How to cook octopus

Octopus is as popular in my country as it is here. And I’m very happy as I do love it.

But the first time I had to cook it, I had a problem! Funny enough, I’ve eaten octopus all my life but I never cooked it before. And I’ve always heard that it’s quite a tricky task! So I wasn’t very comfortable doing it. So I asked my mum 🙂 Her way is to cook it in the pressure cooker with water and onion. That sounded good enough for me. But I though it wouldn’t hurt to do a bit of online research about it. And I’m glad I did it. I found another method that works very well and preserves all the juices released during the cooking process.

First of all, make sure that your octopus has been frozen and then defrosted. The freezing process will brake the muscles on it and will make it softer. I know it’s very nice to buy fresh octopus but you should still freeze it before cooking. If you want to cook it fresh, then you should hit the octopus with a kitchen mallet to tenderize the meat.

In this new method (for me at least), you start by putting the defrosted octopus in a pan. Don’t ad any water or salt. The octopus will cook in his own juices and it will get all the sea flavour.

Cook the octopus in a low heat for about 1 hour. Every so often, give it a stir to make sure it’s evenly cooked.

 

The octopus will be nice and tender and full of flavour from the juices.

And then you can use the released water in your cooking. So easy and it never fails 🙂