just season it with olive oil and salt. Serve with lemon....if you can grill it - broil it!
Normally you rub it with salt to get the skin layer off if that has not already been done. If you are not marinading it to break it down then slice it up fairly small and cook it quickly.
If you overcook octopus it turns into white rubber. It is like squid that way.
I like it served with rice.
I also like a bit of spicy sauce with it because octopus is actually a bland seafood.