Grilled Squid: cooking tips

Light seafood dishes are especially popular in the summer when the air temperature approaches 30 degrees. One of the most popular products used in the preparation of such foods is squid.

As a rule, they are boiled or fried in a frying pan, but this is by no means the only way to prepare them. Despite the fact that they are very attractive in fried form, this way of processing, rather, masks, what emphasizes their rich taste. Best of all, this meat is combined with the smell of smoke, which is obtained on the grill.

How to cut the squid?

Of course, the best seafood is freshly caught or chilled. However, such squid can be purchased only in regions close to the sea. A frozen product is much more available, which occurs in a variety of forms. The quality of squid from this does not suffer in any way - this seafood freezes and thaws very quickly.

If you bought a refined seafood, you will only need to cut it into rings or ribbons, if you do not want to cook the whole carcass, and leave the tentacles as is. If you find a squid on sale in its natural form, its cleaning will not be difficult. This is done in a few minutes over the sink and does not even require the use of gloves.

You need to put your hand into the gap, starting from the tentacles - it must pass easily. Walk with your fingers inside the carcase and pull out the small transparent insides. If desired, you can also scrape off the skin of the carcass with nails, but this is not necessary - it is edible.

Carefully place the rest of the squid on the chopping board and, using a sharp knife, cut off the carcass part between the eyes and the tentacles. Check all edible parts for cartilage, separate them. Then rinse the carcass and tentacles under cold running water. Now the squid can begin to prepare on the grill.

If you like all parts of the seafood, you can use it whole, together with the tentacles. If you are picky about the appearance of products, you can take fillets. How to cook squid tasty and simple? You just need to fry them on the grill with a small amount of spices. This seafood is good at this preparation with the addition of a small amount of lemon juice and olive oil.

What do you need to keep in mind?

For all the simplicity of the recipe, the squid on the grill very easily spoils. The problem is that this seafood is a very "wet" creature with an incredibly high water content. Check whether all excess moisture is removed, very simple. The squid will not be brown on top if there is a lot of water on its surface.

Despite the fact that these seafoods are already sold, they can still contain impurities of sand and other contaminants, so you should wash them before cooking. After this, they must be thoroughly dried before being placed on the grill, otherwise they will not be fried, but cooked in their own juice.

Firstly, you must carefully soak the carcass or pieces of seafood to remove as much surface moisture as possible, and then rub it with oil to prevent it from adhering to the grate. Secondly, you need to prepare squid over very hot coals.

Grill temperature

The temperature of your grill should be about 150 degrees or even higher. Due to this excess moisture evaporates in a few minutes, and the product is prepared very quickly. Therefore, before placing the product for cooking, make sure that the grill is warm enough.

If you prepare a squid on a grill with tentacles, cut them into pieces of the same size and thickness.

Stir the seafood with a small amount of oil so that they do not begin to stick to the grate. The ideal amount is about 1 tablespoon of oil for 0.5 kg of sliced squid.

A few more tips

Try to prepare a marinade for squid on a grill with some additional ingredients, except salt and pepper. Smoked paprika or chilli powder is a good choice .

Do not worry that thin tentacles can fall on coals or a burner - most grids are narrow enough to prevent this, and small pieces of seafood will remain in place. In addition, prepare a squid on the grill can be strung on thin skewers or pre-soaked in water wooden skewers.

Remember that your possibilities are limitless. You can cook whole carcasses, rings or pieces.

Preparation time

Prepare squid, fried on a grill, is somewhat difficult in view of the calculation of the time for roasting.

There are only two ways to make the dish good: it's to fry them for just a couple of minutes, so that the meat remains tender, or slowly cook them for at least 30 minutes, which will return the tenderness to the meat. All that is done in the intermediate stages, will have one result - very tough meat. The second option can not be implemented on the grill, so the cooking time should be minimal.

This means that when talking about how to cook squid tasty and simple, you should remember that you should not overcook them. The frying time should not exceed three minutes from all sides, otherwise the meat will become "rubber".

Grilled squids: recipe

You should know that any salad that offers the addition of fried shrimp will turn out to be excellent if replaced with squid. The simplest and easiest recipe is as follows. Stir the cooked seafood with arugula and olive oil. So you will get natural and delicious squid on the grill.

The recipe is more difficult to include more ingredients. For example, you can pour fried seafood with fish sauce and lime juice, sprinkle with sugar and add to them finely chopped red onions, tomatoes, mint, coriander and watercress. This dish is amazingly tasty and refreshing, especially in hot weather.