Tender skin-on octopus
So I've seen a lot of posts on social media of places serving beautiful looking octopus with the skin fully in tact. How do they achieve this? Any time I've cooked octopus I find the skin just falls off if you look at it wrong. I've tried sous vide, braiding you, and even a long low steam in a combi oven. Is any skin on octopus just lightly cooked, and if so, how do you achieve a good texture that way? I also come from a land locked province so my octopus is either frozen or a day+ old
Posted Feb 15, 2019, 8:26 PM UTC
31
Ayyy. Here's how I do it.
Blanch the octo in simmering water for 10 minutes in super salty water. Dont boil that bad boi! Gently put it in an ice bath and let him chill to the bone.
Set your immersion circulater to 160 degrees F
Get your vacuum sealer our and ready. Once your octo is officially ice shocked, decide if you want to keep that boi whole or cut of tenticales. Wont do anything for the cook time, really. I usually keep mine whole.
Seal one side of your vac bags. Put your octo inside, and add some oil. I like extra virgin olive oil, it definitely compliments the octo boy.
Seal that baby up. I sous vide mine for about 4 hours. 3 and a half if you cut them into tenticales.
Once they are done, carefully take them out of the bags with rubber tongs, or something similar- gloved hands will work, and lay them out on parchment paper. You're good to go. I like to sear or grill them at this point. Remember to salt those babies!
Something cool, too, I keep the oil liquid and let it chill in my fridge. It's super gelatinous and flavorful. I add it to soup bases and it helps give it a little somethin extra. Octo jelly.