Seafood of the Week - Squid

Fried calamares

Squid is a popular food in many parts of the world.
In many of the languages around the Mediterranean sea, squid are referred to by a term related to the Italian "calamari" (singular "calamaro"), which in English has become a culinary name for Mediterranean dishes involving squid, especially fried squid (fried calamari).








Fried squid (fried calamari, calamari) is a dish in Mediterranean cuisine. It consists of batter-coated, deep fried squid, fried for less than two minutes to prevent toughness. It is served plain, with salt and lemon on the side.
In North America, it is a staple in seafood restaurants. It is served as an appetizer, garnished with parsley, or sprinkled with parmesan cheese. It is served with dips: peppercorn mayonnaise, tzatziki, or in the United States, marinara sauce, tartar sauce, or cocktail sauce. In Mexico it is served with Tabasco sauce or habanero. Other dips, such as ketchup, aioli, and olive oil are used. In Turkey it is served with tarator sauce. Like many seafood dishes, it may be served with a slice of lemon.
In South Africa, Australia and New Zealand fried calamari is popular in fish and chip shops; imitation calamari of white fish may also be used. When offered for sale as whole fresh animals, the term Calamari should only be used to describe the Northern and Southern Calamari (Sepioteuthis spp.), however once prepared as food it is common to apply the term calamari to any squid species and even cuttlefish.

Karaage of squid legs from Japan

Squid preparation

The body (mantle) can be stuffed whole, cut into flat pieces or sliced into rings. The arms, tentacles and ink are edible; the only parts of the squid that are not eaten are its beak and gladius (pen).



* In Spain and Italy, squid or cuttlefish ink is eaten in dishes such as paella, risotto, soups and pasta.
* In Portugal lulas are commonly eaten grilled whole, in kebabs of squid rings with bell peppers and onion ("Espetadas") or stewed. Also stuffed with minced meat and stewed ("Lulas Recheadas"). The battered version is known as 'lulas a sevilhana', named after Seville, the Andalusian city that popularised the dish.
*In Sardinia, squid have a sauce made from lemon, garlic, parsley, and olive oil.
* In Italy, Greece, Spain, Egypt, Cyprus, Albania and Turkey, squid rings and arms are coated in batter and fried in oil. Other recipes from these regions feature squid (or octopus) simmered slowly, with vegetables such as squash or tomato. When frying, the squid flesh is kept tender by short cooking time. When simmering, the flesh is most tender when cooking is prolonged with reduced temperature.
* In Malta klamar mimli involves stuffing the squid with rice, breadcrumbs, parsley, garlic and capers and then gently stewing in red wine.
* In Spain, (Rabas or Calamares a la romana, battered calamari, lit. Roman-style calamari) has the calamari rings covered in a thick batter, deep fried, and with lemon juice and mayonnaise or garlic mayonnaise. Squid stewed in its own black ink is (Calamares en su tinta). Battered and fried baby squid is (Puntillitas).
* In northern Spain, squid is cooked in its own ink ("Calamares" or "Chipirones en su tinta"), resulting a black stew-like dish in which squid meat is very tender and is accompanied by a thick black sauce usually made with onion, tomato, squid ink, among others.
* In the Philippines, squid is cooked as adobong pusit, squid in adobo sauce, along with the ink, imparting a tangy flavour, especially with fresh chillies. Battered squid is served with alioli, mayonnaise or chilli vinegar. Squid is grilled on coals, brushed with a soy sauce-based marinade, and stuffed with a tomato and onions. More elaborate stuffed squid is "rellenong pusit", stuffed with finely chopped vegetables, squid fat, and ground pork.
* In Korea, squid is sometimes killed and served quickly. Unlike octopus, squid tentacles do not usually continue to move when reaching the table. The squid is served with Korean mustard, soy sauce, chili sauce, or sesame sauce. It is salted and wrapped in lettuce or pillard leaves. Squid is also marinated in hot pepper sauce and cooked on a pan (Nakji Bokum or Ojingeo Bokum). They are also served in food stand as snack food, battered and deep fried or grilled using hot skillet. They are also cut up into small pieces to be added into HaeMulPaJeon (Korean Seafood Pizza) or variety of spicy seafood soup. Dried squid may also accompany alcoholic beverages as anju. Dried squid is served with peanuts. Squid is roasted with hot pepper paste or mayonnaise as a dip. Steamed squid and boiled squid are delicacies. Squid is also used for Soondae (Korean Noodle Sausage) as a casing to hold in rice and noodle.
* In Slovenia squid are eaten grilled and stuffed with pršut and cheese, with blitva (Swiss chard).
* In Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisine, squid is used in stir-fries, rice, and noodle dishes. It may be heavily spiced.
* In China, Thailand, Japan and Taiwan, squid is grilled whole and sold in food stalls.
Pre-packaged dried shredded squid or cuttlefish are snack items in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, China, Russia, often shredded to reduce chewiness.
* In Russia, a lightly boiled julienned squid with onion rings, garnished with mayonnaise, makes a salad. Another dish is a squid stuffed with rice and vegetables and then roasted.
Squid is a sushi, sashimi and tempura item.

Cantabrian Rabas - deep fried squid body rings and tentacles

* In Japan and Korea, squid (usually sparkling enope (firefly) squid or spear squid) is made into shiokara (in Japanese) or jeotgal (in Korean). Heavily salted squid, sometimes with innards, ferments for as long as a month, and is preserved in small jars. This salty, strong flavored item is served in small quantities as banchan, or as an accompaniment to white rice or alcoholic beverages.
* In Iran squid is baked in date and water and since it fried in onion, tomato Puree, salt, pepper, garlic, cinnamon, turmeric, and some endemic vegetables.
* In India and Sri Lanka, squid or cuttlefish is eaten in coastal areas for example, in Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Squid are eaten deep fried (Koonthal Fry) or as squid gravy (koonthal varattiyathu/Roast). In Kerala and Tamil Nadu, squid are called koonthal, kanava or kadamba.
* In the United States, in an attempt to popularize squid as a protein source in the 1970s, researchers at Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a squid-gutting machine, and submitted squid cocktail, rings, and chowder to a 70-person tasting panel for market research. Despite a general lack of popularity of squid in the United States, aside from the internal "ethnic market", polling had shown a negative public perception of squid foods, the tasting panel gave the dishes "high marks".