Big frozen octopus

newfydog · Jul 15, 2014

I was in Portland yesterday and stopped by the super Asian grocery store Uwajimaya. I found a nice octopus, something tough to find at my home store.

Does anyone have some hints on how to convert that thing into a plate of Pulpo Gallego? I've never been able to make a decent one from the pre-cooked tentacles I find among the sushi seafood. This recipe looks interesting, with a boiling, baking and grilling phase sounds like it has potential

http://honest-food.net/2013/11/25/pulpo-gallego-recipe-octopus/

Anyone out there have suggestions?

For the record, the gold standard to me is this place in Cacabelos:

petitewalker · Jul 15, 2014

newfydog said:
I was in Portland yesterday and stopped by the super Asian grocery store Uwajimaya. I found a nice octopus, something tough to find at my home store.

Does anyone have some hints on how to convert that thing into a plate of Pulpo Gallego? I've never been able to make a decent one from the pre-cooked tentacles I find among the sushi seafood. This recipe looks interesting, with a boiling, baking and grilling phase sounds like it has potential

http://honest-food.net/2013/11/25/pulpo-gallego-recipe-octopus/

Anyone out there have suggestions?

For the record, the gold standard to me is this place in Cacabelos:

View attachment 11455

Hi Newfydog,
I am in upstate NY and during the summer, I can usually get octopus at my wonderful grocery store Wegmans. I boil it stovetop for several hours without doing the oven thing. Just one more step. You won't believe how much these puppies shrink when they are cooked, so make sure it is large enough. After it cools, I cut it up similar to the photos but not too small, so they don't fall through the grill and rub olive oil and salt it and stick it on the grill till it gets that nice little char look. Squeeze some lemon and whatever else you want (I like the idea of the paprika) and it is good to go. Your only disappointment will be there isn't enough. Just talking about it is making me salivate.

alansykes · Jul 15, 2014

For a good simple octopus dish I lightly fry a bulb of sliced garlic with a chili, some parsley and some lemon rind. After about a minute, add an octopus, cover the pan and leave it for 15-30 minutes, depending on how big it is. It will give out a lot of delicious juice, and become very tender (it's done if a cocktail stick slides easily into the white pouch). Take the octopus out, cut into bite sized pieces and keep warm. Use the juice to boil some peeled potatoes (keep the lid on), possibly adding a slug of albariño if there isn't enough liquid (or even if there is). Chop the potatoes up and mix with the octopus pieces, and dust with paprika and perhaps a little rock salt. Eat with the juice as a side dish.

Yum

s. brown · Jul 15, 2014

While we're on the subject . . . what does a big octopus taste like? I eat squid, but those are small tendrils. I once had embryo size octopus in a garlic butter sauce in Barcelona. But the really big pieces that I've seen in photos on this forum do not look appetizing. I'm hoping it's something like lobster.

newfydog · Jul 15, 2014

s. brown said:
. what does a big octopus taste like? I eat squid, but those are small tendrils. .

I guess it is closest to squid, but not as tough. It can be a bit slimy. Done right, with paprika, olive oil and rock salt, it is simply the best food in Spain,

Deleted member 3000 · Jul 15, 2014

s. brown said:
I'm hoping it's something like lobster.

Try pollack for that! Octopus tastes mostly like the sauce used on it. Raw on sushi (against health codes in most of the U.S., so you may have to go to Japan), it has the texture of rubber bands and the taste of whatever is added. In Spain feiria it is boiled clipped into rounds with scissors, doused in olive oil, and dusted with hot pimiento (a red pepper similar to paprika, but hotter). This recipe puts it on a bed of potatoes, but in Melide and Sarria, it comes with bread. http://www.recetasderechupete.com/receta-de-pulpo-a-la-gallega-con-patatas/1015/

Toothpicks are provided for getting it to one's mouth.

Pelegrin · Jul 15, 2014

[This recipe puts it on a bed of potatoes, but in Melide and Sarria, it comes with bread).

With a bed of potatoes = pulpo a la gallega/polvo á galega (Galician style)

With no potatoes = pulpo á feira. (fair style)

s. brown · Jul 16, 2014

falcon269 said:
Try pollack for that! Octopus tastes mostly like the sauce used on it. Raw on sushi (against health codes in most of the U.S., so you may have to go to Japan), it has the texture of rubber bands and the taste of whatever is added. In Spain feiria it is boiled clipped into rounds with scissors, doused in olive oil, and dusted with hot pimiento (a red pepper similar to paprika, but hotter). This recipe puts it on a bed of potatoes, but in Melide and Sarria, it comes with bread. http://www.recetasderechupete.com/receta-de-pulpo-a-la-gallega-con-patatas/1015/

Toothpicks are provided for getting it to one's mouth.

I guess I suspected that. Sounds sort of like escargot, which is just an excuse for a lot of butter and garlic. The rubber band part is bringing up an old memory of arriving in Barcelona very late at night after not sleeping for 36 hours and ordering paella. It was nasty. It was a cheap, loud place, and swimming in the paella were enormous tough arms with suckers on them. I could not get a good meal until I looked up a Spanish opthalmologist --a friend of a friend--who took me to wonderful places to eat. This was a long time ago and it sounds like spanish cuisine has changed a lot since then. I mean I had bad, bad meals. Do you like pulpo?

Deleted member 3000 · Jul 16, 2014

s. brown said:
Do you like pulpo?

I rarely miss an opportunity to eat it! It is like duck confit in France and roast lamb in Spain.

Deleted member 3000 · Jul 16, 2014

My home away from home in Sarria, Pulperia Luis:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.778...m4!1e1!3m2!1sF5eX6sREJy_Fes10u1LArQ!2e0?hl=en

Deleted member 3000 · Jul 16, 2014

Oh, and to get some of that roast lamb in Hontanas:

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.419...m4!1e1!3m2!1sfr0ULTMOtHRzhhS5n-Vnnw!2e0?hl=en

It is around the corner from a great hotel (and the intercity bus stop):

https://www.google.com/maps/@42.419...m4!1e1!3m2!1sGHCnydruWQcDDlJOT2G5FQ!2e0?hl=en

You will be surprised at the number of pilgrims getting on the bus here. It is a bit off the Camino, so pilgrims actually walking usually do not see who is riding. It is my guess that a few of the riders will maintain that they walked the whole thing! I advocate self-acceptance rather than deceit, but that is a personal thing. I won't even offer up a reason why I rode the bus and saw all those other pilgrims.

(Except to say that I wanted to.)

scruffy1 · Jul 16, 2014

The Greeks maintain that the only way to cook octopus is first to beat it on on a rock next to the sea 200 times before doing whatever you plan. The inn at O'Cebreiro had the best octopus I tasted in Spain, in Cyprus and Greece where it is served slightly pickled with retsina and is better, Chojiro, a sushi place in Kyoto, has the best I ever ate anywhere

Kitsambler · Jul 16, 2014

I'm amazed it takes so long to cook. Is it that long because of the large size? What about smaller ones?

Pelegrin · Jul 16, 2014

I cook it in a pressure cooker and 10 minutes after the steam starts to go out is enough.
The recipe says that water is prohibited but I always add 2 glasses and a bay leaf, and the pulpo is OK.
It is important to wash the pulpo before cooking.
I think it is easy to prepare and the likelihood of a disaster is low.

jeffnd · Jul 22, 2014

s. brown said:
While we're on the subject . . . what does a big octopus taste like? I eat squid, but those are small tendrils. I once had embryo size octopus in a garlic butter sauce in Barcelona. But the really big pieces that I've seen in photos on this forum do not look appetizing. I'm hoping it's something like lobster.

The plate I had in Santiago came with little arms and bigger pieces from bigger animals. It all tasted the same. It reminded me a lot of crab or lobster.

s. brown · Jul 22, 2014

jeffnd said:
The plate I had in Santiago came with little arms and bigger pieces from bigger animals. It all tasted the same. It reminded me a lot of crab or lobster.

Thanks. If it tastes like lobster, I'm all for it.

craigmiller · Oct 3, 2014

... an additional question about pulpo. Can anyone offer some advice on how long should you cook it ? (you can find numerous recipes on line, but the cooking time is all over the map: 20 min to 1.5 hr.)

newfydog · Oct 3, 2014

Less than five minutes or more than an hour (Seriously) Anything in between will be tough.

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Big frozen octopus

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