Octopus -Tenderizing

[akruckus]

Octopus cooked right is one of my favorite seafoods to eat.  Making it tender is the hardest part, but with this "quick" easy way to prep it, it takes all the guesswork out of making it tender enough to enjoy.  I use this technique for grilled baby octopus, but I don't see why it wouldn't work for regular sized octopus.

What you need:(What I used for 1.5# of baby octopus)
-Pot large enough to fit octopus (8qt stock pot)
-Water (1.25 gallons)
-Real cork from wine bottles (I used 5 natural wine corks, can be the compressed cork, just not the plastic ones!)

The process:
Add the cork and water to the stock pot and turn on high heat.  Once the water with the cork comes to a boil, add the octopus and return to a boil (kept the lid off).  Boil octopus for about 2 minutes (maybe a little longer if doing a whole octopus).  Turn off the heat and let the octopus cool in the water.  Once cool enough cover and put into fridge overnight.  Next day remove octopus from water and it is ready to cook anyway you want.  I marinade it in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper, pinch of crushed red pepper, and lemon and lime zest, before sending it to the grill.  Can be added to red sauce for over pasta, or even roasted in the oven if you like.  Upon cooking the second time just cook until hot, have a nice char, etc, and enjoy!

My grilled octopus with lemon, butter, and oregano rice, and grilled broccoli. 
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[ACW3]

I usually order octopus if it is available on the menu.  Yours looks great.

Art

[teesquare]

Thanks for the recipe and tip! I love the cephalopods!

[Pappymn]

Thanks for the recipe and tip! I love the cephalopods!

Tee using those 5 dollar words again......

[SmokinKat]

How interesting!!  Where did you learn about the cork trick-- or did you stumble upon that magic after enjoying a couple bottles of good red?   

Octopus looks amazing by the way!

[akruckus]

How interesting!!  Where did you learn about the cork trick-- or did you stumble upon that magic after enjoying a couple bottles of good red?   

Octopus looks amazing by the way!

I had heard the cork trick a while ago, but at my part time kitchen job we had baby octopus over pasta special a few years back.  Once I finally found it at the fishmarket, I bought some and asked how to make it tender. Executive Chef gave me those steps to follow and the marinade they use for the now menu grilled appetizer of grilled octopus.

Pretty easy as a day(s) before prep.  It should keep about a week after you do the tenderizing step if you put it in a marinade or coat it in olive oil.

I am going to have to start drinking more bottle of red to keep my cork supply up!

*I didn't mention but after it came off the grill I drizzled some good quality Greek Olive Oil over it*

[TentHunteR]

Very interesting!  I've never heard of cooking it with cork before.

The dish looks incredibly good.

[Hub]

Save your corks!  There's no cork "shortage" as such, but more and more wineries are going to screw-caps for cost and other reasons.  Here's an article on what's going on:

http://thebacklabel.com/is-there-really-a-cork-shortage/#axzz4KANTElq2

As to your octopus, it looks fabulous.  The last time I had it as an entrée was in Sydney, Australia on a business trip probably ten years ago.  The chef nailed it then with a background of citrus and garlic and the texture was firm but tender.  Thanks for posting!

Hub

[Jaxon]

And you cook with the cork WHY?

[teesquare]

And you cook with the cork WHY?

Jack...IT'S VOODOO......

[muebe]

I am wondering what exactly scientifically is happening to the cork when it boils? And can they be used more than once?

Regardless the magic that sure looks good!

[akruckus]

There is an enzyme within the cork that helps tenderize... At least that is what I was told.  I would think you could reuse the cork, but I would imagine you would need to wrap them up to keep the smell from lingering.  The corks did swell up the next day when I took them out of the water, it is something I didn't expect.

Thanks for the article Hub, I had no idea about anything cork related, except that it is bark.  Good information.

[muebe]

Here is something I found online that could explain the reason for using wine corks

"In Galicia, corks were tied to squids. That made it easier for the cook to raise and lower the squid out of boiling water - the historic recipe calls for doing that to the squid 5-7 times. With modern cooking utensils, that practice became obsolete, and wine cork is thrown in the pot purely as a historic tradition."

"The muscle fibers of octopus are very thin compared to other species, arranged in multiple layers and alternating rings, which are then even further reinforced with collagen, 3-5 times more than regular fish muscle fiber. It's basically the reinforced concrete in the world of muscle fibers.

There are exactly two ways to get tender octopus:

Destroy the collagen by force or to cook it for a very long time like a stew
Barely cook it to a core temperature of not more than 130-135°F/55-57°C. At 140°/60° temperature the collagen layers will contract and you are screwed.
Note that these two methods generate edible octopus, but with different texture.

The wine cork serves no purpose. If it has any effect at all, it will negatively affect the destruction of the collagen, as tannin is actually used to cross-link, a process to make the collagen stable and durable, which is the complete opposite of what you want, when you want tender octopus."

[akruckus]

Very interesting.  Maybe next time I will follow the same process without the wine cork and see if they still come out as tender.

Whenever we braise something at the Country Club, we always do it a day in advance because we allow it to cool completely in the braising liquid to allow the meat to reabsorb the cooking liquid thus keeping and enhancing the flavor of the final product.  I understand why I keep it cool overnight, but I guess the cooling process allows the extracting of the collagen?