Cleaning calamari

by Jarrod Day on 1 Dec 2011 It starts with the location, followed by the gear and tackle, the hook up is next and lastly being squirted with ink by a tasty calamari. Although this happens to me way to often I just can't stop chasing these ink firing cannons.

They are found throughout our fine country on nearly every reef. They make up the staple diet for many of our prized species and make a delicious meal at the end of a hard days fishing. They may only have short lifespan of 12 months, eat 20 percent of they body weight each day and lay eggs by the thousands but on the plate can make any mouth water with a spicy tartar sauce. There are those anglers who can resist putting them on the hook and treat them like gold when fishing for kingfish, snapper, jewfish, whiting and a host of others while many just enjoy their chewin’.

When preparing for the plate, calamari are undoubtedly the messiest characters to clean. Although this doesn’t sound appealing to the readers, there is a non messy way around it. The hints outlined below can assist in making a messy job a clean one.

Hint: Before cleaning it is advisable to place into the freezer for 30 minutes, this will firm up the entrails and ink sac avoiding it from rupturing.

Step 1.
When preparing calamari it is best if you remove the clear membrane inside the hood before removing the squids head and entrails. By running your fingernail just inside the neck of the calamari’s hood you can feel a hard material on the top of the calamari. Wiggle your fingernail around it until the hard matter becomes loose, grab a hold of it with you’re forefinger and thumb, removing it from the calamari (By removing the clear membrane step 2 will become much easier).

Step 2.
Next the head and entrails must be removed, but this part requires being very gentle if the calamari hasn’t been semi-frozen first. Located just behind the head of the squid is a little greeny/pearly coloured sac of black fluid. This black fluid is the ink which calamari can fire at their attacker with perfect aim. If the small sac is ruptured then cleaning the squid will become an extremely messy task. By lightly freezing before hand, you will toughen the skin surrounding the ink sac making it easier to clean with minimal mess. Using your thumb and forefinger, reach into the hood, with the head and tentacles clustered together in the palm of your hand. Pull backwards as your other hand holds the rim of the hood. The head containing the entrails and ink sac should come out relatively easy.

Step 3.
The flaps or wings as they are also known now need to be removed along with the skin. If you take a sharp knife, make a small incision next to the hood where the wings are attached. Run the knife along the entire edge of the hood to loosen the wings.

Step 4.
With your thumb nail, run it along the edge of the hood from the tip to the base and simultaneously grip the wing with your hand and pull away from the hood. The skin should then peel like an orange coming off in one piece, including the other wing.

Step 5.
There will still be some small white sinew type strands on the outside of the hood, these can be picked off relatively easy but inside the hood small amounts of sinew and entrails will be left behind. With your forefinger, poke the end of the hood inward and roll the hood down on itself turning it inside out. Now having access to the inside of the hood, pick off and remove all the white sinew strands and any excess entrails.

Step 6.
Fold the hood back the right way and with a sharp knife remove three millimeters from the end of the hood.

Step 7.
Slice the hood into rings about 1cm thick depending on the size of you calamari. Even for calamari larger than 2 kilos I like to cut the rings no more than two centimeters thick.

MY RECIPIE
There is only one really way to enjoy freshly caught Calamari and I know that even the editor will attempt this one. It’s not that hard!

1. Drain rings and pat down with some paper towel.
2. Place the rings into a bowl.
3. Add two table spoons of Worcestershire sauce, one teaspoon of fish sauce, one teaspoon of oyster sauce a cup of sweet chilli sauce, a table spoon of crushed garlic and mix together.
4. On High, heat a table spoon of extra virgin olive oil in a pan.
4. Add mixture to pan.
5. Cook for no more than five minutes.
6. Place onto a plate and enjoy……