06-02-2005, 01:32 AM
Hi, regarding the cuttlefish.
I used to be a deckhand on a scallop trawler working out of Bundaberg, Qld.
Some of the by-catch that was normally thrown back overboard was LOTS of cuttlefish.
I thought I'd give them a try. I found the easiest technique for cleaning them was to insert my fingers inside the head and detach a couple of suckers that seem to attach the main innards of the beastie to the inside of the body. Then I would slip my fingers right up inside the body to the very top and pinch off the attached guts etc. A quick pull on the head/legs left you with the clean body with the cuttlebone still inside.
It was then a simple matter of turning the body inside out (like taking off a too-tight jumper), discarding the cuttlebone and using fingers to easily separate the remaining skin from the flesh in one piece. The whole process from start to finish would take from 5-10 seconds.
At the end you had a lovely white triangular piece of meat about 7-9 mm thick.
The way I prepared the cuttlefish for eating was to lay the body on a cutting board and bash it with a steak hammer until almost mushy, but still in one piece.
A quick dip in flour, eggwhite, then salted breadcrumbs and into the hot pan.
Usually only about 30-50 seconds per side, (when breadcrumbs turn light golden brown) then onto the plate.
This was my favourite seafood. (Much better than Moreton Bay bugs which we also caught a lot of) The steak hammer stopped the flesh from either curling up, or being rubbery. I can almost taste it now.... mmmmmm.
Regards, Ross
I used to be a deckhand on a scallop trawler working out of Bundaberg, Qld.
Some of the by-catch that was normally thrown back overboard was LOTS of cuttlefish.
I thought I'd give them a try. I found the easiest technique for cleaning them was to insert my fingers inside the head and detach a couple of suckers that seem to attach the main innards of the beastie to the inside of the body. Then I would slip my fingers right up inside the body to the very top and pinch off the attached guts etc. A quick pull on the head/legs left you with the clean body with the cuttlebone still inside.
It was then a simple matter of turning the body inside out (like taking off a too-tight jumper), discarding the cuttlebone and using fingers to easily separate the remaining skin from the flesh in one piece. The whole process from start to finish would take from 5-10 seconds.
At the end you had a lovely white triangular piece of meat about 7-9 mm thick.
The way I prepared the cuttlefish for eating was to lay the body on a cutting board and bash it with a steak hammer until almost mushy, but still in one piece.
A quick dip in flour, eggwhite, then salted breadcrumbs and into the hot pan.
Usually only about 30-50 seconds per side, (when breadcrumbs turn light golden brown) then onto the plate.
This was my favourite seafood. (Much better than Moreton Bay bugs which we also caught a lot of) The steak hammer stopped the flesh from either curling up, or being rubbery. I can almost taste it now.... mmmmmm.
Regards, Ross