Octopus is one of the best seafood varieties available for your consumption. It comes along with a variety of nutrients and protein. Therefore, you can think about adding octopus into your meals without keeping any doubts in mind. However, you will need to tenderize octopus before you can prepare delicious recipes with it. That’s where we thought of sharing the most effective methods that are available for you to tenderize octopus.
Here are five different methods that you can follow in order to tenderize an octopus before you grill. You can go through the five methods and pick the most convenient method out of them based on your preferences.
Use salt with water
Brining is one of the most common methods available among people to tenderize octopus meat. This method is quite similar to making pickles as well. You just need to use salt and water to go ahead with this. Salt can soften all the tissues on octopus meat in an effective manner. However, some of the people say that the taste offered by octopus will be affected by using salt for tenderizing process.
If you don’t want to create any impact on the taste of octopus, you need to make sure that you are only using a small amount of salt as much as possible. In fact, you can use around 2% of salt. This will provide you with the opportunity to end up with a perfect brine. Octopus meat will never absorb salt under such a concentration. Hence, you will not have to experience any changes to the taste offered by octopus as well.
Use water with vinegar
You can also think about using water along with vinegar in order to tenderize octopus effectively. However, you should be extra careful when moving forward with this method. Even thought if this method can help you to tenderize octopus meat, it has the ability to make the meat drier as well. That’s because vinegar is an acid. It can dehydrate the meat that you are trying to tenderize.
If you are planning to move forward with a dry recipe, this is not the best method available to move forward. In addition to that, you need to make sure that you are using only 2% vinegar to get the job done. The tenderizing process with vinegar will take place pretty fast as well. Therefore, you need to take out your octopus meat after a short time period.
Use the pressure cooker
If you have a pressure cooker at home, you can think about using it to tenderize octopus meat as well. This is a great method available for preparing octopus dishes for a summer time dinner party. When you go ahead with this method, it is importance to place octopus meat first and then add water. The water should be added barely to cover octopus meat as well. Then you will get all the support needed to ensure the taste of octopus. You will need to use the pressure cooker for around four hours to get the job done.
Use an oven
Similar to using a pressure cooker, you can also think about using an oven in order to tenderize octopus meat. However, it is important to make sure that you are preparing octopus meat under a low heat. This will help you to end up with getting the best returns offered out of it. This is a quite a popular method for tenderizing octopus meat as well. That’s mainly due to the simplicity associated with the process. You just need to use the oven and it will help you to get the job done in an effective manner.
There are few benefits, which you will be able to experience by going forward with this method as well. The most prominent benefit out of them is that you will not have to monitor what you do too often. In order to follow this method, you just need to place octopus within a brownie tray and then cover that with a piece of foil paper. Then you can create an appropriate environment, where octopus meat can simmer in its own fluid. This can provide you with tenderized octopus at the end of the day.
You should also ensure that you keep the oven turned on at its lowest heat setting as much as possible. Heating should continue for a period of around four hours. Then you will be able to take a toothpick and prick some holes in the foil, so that you can allow the heat to go out.
Marinate and steam
The last method available to tenderize octopus meat is to marinate and heat. This is an overnight process. However, you will also be able to use readymade marinates, which will help you to get the job done within an hour. If you prefer to use your own marinate, you can go ahead with the overnight process. This can help you to end up with better returns at the end of the day.
You should make sure that you are wrapping the octopus meat within a marinating sauce. Then you should foil it tightly. You need to ensure that there aren’t any leaks. You should double the wrap as well. The marinating process alone will be able to help you with tenderizing octopus meat. However, you can also cook it in the meantime to get the best returns.
Final words
Now you are aware of five of the most prominent methods available to tenderize octopus meat. As you can see, all these methods are simple. The end results you get and the time consumed for the process will vary from one instant to another. You just need to keep these in your mind and proceed with the best method accordingly. It can help you to end up with outstanding returns at the end of the day.