Pan-fried and Baked Squid

Having never cleaned any dead or living creature before, I felt like a superstar after cleaning squid – I even managed to harvest the ink sac! I was thinking of making squid ink sauce before I realised that I would need to harvest the sac of a lot more than the grand total of two squids that I have.

Here's one of the most useful videos I've watched on cleaning squids.



Here’s what I did with them.

Squid 1:
I had saved some butter that separated from the butterscotch sauce when I heated it and I thought about using it for the squid. It was some recipe that made me think that I can marinade it with butter. But then doubt filled my mind as to whether to mix in the herbs, because I was using no ordinary butter. I was using butter that is already sweet (coming from the heavenly butterscotch sauce). My question is - would butterscotch butter and herbs make best buddies?

As with all moments of indecision, I turn to my one of favourite quotes which is “When in doubt, do nothing.”

So I left the squid and the butterscotch-butter in the fridge to work out their issues.

Then I came across another recipe for pan-fried squid so I adapted that.

Pan-fried Squid

1 whole squid (cleaned and cut up into bite-sized pieces)
1/2 cup of flour
1 tsp white pepper
3 tablespoons canola oil

1. Add the white pepper to the flour placed in a bowl.
2. Dredge the squid pieces in flour, then shake off the excess flour.
3. Heat oil in wok on high heat. When oil is heated, place the floured squid pieces in the wok.
4. Fry each side for 1.5 minutes.
5. Transfer to paper towel to soak up excess oil.

What would The Failed Chef do next time?

• I followed the recipe but I really had trouble with the flour . Apparently it was the flour and the squid which had issues with one another. The flour expressed its unhappiness by deciding to stick to the pan instead of the squid. The squid turned out well pan-fried, though, with its white flesh - oh so succulent. The flour I’d have to have a talk with. Maybe next time I'd leave the squid to brown before turning it and keep my hands to myself for 1.5 minutes instead of turning it over and over.
• Or maybe this is all an illusion - squids in flour need to be deep-fried, not stir-fried?
• What does pan-fried mean anyway? Deep-fried as well as stir-fried?
  

Squid 2:

Baked squid

I had some leftover sauce for the scampi and since there was another recipe that called for the squid to be baked in some white wine sauce, I decided to just cut up the squid into pieces and stick the whole thing in the oven.

1 whole squid (cleaned and cut up into bite-sized pieces)
Shrimp scampi sauce enough to cover the squid pieces (recipe for shrimp scampi here)

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Arrange the squid in a gratin dish. Cover the squid in scampi sauce.
3. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 10 minutes.
4. Remove from the oven, discard the foil and turn the squid. Put the gratin dish back in the oven and bake another 10-15 minutes, until squid is tender.

Pretty happy that for $2.77, I got to experiment with 2 different methods of cooking squid – baking and pan-frying it.

What would The Failed Cook do next time?

• Well, it's obvious if I don't like the scampi sauce, it wouldn't taste any better even with the squid simmered in it!

Aspirational recipe for another time:
Thekitchn's Healthy & easy calamari