How to Prep Squid

I think a lot of people are (still) intimidated by the look of a squid and how to prepare it that they shun away from cooking it at home.  I used to be one of those people myself.

Then, one day, a long time ago, I decided to go out on a whim and just do it!  I realised just how easy it was to prep squid and I've been cooking them at home ever since.  For those who still feel squirmish about prepping squid, let me show just how simple it is with this step-by-step instruction (done my way) that's slightly different from how our western counterparts would do it.  But if you already know how to prep squid, then read no further.

Step 1 - Separate the tentacles from the body of the squid.  Cut the body open down the centre.  Scrape off whatever innards you find inside including the transparent sliver of cartilage (or squid quill that looks like a piece of clear plastic).  But if you need to cut the squid into rings, then you'll need to dig out the innards and cartilage with your fingers (without cutting the body open).

Step 2 - Peel the see-through, dark and spotty skin membrane from the body of the squid.  This is for better presentation but you can choose not to remove it as it's completely edible.

Step 3 - Score the inside of the squid (in a crisscross pattern but ensure you don't cut all the way through). Again, the scoring is just for better visual when the squid curls up but you can certainly do away with the extra work of scoring the squid if you choose to.

Cut into bite-sized pieces taking into consideration that the squid pieces will curl up making them smaller (I usually cut down the middle into two if it's a small squid or four if it's a larger one).

The squid hoods are prepped and ready :)

Time to move onto the more difficult task at hand, the prepping of the tentacles.  Now this is the part where I handle it differently from our western counterparts.

Step 4 - Remove the ink sac (below the squid's eyes that looks like a black vein) by pinching it with your fingers with care and ensuring you don't to puncture the ink sac.  If the sac does break, it's not the end of the world, you just need to rinse off the ink.  In fact, the ink is a gourmet and precious commodity to western counterparts where they use it to flavour rice, pastas and risottos (but we locals have no use for it).

Step 5 - Make a slit in the squid's eyes to puncture the ink sac and squeeze the ink out with your fingers and whatever else that's inside.

Step 6 - Squeeze the squid beak (located at the base of the tentacles) with your fingers (it'll come out easily). I've eaten a lot of sotong sambal (from nasi lemak stalls) that don't bother to remove these beaks.  I hate it when that happens and I end up having to remove it myself as it's actually inedible.

And that's how my prep differs from our western counterparts.  If you google how to prep squid, you'll see that our western counterparts tend to cut slightly below the tentacles and discard the guts and bottom section of the squid head (without having to go through Steps 4 & 5).  I'm Chinese (after all) and we don't waste anything (haha!), so I keep the bottom portion of the squid which makes up 50% of the meat of the squid.  Why waste good meat when it's perfectly edible (even if it's not so presentable)? :P

And the tentacles are done =)

The completely cleaned and prepped squid is now ready to be transformed into a delicious recipe! ^_*  With this step-by-step guide, the task doesn't seem so daunting after all, right?  Make an effort to do it once (like me) and you'll forever realise that it's actually doable...and certainly loads cheaper to cook squid at home.

Hmmm, now what shall I make with my prepped squid? ^_~