Reviewer Cooks...Calamari

 Though it is true there is nothing I relish more than diving into a huge plate of calamari, it is a real tricky one to cook. Often the squid is rubbery and chewy as an elastic band, and the coating for me at least, needs to be devilishly crunchy but not taking away from the subtle nature of the squid. And while I find that it is truly hard to beat the Italian fritto misto with a huge pot of garlicky mayo and a squeeze of lemon, I attempted at trying such a task in my huge and terribly designed deep fat fryer which is sandwiched in our cluttered cooking cupboard.
Finding a place that will do squid is a challenge in itself. I opt for the slender prepared tubes Waitrose offer, while less fun to prepare, are quicker and better for a Sunday night supper. As advised by The Guardian, I soak the squid in milk, to add tenderness, supposedly, although for me there is no noticeable difference. I have heard something about covering it in mashed up kiwi, although I have yet to try this method. So one I cut the tubes into more elegant, though quite thick rings, I try some different coatings.
Again, as suggested by The Guardian, I do a mix of plain and corn flour, then I do plain flour on its own, and with cornmeal mixed in. All of these seem to work, but the sogginess of just plain flour, and the slight powderiness of corn and plain flour leaves the more crispy cornmeal, which has more flavour and just the right heaviness needed. I'm still in need of crispy however, so it will have to wait.
First batch comes out of our ever so unreliable fryer and the coating is golden, but the squid is disappointingly chewy. As suggested, I fry it more, but this burns it to a crisp, and the offending squid is binned. I make a ruling that undercooked is better than overcooked and I fry the rest of the squid until the cornmeal goes slightly darker than the flour. This seems to do the trick, and I end up with a huge mound of it. And while it doesn't match the Italian perfection of a dish, I'm getting there.

My Calamari Recipe

Ing.
500g squid tubes (tentacles if you want)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
4 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour
1 1/2 tbsp cornmeal (polenta)
375 ml milk
Oil for frying

1. Pour the milk into a bowl. Slice the squid into rings and save a few for traingles, then add them to the milk. leave for as long as you've got.

2. Stir together the flour, cornmeal, salt and pepper.

3. Take the squid out of the milk and coat in the flour dusting.

4. Fry the squid until there are small gold dots on the calamari. Drain on paper towels and serve with lemon and a garlic mayo. Enjoy!

MT

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