I mean no disrespect to my Greek friends, but I’m about to level the playing field. I’m not a professional chef, I don’t own a restaurant, but if you’ve had dinner at my house, you know.
I love to eat. Actually, love to taste and have a great curiosity for how and why something works. That is why I enjoy cooking. I also love to share when I’m successful at producing something that I think tastes good. Being an average man with a bad temperament, I needed some edge to convince my hot wife to marry and stay with me. I do this with food.
If you want to make grilled octopus at home, follow my instructions below, and then tweak it to your liking and share what you did. Together we will make the ultimate grilled octopus.
I’ll never forget Teddy’s a Mexican place on Broadway down the block from the Odeon in Tribeca pre 9-11. Teddy’s had the best margaritas and a baby octopus appetizer that got us hooked. Sadly, Teddy’s is gone, but not from our hearts and memories.
In no particular order, we’ve have great octopus at Axia Taverna in Tenafly, Sofia’s in Hasbrouck Heights, Elia in East Rutherford, Paisanos in Rutherford, to name a few. Call in advance to make sure it is on the menu.
I needed to know how to make my own. It’s my thing, I’ve got to know how it works. Actually that’s a partial truth, Lea had a craving, and I wanted to be the hero that delivered.
Did a little research online, talked to our favorite fishmonger, and then started trying things. It took a few tries, but I think I have it. The decisive test in my house is if the whole family likes it. Once it passes the Tom, Lea, and Tyler test, then the next test is how soon we want it again and more importantly, if I put it out, how quickly is it consumed.
With octopus (all seafood), 99% of the flavor can be attributed to freshness and the quality of the catch. When making octopus, the texture is as critical as the flavor for the finished product. While there are many places nearby to get it, I prefer Woo-Ri mart in Northvale. I have not tried to use frozen octopus yet, but I suspect there will be little difference if the same steps are followed.
Let me first dispel a few myths.
1) Put a cork in the water – not sure what this was supposed to do and while it might actually do something, it is totally unnecessary
2) With squid or octopus, you either cook it for 2 minutes or 2 hours – not true, you simmer it until it exhibits the proper doneness – tenderness, then you do the next thing like put it in a salad or grill it.
3) Beat it to become tender (I saw a video of someone whacking an octopus against the steps of a house) – I have never successfully beaten tenderness into anything.
Patience and attention are the most important skills necessary to do this. I recommend setting a timer to go off every 5 minutes if you can’t focus, but make sure you look and test the octopus for the proper tenderness / texture. Lightly poking the octopus with a sharp knife to see if it penetrates easily is my technique, but you probably could test it by touching, problem is, it is simmering, so it will be hot.
A grill with a burner outside of the house is a nice thing to have because sometimes the preparation can overwhelm the house. You don’t want the house to smell like a sardine cannery, do you? (Trying to keep the post rated G, you know what I was really thinking)
The steps below worked exactly the same for baby octopus and a large three pounder.
Bring 3 quarts of water to the boil.
I added a few drops of olive oil, some black pepper corns, a few mustard seeds and coriander seeds, pinch of salt, half of a lemon skin and all, and a dash of white wine vinegar. You can add whatever aromatics you like. The lemon and vinegar introduced a small amount of acid, but very little. I read about a guy who simmers it in red wine and another that simmers it in olive oil, I have tried either of these approaches yet. The operative word is yet.
Once the water is boiling, I brought it outside to the burner on the grill and set it to simmer.
Add the octopus and then keep an eye on it. Keep it simmering as you will have more control. You must check when it is tender by testing to pierce with a knife. Baby octopus takes about ten minutes, the large one took about 45, but it is critical that you check and don’t rely on the time.
Once tender, but still firm as in the texture of a medium steak, transfer the octopus to a bowl.
Baby octopi should remain whole or perhaps cut in half. Larger octopi can be segmented into 10 or twelve pieces, tentacles, head and connective body area as seen in the picture.
I marinate the octopus for a few hours or over night in a mixture of olive oil and red wine vinegar or lemon. I’m actually thinking about using tequila and making the marinade like a margarita, but I have not tried that yet.
After the octopus has marinated, season the pieces with salt and pepper and then grill until lightly charred on a hot grill.
I use my big green egg with lump charcoal, but a gas grill will do fine as well.
Serve with lemon wedges. Or as Lea likes, with a mixture of soy sauce and lemon.
Please reply with your results.
Happy cooking.
Kiss yourself for making deliciousness.
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