20-03-2005, 03:27 PM
Bajanet gets the cupi doll!
I went out on a twilight fishing boat for the Humboldt squid that have been caught off the southern California coast since January. These squid are running 15-50 lbs each. When cleaning them, the crewman cut off the tail just forward of the planes, cut off the head just forward of the mantle and discarded both. He slitted the mantle along both sides of the "backbone" (spline) and discarded that as well. He then removed the outer skin from the outside of the mantle, "chunked" it into three or four pieces, then bagged it for the customer. This resulted in three or four "steaks" of about 1 inch in thickness, 4-6 inches in width, and 16 inches in length. There is a secondary membrane under the outer skin which must be removed as well as a membrane on the inside of the mantle. The steaks may then be further filleted horizontally to reduce them to about 1/3 inch for breading and quicker cooking. Don't add any salt or use a salted spice when cooking until you have tasted them--they are salty enough! (and I'm a salt-lover!)
Hope this answers.
I was disturbed by what I perceived to be considerable waste in discarding the head and tail so I asked for one not to be filleted by the crewman and took it home to experiment with less wasteful methods.
I went out on a twilight fishing boat for the Humboldt squid that have been caught off the southern California coast since January. These squid are running 15-50 lbs each. When cleaning them, the crewman cut off the tail just forward of the planes, cut off the head just forward of the mantle and discarded both. He slitted the mantle along both sides of the "backbone" (spline) and discarded that as well. He then removed the outer skin from the outside of the mantle, "chunked" it into three or four pieces, then bagged it for the customer. This resulted in three or four "steaks" of about 1 inch in thickness, 4-6 inches in width, and 16 inches in length. There is a secondary membrane under the outer skin which must be removed as well as a membrane on the inside of the mantle. The steaks may then be further filleted horizontally to reduce them to about 1/3 inch for breading and quicker cooking. Don't add any salt or use a salted spice when cooking until you have tasted them--they are salty enough! (and I'm a salt-lover!)
Hope this answers.
I was disturbed by what I perceived to be considerable waste in discarding the head and tail so I asked for one not to be filleted by the crewman and took it home to experiment with less wasteful methods.