A delicious seafood but I also am not comfortable eating such an intelligent creature.
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Maybe a thread dedicated to that pov would serve the topic better than one discussing preparing fresh frozen octopus. Iām sure other food products garner the same concerns.
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I cook mostly fresh squids and cuttlefish, as they need less time to cook but more time to clean. The sellers usually do a poor job to clean and prepare them that I prefer doing it myself.
It was a big fail. Iāll stick to ordering out.
What happened? Not tender enough? Cooked too long? It could be several factors.
All of the above.
Sorry that happened. How long and which method you used to cook them?
Donāt give up! Maybe you should do some tests with small batches before cooking everything and see which method works for you.
From what I understand, one can eat it fresh in sashimi when slice thinly. I have never gone through a boil process for octopus, just grilled it and they were tender. Once I cooked it longer, as advised by someone or a recipeā¦it was rubber like.
I did a very small batch and gave my sister the rest to try out. After defrosting and cleaning I poached in red wine and flavored in olive oil, garlic and lemon to grill. It was meh.
The problem is that you poached itā¦Just marinade Itā¦then steam for 10 minutesā¦let it coolā¦put it on the grill or in a grill panā¦ with some of the marinade or just some evoo, S&P and then some lemonā¦
I then like to slice it on a bias and serve it with some white beans with cilantro, evoo, lemon and finely chopped Roma tomatoesā¦
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Damn! Just told my sister to follow this. Thanks.
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Worked great. My niece even enjoyed her first grilled octopus.
Great!! 
Oh no!
I pressure cook first, then use whatever method to finish after (grill, sautƩ, or as is a la gallega - boiled potatoes, olive oil, salt, smoked paprika.
Do try again - makes it so accessible (and much cheaper than out) - itās like anything else, takes a couple of tries.
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How long do you pressure cook it?
10-15 mins once itās at pressure, iirc. Depends on the size of the octopus.
They are quite intelligent as well
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Just finished cleaning a whole octopus of 1.7kg, 3.7 pound, with brain and eyes. First time got a whole fresh one, usually it was just the tentacles. Iāve no idea what to do with the mantle, for example. Next step I need to find recipes to cook. Iām also checking out my cookbooks and the suggestions here to cook. Donāt have a pressure cooker though.
I found it disturbing when cleaning, especially flipping the body and discovered the organs especially the brain (it has folds like ours, just smaller). I think the size too gave an impact with the eyes staring and the slimy skin.
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Thanks thatās a good read.
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