Text 24487, 78 rader
Skriven 2009-05-27 12:17:00 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: fried calamari 645
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Firstoff, let me tell you never to buy a little Presto fryer
- I was playing with a seldom-used and fairly new one, and
it never got up to temperature. Cranked it to 400F, and in
my estimation it never got past 345 or so. Abandoned that
and just used a deep frying pan and eyeballed the temperature
using various props, such as a wet chopstick and little balls
of cornstarch mixed with squid juice. Worked fine.

Okay, here was the problem. My friend Annie, a good cook,
and her brother Robbie, a great cook, came to me with the
question - how to make the batter for tempura squid stick.
I allowed as how I had difficulty with this issue myself,
back in the '70s, and after some hit-or-miss, never bothered
to make the dish again.

Oh. Using a huge commercial kettle, the universal restaurant
solution, was not an option, as we haven't had ready access
to one since we were members of the American Legion (myself,
honorary) in Denver.

I did a touch of Web searching and found a few sensible-
sounding (and many stupid-sounding) suggestions on how to
fix a great fried squid.

Approach #1: dip in frothed egg white and cheat by using
a crispy crumb coating. This was deemed too much trouble
and to make a product way different from that desired.

Approach #2: dip in cornstarch and then into tempura batter.

Approach #3: dip in cornstarch and then fry as is.

We decided to use #3, the simplest, and then if it didn't
work, fall back to #2.

Guess what? #3 worked terrifically well and made some of
the yummiest fried squid I've ever had.

This was the meal at which I sided the main course with
fried garlic noodles (hostess's request) and fried sweet
potato matchsticks.

Salt-pepper squid
cat: Asian, main
servings: 3

1 1/2 lb cleaned squid
1 1/2 c cornstarch
salt and pepper
oil
1 serrano chile, minced
1 garlic clove, minced
coarse salt, pepper

Rinse squid, separating bodies from tentacles.
Slice bodies into rings. Dry squid but not thoroughly.

Separately dredge tentacles and bodies in lightly
seasoned cornstarch.

Separately fry tentacles and bodies in 375F oil.
With tentacles, separate and open with chopsticks
to maximize content with oil.

Do not let coating color beyond a very pale whitish
gold. Drain on paper towels when done.

Combine chile, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste.
Strew over drained cooked squid.

We ate the whole 1/2 lb each of squid; it was just
enough.

source: moi @ Annie and Billy's house

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