We made this one for a Bills game, and it was awesome! You’re probably thinking, “Buffalo sauce and octopus? Really?” Well, allow me to explain the logic. Last year, my wife and I were hiking in Madeira during the first two rounds of the playoffs. We ate Madeiran food, and the Bills won both of their games over that span. So, when we needed a win earlier this season, I drove out to Bucks County Seafood and bought a quintessential Madeiran protein: Octopus!
We gave it our customary sous vide treatment for hours to make the octopus super tender before breading and saucing it! In the end, these little protein packed morsels were really tasty…and proved to be good luck in the game! We served our fritters over spinach risotto, but they’d also go well atop a salad with some blue cheese dressing or crumbled blue cheese!
Time: 7 hours, 45 minutes (7 hours of which are Sous Viding)
Ingredients:
- Octopus
- Cayenne Powder
- All Purpose Flour
- An Egg
- Panko Bread Crumbs
- Buffalo Sauce
Method:
- Break down your Octopus, and cut the tentacles into individual pieces.
- Pat your octopus meat dry, and sprinkle some cayenne pepper and a little salt on.
- Place in a zip top bag.
- Fill a large pot with water, and use your sous vide to heat to 170 degrees F.
- Add your octopus bag to the pot. Unzip a little bit of the zip top, and push the bag down into the water (keeping the top above water) to remove all the air. Then, seal the bag shut.
- Let cook with the sous vide for around 7 hours.
- Remove your octopus from the hot water, and then remove from the bag. Pat dry.
- Set up three bowls. Add a little all purpose flour to one, a beaten egg in the next, and some bread crumbs (panko or regular) in the last.
- Cut your octopus tentacles into the size bites you want.
- Working a few pieces at a time, coat your octopus meat in flour, then egg, and lastly your bread crumbs. Set aside, and work on your next batch until all your octopus is coated.
- Heat some oil in a Dutch oven, and then add your octopus (working in batches if you need) to fry until the breading turns golden brown and crispy.
- Transfer your fried nuggets into a large bowl, and coat with your Buffalo sauce.
- Plate, devour, and enjoy!
