"Whole squids are kinda squicky," says Tod after we attended a fish cooking class at A Taste of Culture.
We started with very fresh whole squid, cleaned them, stuffed them with their own legs and some rice, then simmered them for an hour. They turned a lovely red color and softened into the most delicious, chewy treat.
But cleaning squid is not for the squeamish. Today's class wasn't too much of a problem for me, as I had ample practice when I worked in an Italian restaurant ten years ago. As lowest prep cook on the totem pole, I got to clean at least five jillion partially frozen, still defrosting squid for calamari.
But poor Tod got stuck with a rather large squid that was quite attached to its innards. The ink sac broke, the guts refused to drop out, the legs were recalcitrant--but he somehow managed to pull the cartilege quill out before the rest came free.
Elizabeth sent us home after class with our completed "ika meshi" squids plus a spare, uncooked squid, so tomorrow I'll make a spicy Indonesian squid sautee for dinner. Mmmmm.
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