If you like seafood you probably love fried calamari. It's a beach holiday classic. Deep frying calamari sounds simple enough. It really isn't. Ask me. I've just had a less than perfect experience. I had a bag of frozen squid rings in the freezer which I was quite keen to dispatch. So straight from work, into the kitchen.
Now there are quite a few ways you could go about deep frying calamari. You could use a tempura style batter, with egg, iced water and flour, spices. You could bread the stuff. You could make a beer batter, just the way you would for battering fish. The beer, with all its bubbles makes the batter crispy and light. You could make a simple batter and replace the beer with a tad of baking soda. Hell, you could even use a dry batter. Simply a concoction of seasoned flours to toss the squid in before frying.
I remember seeing a recipe where the squid had been first dunked in the thick batter, then breaded before frying. Now, I am a sucker for extra crispy squid and this seemed like the way to go.
For the wet batter:
On a plate spread out some breadcrumbs. Using stale bread is the best. You'll get nice, dry crumbs. Second mistake. I used fresh bread and put the crumbs in the oven to dry a bit. Not good enough. I had used dry crumbs when I had fried goat brains some time ago and I know how good it can be. A little tip - mix a bit of crushed up rusk with the bread crumbs. The crunch will reverberate in your cranium for a second or two.
Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed utensil. I used sunflower oil. Use anything that will not leave a smell. When the oil gets to 190'c - yes there is a right temperature too. I checked with my newly acquired meat thermometer if you should know - dip the squid in the wet batter, coat with the bread crumbs, and pop them into the oil. Keep one hand dry to handle the crumbs. Wet the crumbs and you'll have lumps the size of melons. Silly mistake number three.
Fry the squid for only a few moment and pull them out onto kitchen paper. Too much and you rather eat the sole of your shoe.
The mayonnaise was ready-made, with added crushed garlic and saffron. Works wonderfully.
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| Breaded Squid (some not) with Garlic and Saffron Mayonnaise |
Now there are quite a few ways you could go about deep frying calamari. You could use a tempura style batter, with egg, iced water and flour, spices. You could bread the stuff. You could make a beer batter, just the way you would for battering fish. The beer, with all its bubbles makes the batter crispy and light. You could make a simple batter and replace the beer with a tad of baking soda. Hell, you could even use a dry batter. Simply a concoction of seasoned flours to toss the squid in before frying.
I remember seeing a recipe where the squid had been first dunked in the thick batter, then breaded before frying. Now, I am a sucker for extra crispy squid and this seemed like the way to go.
For the wet batter:
- Plain flour
- Maize flour. This was my addition. Thought the course grain would give a bit more of a bite. It is the yellow flour in the picture, if you were wondering quantities.
- Salt and pepper
- Some crushed paprika
- A little baking soda for some lift
- 2 cloves of crushed garlic
On a plate spread out some breadcrumbs. Using stale bread is the best. You'll get nice, dry crumbs. Second mistake. I used fresh bread and put the crumbs in the oven to dry a bit. Not good enough. I had used dry crumbs when I had fried goat brains some time ago and I know how good it can be. A little tip - mix a bit of crushed up rusk with the bread crumbs. The crunch will reverberate in your cranium for a second or two.
Heat some oil in a heavy bottomed utensil. I used sunflower oil. Use anything that will not leave a smell. When the oil gets to 190'c - yes there is a right temperature too. I checked with my newly acquired meat thermometer if you should know - dip the squid in the wet batter, coat with the bread crumbs, and pop them into the oil. Keep one hand dry to handle the crumbs. Wet the crumbs and you'll have lumps the size of melons. Silly mistake number three.
Fry the squid for only a few moment and pull them out onto kitchen paper. Too much and you rather eat the sole of your shoe.
The mayonnaise was ready-made, with added crushed garlic and saffron. Works wonderfully.
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