We had cooked with Octopus a few times in the past, and we enjoyed it. However, while on vacation in Madeira, we ordered it a few times, and my appreciation for it grew immensely. So, we have started to incorporate it into our regular home cooking routine more often. Of course, cooking with octopus can be a little tricky, and a lot intimidating. Don’t be scared though…it’s much easier than it looks! And, once you work with this somewhat alien creature, you will get a meal of pure protein and delicious flavour.
Given that we’ll be posting a good number of octopus recipes in the coming weeks (and beyond), we wanted to take a moment to post our method for breaking down a whole octopus for use! As we normally do, we’ll write our step by step instructions in the picture captions below!
What you’ll need:
- Octopus
- Chef’s Knife
- Large Cutting Board
- Vacuum Seal Bags or Zip Top Bags (if you’re planning to sous vide)
2. Pull the tentacles all in one direction.
3. Locate the eyes.
4. Use your knife to slice just below the eyes (on the tentacle side). This ought to remove beak from the body.
6. Cut the top of the head away from the eyes, and scoop out any remaining residue.
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