Calamari rings pair well with light, airy batters.
Cutting calamari usually involves cleaning it first, as most forms found on the market, if cleaned, are also sliced. Although not as highly prized or as aesthetically pleasing as the calamari body, the tentacles offer a clean, crisp flavor and an ideal texture for breading and frying. Other uses for the tentacles include incorporation as part of a stock, to contribute body, or as part of bouillabaisse, to contribute variety in texture. Reserve the ink sac for use in other dishes such as squid-ink pasta.
Instructions
1. Grasp the tentacles in one hand and the sheathlike body in the other.
2. Pull the tentacles from the body and set aside.
3. Pull the internal organs, ink sac and translucent quill from the body. Discard the internal organs and quill, and reserve the ink sac for another use.
4. Peel the purple membrane, which comes off in strips, from the body and discard. Cut away the two fins from the body and discard. Rinse the body with cool running water.
5. Slice the head from the tentacles and discard. Squeeze the tentacles to expel the beak -- a small, bulbous mass of flesh. Cut it off and discard. You can cook the tentacles en masse, or cut each individual tentacle from the others and fry individually.
6. Position the on the cutting board. Cut it into 1/3-inch-wide rings and set aside for cooking.
Tags: from body, , from , internal organs, sheathlike body