Pictures for Griffin - Failed cook

Village Idiot · October 2012

Griffin was asking me about a failed cook I did last night. It was Grilled Pork and Shrimp Stuffed Calamari with Asian Sweet Chili Sauce. I told him that the calamari tube seemed tough, but the taste was good. I still consider that a fail, and usually only post stuff I think is great. I said I couldn't upload a picture because I unplugged my iMac to take it to the Apple Store, and didn't know how to upload now. But I figured it out, so here are two pictures of it.

1) The tubes after stuffing

2) Plate

Mickey · October 2012

VI was somewhere last week and had a grilled Calamari salad (lettuce). The tubes were cut in rings about an inch long. Have you ever grilled that (whole or cut)? What did you do? It sure make a good salad.

travisstrick · October 2012

If this is really Mickey and Gary, how many fingers am I holding up?

Village Idiot · October 2012

Micky,

Before last night, I had only fried calamari - tubes and tentacles. When I do that, I also cut the tubes into about 1" slices. Maybe a squid expert will chime in.

Village Idiot · October 2012

travisstrick said:

If this is really Mickey and Gary, how many fingers am I holding up?

One, and it's your middle finger.

Mickey · October 2012

travisstrick said:

If this is really Mickey and Gary (and i don't like gary at all), how many fingers am I holding up?

11

travisstrick · October 2012

Squid gets tough when it is over cooked. How you cut it doesn't matter.

Mickey · October 2012

I have never had Calamari that was not a little tough/firm (that is what I like about it).

Village Idiot · October 2012

So, you like things firm, Micky?

I see.

cazzy · October 2012

Village Idiot said:

So, you like things firm, Micky?

Well played sir! rofl

Mickey · October 2012

So how do you grill it and not over cook?

Gary please stop sending me the messages off line about cazzy. I think the pics are all photoshopped anyway.

Village Idiot · October 2012

Mickey said:

So how do you grill it and not over cook?

That's a bit of a dilimma. I precooked the pork, but put the shrimp in raw. I wanted to make sure the shrimp cooked, but perhaps, I overdid it.

Mickey · October 2012

VI i am talking just Calamari. Not stuffed.

nolaegghead · October 2012

Squid is tender when cooked to done, around 135F, give or take. Cooked much over that, it turns into chewy rubber. Typically I'll wok or pan fry it for 60-90 seconds.

I'd never stuffed, but the only way I can see to do that without overcooking it is to pre-cook the stuffing and hot tub or sous vide it to below the "rubber conversion temp".

Mighty_Quinn · October 2012

Stuffed lends itself to braising very well...it's true squid is tender when cooked quickly, but give it a 30 minute braise and it ends up very tender. A general rule for squid is to keep the cook under 3 minutes or over 30.

Mickey · October 2012

nolaegghead if you were going to grill (non-stuffed) how would you do it? I can't see a way to check temp on that thin of a cook? So must cook to time. Cook hot and fast low or???

Village Idiot · October 2012

Mickey said:

nolaegghead if you were going to grill (non-stuffed) how would you do it? I can't see a way to check temp on that thin of a cook? So must cook to time. Cook hot and fast low or???

Thanks for hijacking the thread, Mickey. This was about STUFFED calamari. I'll start another thread.

Mighty_Quinn · October 2012

Not to answer for Nola, but if it were me Mickey, I would marinate in evoo and lemon juice for 20 minutes or so and then grill hot and fast....a minutes or less per side.

Mickey · October 2012

Village Idiot said:

Mickey said:

nolaegghead if you were going to grill (non-stuffed) how would you do it? I can't see a way to check temp on that thin of a cook? So must cook to time. Cook hot and fast low or???

Thanks for hijacking the thread, Mickey. This was about STUFFED calamari. I'll start another thread.

I am SORRY ^:)^.

nolaegghead · October 2012

There ya go. Long braise. Never tried it, but if that works, cool.

If you're ever in an Asian market and look at the squid, you'll notice a wide variety of prices. Some of the large squid is very expensive, some of the smaller is very inexpensive. Even the expensive stuff is much cheaper than, say, sea scallops. So I usually but the expensive stuff and it seems to be working for me, as far as duplicating that delicious, tender squid I've had many a time in Asian restaurants.

Mickey · October 2012

Mighty_Quinn said:

Not to answer for Nola, but if it were me Mickey, I would marinate in evoo and lemon juice for 20 minutes or so and then grill hot and fast....a minutes or less per side.

Thanks. I will try that if I can find calamari in Austin tonight.

nolaegghead · October 2012

Mickey, never grilled them. But I'd cook just one first and pull it after it just turns opaque throughout, then taste, adjust if necessary before cooking a whole meal of them. I think there's some latitude there, but, like scallops and shrimp, not too much.

jlsm · October 2012

You need to cook squid either very quickly at high heat, 2 minutes or less, or a relatively long time, 30 minutes in a braise. Otherwise, you're chewing rubber bands. Because of this, I'm not sure you would get any advantage from cooking on the egg. Now octopus is another story. ... Anyone do one?

double · October 2012

Soak calamari overnight in milk also helps tenderize it. I do my stuffed squid in a CI skillet on the egg only for a few minutes.

Doc_Eggerton · October 2012

Very interesting post. I've only had fried calamari, which I love. This is a pretty specialized cook, but I try to post most of my fails in addition to successes, since we're sharing information here.

Luigi, even in defeat you posted a pretty cook.

Village Idiot · October 2012

Doc_Eggerton said:

Very interesting post. I've only had fried calamari, which I love. This is a pretty specialized cook, but I try to post most of my fails in addition to successes, since we're sharing information here.

Luigi, even in defeat you posted a pretty cook.

Grazi, Amico Mio.

Your logic is sound but I think, if everybody posted all of their cooks, great ones, mediocre ones, and failures, we would be vastly overrun. I would rather just post the ones I'd hope someone would like to try (along with the recipe), and then, only once. I know we have different views on that, but it's OK either way. This was a special case, since Grif sent me a note about it.

nolaegghead · October 2012

That reminds me of a demotivational poster we had in a calendar.

Mickey · October 2012

Ok now the little deals on the bottom of the page are officially NOT fun.

Doc_Eggerton · October 2012

Mickey said:

Ok now the little deals on the bottom of the page are officially NOT fun.

Did not notice that. You are right, we are not an opinion site, there should be no agree, disagree, etc.

nolaegghead · October 2012

Doc_Eggerton said:

Mickey said:

Ok now the little deals on the bottom of the page are officially NOT fun.

Did not notice that. You are right, we are not an opinion site, there should be no agree, disagree, etc.

You click the "Like" instead of quoting it with a "+1", which can create a lot of redundant junk on the page. I like it. If someone doesn't like it, well, they don't. Use judicially. These forums have been around since the beginning of the world wide interwebs. We'll all get used to it. New is never popular.

It's also a way to identify trolls, both by marking as trolls and those marking totally appropriate posts as "troll" or "inappropriate". Makes moderating the forum much easier.

Mickey · October 2012

I am only saying they are not fun because if I keep hitting the " flag / Abuse" button on VI I am afraid they will ban my little buddy L-). Hitting the button on VI is fun but I would miss him =(( He did yell at me for hi-jacking his tread and I can't find the "yelling at a fellow Egger" button.

Pictures for Griffin - Failed cook

Comments

Categories