How To Cook Squid? Cooking Tips

by Abbas Jahangir · September 13, 2021

How to cook Squid; The unchanging flavor of fish restaurants and enjoyable fish feasts, calamari has a special importance for those who care about their taste. Especially those who come together to eat fish, after giving their fish orders, offered by the waiter “Shall I make calamari?” It is impossible for them to remain indifferent to the question. Well, how to cook squid that is suitable for many different cooking styles, not just as a pan or grill?

When the name squid comes to mind, it is seen that besides its delicious place among seafood, there are other species such as chicken squid. We have compiled for you what the recipes of famous chefs like Oktay Usta say about how to cook squid with 10 delicious suggestions according to the cooking methods of squid, which has a place in our taste and cannot be easily given up.

You can find all the details in our article, including the tricks of this dish, which is an appetizer for some and a hot starter class for others.

How To Cook Squid?

First of all, squid is not a fish. Therefore, it would be more correct to ask the question of how to cook squid fish, in fact, how to cook squid at home.
It is different from the usual fish cooking methods. The most important start for making squid is the preparation process.
Thoroughly cleaned squid needs to be softened by marinating in sauce, which gives you the taste you expect from squid.
If you are wondering if I can consume squid without marinating; In any case, we can tell you that marinade is necessary.
Because the secret that makes the squid softer and tastier is the marinade. The squid, which has undergone a good cleaning process, must meet with the carefully prepared marinade.

So how to clean and cook squid? How to make squid, is it right to use soda?

Cleaning squid is essentially a simple process.
It will be sufficient to clean only the inside of the squid and the membrane covering the meat. Before cleaning, you need to separate your squid from its body by pulling its wings.
Although this process may seem difficult with the thought of “I will do it wrong”, it is actually quite easy because the body is separated from the right place by itself.
Afterwards, you need to break the bond between the body and the head of the squid and clean both the inside of the body and the head with the broken wings.
In the meantime, if the ink sac bursts, do not panic, because this is not a critical event, it is a natural situation.

How to Cook Frozen/Strawn Squid?

If the cleaning of the squid you bought from the fisherman is still troublesome to you, the question of how to cook iced squid will appear this time.
Although fishermen clean the squid, you may have chosen to buy frozen squid.
One of the tricks here is that if you have frozen squid in the freezer, you should thaw it by placing it in the refrigerator the day before cooking.
You can bring the squid, whose ice is not completely melted, to a delicious consistency by neither sauce nor frying. You must rest for the ice to melt.
You can combine the squid that leaves its ice and comes to its senses with the marinade you have prepared according to your taste.
The fact that you bought your squid from the market, not from the fisherman, does not mean that you will get rid of the marinating stage.
Before asking how to cook a good squid in a pan or how to grill squid, it would be better to ask how to soften the squid.
Don’t worry, this process is pretty simple too. Namely, one teaspoon of baking soda, one teaspoon of granulated sugar, one lemon and a bottle of soda are sufficient for this job.
Take the baking soda, sugar and lemon juice together with the squids in a bowl and mix them and start kneading. After this kneading, which you will do for about 15 minutes, add the soda to the mixture.
Afterwards, let it rest in the refrigerator for 1 day if possible, or for a period of two or three hours if you do not have time.
This stage, called the marinating or marinating process, is the most important part of your journey.
After resting, you can fry your squids in plenty of hot oil to reach the crispy flavor you desire.

How to Cook Fresh Squid?

No, if you say that you would like to cook fresh squid, first of all you need to look at how to clean and cook squid.
It is useful to do salting after the cleaning phase. Salting process of fresh squid is different from cooking frozen squid.
By kneading approximately 1 kilogram of squid with 750 grams of salt for 10 to 15 minutes, the fibers of the squid are crushed with the help of salt.
After this kneading process, you can make the marinade by running your squid through water, kneading it with a mixture of baking soda, sugar and lemon juice, and adding soda.
Cooking the squid, whose marinating and resting stages are completed, optionally with flour, in a deep pan with plenty of hot oil gives delicious results.
If you use too little oil during frying the squid, the squid may not be fully cooked.
For this reason, cooking it hot in plenty of oil will help you serve a delicious squid.

How to Cook Chicken Squid?

One of the recipes that comes to mind when squid is mentioned is not squid from the sea, but squid made from chicken.
In this dish, which does not include squid, the question arises of how to cook chicken instead of how to cook squid fish. Since it is fish or chicken, squid can be said to be the choice of white meat lovers.
Chicken squid, known as crispy chicken in some places, is made from chicken breast and julienne cuts.
As in the other squid recipe, for chicken squid in which the resting phase is included, julienne cut chickens are mixed with salt, pepper, chili pepper, cumin and kneaded and left to rest.
You can prepare the sauce needed for frying by whisking one egg, five tablespoons of flour, a bottle of soda, a teaspoon of baking soda and salt during this resting phase.
After preparing the sauce, you can dip the rested chickens in the sauce and wait for about an hour, then dip them in breadcrumbs and fry them in hot oil and make them ready to serve.
As it can be understood from the back and forth frying technique, it is necessary to fry the chicken squid not in plenty of oil, but in a normal level oil in a flat pan.
Chicken squid, which is an alternative for those who do not like seafood, will be a dish that can be consumed crispy at every meal. If you have a family that loves chicken meat, you can make chicken squid often.
It can be consumed scrambling with meticulously prepared appetizers and yoghurt sauces.

How to Cook Tube Squid?

Another type of seafood squid is tube squid. The product, which is also a very tasty squid type, is often referred to as tube squid because it is sold in the form of rings and tubes.
If you are thinking about how to cook squid at home, tube squid option will be a good alternative.
Chop the two tube squid you will buy into rings of 1 – 1.5 cm thickness and put them in a large bowl.
Like the marinade of frozen or fresh squid, knead it with a mixture of baking soda, sugar and lemon juice, add soda, let it rest and fry in plenty of hot oil.
If you ask how best to serve tube squid; You can cut it into rings and fry it. Of course, you should not forget to mix it with the sauce before frying.
Don’t forget to add the very familiar tarator sauce next to the fried crispy rings you’ll get with tube squid. For this, three or four slices of stale bread, a handful of walnuts and two or three cloves of garlic are indispensable.
Your indispensable tarator sauce, which will accompany your tube squid in rings, is ready by mixing crushed garlic, walnut kernels and bread crumbs with two tablespoons of olive oil and lemon juice and a teaspoon of salt, and combining it with strained yogurt.