Ingredient

Squid

Squid has one rule and it is unusually absolute: cook it very fast or very slowly, and never in between. Two minutes gives you tender squid. Forty minutes gives you tender squid. Ten minutes gives you something with the texture of a rubber band, and there is no way back from it except to keep going.

Why the two windows

Squid muscle is unusual. It is dense, arranged in tight bundles, and wrapped in a great deal of collagen — far more, proportionally, than a fish has.

Heat does two things to it in sequence. First the muscle proteins contract and squeeze out water, which happens fast and makes the squid firm and then tough. Then, much later, the collagen begins to break down into gelatine, which softens the whole thing again and makes it succulent.

So there are two good moments. Very early, within a couple of minutes, before the proteins have contracted much — this is fried calamari, grilled squid, squid in a stir-fry. And very late, after thirty or forty minutes of gentle wet cooking, once the collagen has converted — this is braised squid, squid stew, squid in ink.

The middle is the tough zone. If you have overshot the fast window, the only remedy is to commit to the slow one and keep cooking.

Cleaning a whole squid

Cheaper than buying it prepared, and quick once you have done it twice.

1. Pull the head and tentacles away from the body. Most of the innards come with them.
2. Cut the tentacles off just below the eyes and discard the head and innards. Keep the tentacles — they are the best part.
3. Squeeze the base of the tentacles to pop out the small hard beak, and discard it.
4. Reach into the body and pull out the transparent quill, which looks like a strip of plastic. Discard it.
5. Rinse the body inside and out, and rub off the purplish membrane on the outside — it comes away easily under running water.
6. The side fins are edible; keep them.
7. If there is an ink sac and it is intact, it can be kept for a black risotto or pasta, though most is sold separately now.

Cooking it fast

• Get the pan or oil genuinely hot before it goes in. A moderate pan is the surest route to the tough zone.
• Dry it thoroughly. Wet squid steams and goes grey.
• Score the body in a fine crosshatch on the inside, then cut into pieces. It cooks faster, curls attractively and holds sauce.
• Cook in small batches. Crowding drops the temperature and turns a fast cook into a medium one.
• One to two minutes, and out. It turns opaque and firms slightly; that is done.
• Fried calamari — dusted in seasoned flour or semolina and deep-fried for ninety seconds.
• Grilled or barbecued whole, scored, with lemon, chilli and parsley.
• In a stir-fry, added last.
• Salt and pepper squid, dusted in cornflour with five-spice and white pepper.

Cooking it slowly

• Braised in tomato, wine and garlic for forty minutes to an hour, until a knife goes through with no resistance.
• Stuffed and baked — bodies filled with breadcrumbs, garlic and herbs and cooked slowly in a sauce.
• In squid ink — braised with ink, onion and wine, served with rice or pasta.
• In a stew with potatoes and peas, Mediterranean-style.
• With chickpeas or beans, where the gelatine it gives up enriches the whole dish.
• Larger squid suit this better. Big squid is tougher and rewards long cooking; small squid is best cooked fast.
• Test by feel, not by clock. It should offer no resistance to a knife.

Common questions