How to Cook an Octopus

[Debra]

While visiting my daughter and son in law in Virginia, I learned how to to cook an Octopus!  First assemble your ingredients.  They like to use a fresh octopus, but we had to purchase a frozen one...either way you purchase it, the ink sacs and the beak have already been removed, otherwise if you had one just from the sea, you would have to remove these yourself.

Pictured are fresh lemon slices, pepper, salt, bay leaves, and one frozen octopus.  (I going to say that he used about a heaping teaspoon of each spice, and 4 bay leaves) After it is cooked, you will also need some olive oil , a red onion and parsley.





All the ingredients were put in a stock pan and covered with water...the octopus was still frozen...bring this mixture to a boil  and simmer for about 2 hours.  Soon you will see the tentacles writhing in the boiling water...and the water turns a purplish red...it reminds me of a horror movie....

[Debra]

Once you have cooked your octopus, then remove it from the pan.



Rinse it in cold water until you can handle the octopus...the place it in a bowl of cold water and start to slide the skin off.   This takes a little time, but it comes off real easy.

[Debra]

Now place your pieces aside  to be chopped into cube size pieces.





As you can see, my son in law left those little suckers on...to someone like me, who isn't used to eating octopus, its a little revolting...those little buggers slide right off, but he assured me that they taste no different than the rest of the meat.

This is the part of the octopus that controls its movement.  It's called the propeller.

[Debra]

 This is the part you DON'T eat...the eyes...and for heaven's sake, I don't know why...you eat those nasty looking suckers...you may as well just eat those eyeballs too! hahahahah!



Once you have your pieces cut up, put them in a bowl with the chopped red onion...the put in some olive oil, parsley and salt and pepper enough for your liking...stir with a wooden spoon and then place in the refridgerator to marinate until chilled...my daughter said to let it fester....but I told her not to say that...because I had to mentally psych myself up to eat this anyway and the word "festering" was conjuring up very unpleasant images in my mind!

[Debra]

Now for confession time:  I did try a piece before it was chilled....and was very surprised that it tasted good....but those suckers where a little hard to eat...they slip off real easy and you know that those little round things in your mouth are the suckers....and it didn't help when son in law put some on his tongue and then stuck it out at me...hahahaah! But they really don't taste any different than the other meat...it just the thought...Now for the good part...they served the salad in what Puerto Ricans call Johnny Cakes...nothing like the pancake type Johnny Cakes that I have eaten....these are sort of like a small round sweet pita pocket...and once the octopus salad is stuffed in the Johnny Cake, you can no longer distinguish those nasty little suckers and the meal is delicious!

Plantain and Johnny Cakes ready to be stuffed.

[Cutter]

No offense, but yuck!  I have tried octopus.  It didn't taste bad but I can't get past what it looks like and came from.  Guess I just wasn't hungry enough.  I have the same problem with sardines.  I like 'em, but can't look at them long enough to eat them.

Thanks for the post though.  I wonder how that meal would shape up with crab or lobster instead of octopus.

[Debra]

Funny, we had this conversation while cooking the octopus...it really does taste good...it just looks bad to us.....
and I love lobster...we used to go to the docks up in Maine and when the fishermen come in, we would buy them right from the traps and cook them live....and lobsters have claws, and eyes and antenna and legs and a tail....

We also used to go  clamming and put the live clams in a five gallon bucket filled with sea water and they would shoot up those long rubbery necks...and those are delicious....

I love sardines, oysters, and kippers...I have no problem eating any of those....sardines in mustard sauce are one of my favorite lunch foods...that I have to eat in a private place because people freak out...

 I have no problem shooting, gutting, skinning and butchering a deer...my favorite part is the heart...

 These are all things I grew up with...others find it disgusting or they will eat it in a restaurant, but not be able to prepare the foods themselves....I think its all in how you were raised...
   
I know folks at where I work at that won't eat homemade yogurt, which you can actually make from store bought milk...they think because it's "homemade" that there is something wrong with it and that you might get sick! 
   
 I am trying to MAKE myself try and eat different things....especially things that are not traditional American foods...besides trying some Puerto Rican dishes, some friends at my work have been introducing me to Japanese and Korean foods...not the Americanized versions, but Real ethnic food...being that my children travel around the world alot, I am being introduced to a lot of things that I don't find very "eye" appealing but actually quite tasty.