We challenged chefs of three different skill levels - amateur John, home cook Daniel, and professional chef Taka Sakaeda - to fry us up some calamari. Once each level of chef had presented their creations, we asked expert food scientist Rose to explain the choices each made along the way. Which fried calamari are you reaching for first?
Category
🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
00:00 (egg cracking)
00:02 (upbeat music)
00:04 - I'm John and I'm a level one chef.
00:06 - I'm Daniel and I'm a level two chef.
00:08 - I'm Chef Taka and I've been a professional chef
00:10 for almost 20 years.
00:11 - Today I'm making fried calamari with marinara sauce.
00:16 - Today I'm making some fried calamari
00:17 with Old Bay seasoning and a little bit
00:19 of dill dipping sauce.
00:20 - What I'm gonna do is gonna blow your mind.
00:22 I'm starting with fresh squid
00:23 and I have beautiful yuzu brightness inside my sauce.
00:27 (whooshing)
00:29 (chimes)
00:31 - These frozen rings are just super easy to work with.
00:36 I have a bowl with a strainer.
00:37 I'm just gonna defrost them.
00:39 - With anything, fresh is better
00:41 than something you're gonna get that's prepackaged.
00:43 To be real, I have no idea what part of the squid this is.
00:45 Some smart people might call it the head of the squid.
00:47 I call it the part before the legs.
00:49 - So I have this big fin reef squid here.
00:52 Today what I'm gonna be doing is using entire whole squid
00:54 and doing the breakdown from fresh.
00:56 - Whole squid, couldn't be me.
00:58 - As for the squiddies,
00:59 these are gonna get cut into rings.
01:00 - And I'm gonna slice until I feel the bone.
01:04 - I don't know what this is.
01:05 I don't know if this is plastic or what.
01:07 - This is part of the squid.
01:08 This is the gladius, or sometimes known as the pen.
01:10 Actually looks like a feather-tipped pen.
01:12 - Learn something new every day, squid spine.
01:14 - So I'm just gonna grab the head here
01:16 and I'm gonna go ahead and pull this back
01:17 and hopefully everything comes off in one shot
01:20 and then remove the fins and just start to rub
01:22 and see if I can loosen up this inner skin
01:25 that we're trying to remove.
01:26 - I'm gonna cut this squid into three sections.
01:28 Just to make sure that it stays nice and tender and soft,
01:31 we're gonna go ahead and score
01:32 the outer portion of the squid.
01:34 Cut this right in half.
01:35 This is the best parts of the squid, in my opinion.
01:38 - My brine consists of two ingredients.
01:40 I've got almond milk and some salt.
01:41 - To prep the squid, let it soak in some buttermilk
01:44 to break down and help to tenderize the squid.
01:46 - I'm gonna let this sit in the fridge for like 30 minutes.
01:48 - It pops and I'll be good to go.
01:50 - Now I'm gonna bread my calamari.
01:51 First step is to crack my eggs in a bowl.
01:55 I like to add some milk too.
01:57 Give this a good old whisk.
01:58 - Coating, very simple.
02:00 - Today I'm using a wet batter,
02:02 which is kind of not traditional.
02:03 - All purpose flour.
02:04 - Rice flour.
02:05 - Corn starch. - Corn starch here as well.
02:05 - Baking powder.
02:06 - Then I'm gonna pour a generous amount of breadcrumbs
02:09 into this other bowl.
02:10 Season breadcrumbs because they already have the seasoning
02:13 and the flavors that I want.
02:14 Basil, parsley.
02:15 - Some oregano.
02:16 Old bay seasoning's just the best seasoning on the planet.
02:19 - Salt, pepper, garlic.
02:21 - Which is probably the next best.
02:22 - And then a little bit of black pepper, freshly cracked.
02:26 Everything gets whisked together.
02:28 Bam.
02:29 - I have to frost my calamari rings.
02:31 They're gonna go right into the egg mixture.
02:33 Gonna give them a nice toss.
02:35 - This wet batter I'm making is a little bit of a play
02:37 on fish and chips.
02:38 Instead of the beer, I'm gonna be using seltzer instead.
02:41 I wanna make sure that I don't over mix this
02:43 just to prevent any extra formation of gluten.
02:46 - All right, first things first is straining the calamari.
02:49 - So now that these are all coated in the egg,
02:51 I'm just gonna quickly add them into--
02:54 - Flour mix. - Breadcrumbs.
02:56 I just want these fully covered by the breadcrumb
02:58 and I don't wanna see any white from the rings
03:02 so that when I fry it,
03:03 it gets that nice golden brown color all around.
03:05 These are all ready to hit the fryer.
03:06 - I'm using a Dutch oven here.
03:08 So first thing I'm gonna do here
03:09 is gonna strain the squid from the buttermilk
03:11 and then I'm gonna go ahead and pat it dry
03:12 on some paper towels.
03:13 Do not forget to season your protein.
03:16 Just dredging in a thin layer of cornstarch to make it dry
03:20 before I dunk it into the batter.
03:21 This frying process is gonna be very quick
03:23 so I wanna make sure I keep a close eye on it.
03:25 - So I'm gonna pan fry my calamari in some hot oil.
03:28 I like this method because it's really easy, it's quick.
03:32 May not be the healthiest,
03:33 but it's gonna give me that nice crunch
03:34 that I want in a fried calamari.
03:36 - If you're gonna pan fry something that has batter on it,
03:38 the batter is gonna be drooping down on one side
03:40 so you're gonna end up having more batter
03:42 on one side than the other.
03:43 - Let's get these into the fryer.
03:44 Give it a little bit of a shake so it's not overly dusty.
03:47 Calamari in the deep fryer basket.
03:50 Deep fryer basket now goes into the oil.
03:53 When you initially put stuff in, tons of bubbles.
03:58 - What I'm looking for is, you know,
04:00 a nice golden brown color.
04:01 All right, so I'm just gonna flip these rings.
04:04 - So this looks like it's ready to go.
04:06 I'm gonna pull this right now.
04:07 I'm gonna let this rest in the refrigerator
04:09 for about 10 minutes.
04:10 - Five, four, three, two, one, okay.
04:14 Bang.
04:15 - I'm gonna get these onto a wire rack now.
04:18 Hit 'em with a little bit of salt.
04:19 - They smell like fried golden rings of goodness.
04:22 There's no other way to describe them.
04:24 I'm so excited.
04:25 My calamari's all fried up.
04:26 - Calamari are fried.
04:28 Back from the fridge.
04:29 I'm gonna drop it into the fryer one last time
04:31 to make sure the exterior is super crispy.
04:33 The second fry, we are trying to aim
04:35 for a higher temperature than the first fry,
04:37 so I'm gonna go ahead and remove the small fins here.
04:39 They feel super crispy and they're the thinnest meat.
04:42 The head and the tentacles.
04:44 And the last piece I'll be pulling out is the body.
04:48 Salt immediately.
04:50 - So there's really nothing worse than dried calamari
04:52 'cause you have to have it with a dipping sauce.
04:54 I'm gonna be using a simple jarred marinara,
04:56 but I'm gonna jazz it up, make it fancier.
04:58 - I respect the jar, John, 'cause doing the same thing.
05:02 - So I'm gonna be making a yuzu aioli
05:04 with a touch of a little Old Bay
05:06 to give it that little twist.
05:08 - Woo.
05:10 - So I'm gonna start by cutting up some of this fresh dill.
05:14 - An egg.
05:15 - Crack it and separate the whites from the yolk.
05:18 So I'm gonna be just adding a little bit of mustard to this.
05:20 Incorporate the mustard with the egg yolk.
05:23 - I'm just gonna add some crushed red pepper
05:24 for a little heat.
05:25 Some crushed garlic.
05:27 And then last but not least,
05:29 some fresh basil from the store.
05:31 This smells so good.
05:33 Like this smells like my childhood.
05:35 Stir this up.
05:36 - Cut this lemon in half.
05:39 Throw the juice in here.
05:40 - So I've got some vegan mayo here.
05:42 Me and mayonnaise don't really get along in my tum tum.
05:45 - And once I have this,
05:46 I'm gonna start to pour in the oil very slowly.
05:48 I'm using here yuzu juice to loosen up the mayonnaise.
05:52 Add a little bit of sugar,
05:53 add a little bit of salt here as well.
05:55 And also I'm just adding a little bit of Old Bay here.
05:57 Hitting all the different spots, salty, sweet, spicy.
06:01 - So I'm gonna let all the flavors melt together.
06:03 And in the meantime, I'm gonna slice up my lemon
06:05 for an additional garnish.
06:06 You know, a squeeze of lemon just adds a little citrus,
06:08 a little brightness.
06:09 - The sauce, I really just wanna get it hot,
06:12 get those flavors melded together.
06:15 Okay, let's taste this out.
06:17 - Bang, quick and easy.
06:18 - I think it's ready to go.
06:19 - I feel very happy.
06:20 - Plating time.
06:23 - This calamari looks great.
06:25 Some of the rings are perfectly coated all over,
06:29 nice and thick, look great.
06:30 Whereas others didn't do as well, but that's okay.
06:34 Once you eat them, they all taste the same, so.
06:36 - My little bowl of sauce is gonna go onto the plate.
06:38 I'm gonna pile all the calamari around it
06:41 like they're waiting to climb in and jump into that sauce.
06:44 - One of my big pet peeves is having something super crispy
06:47 and then introducing a liquid on top of it,
06:49 which is gonna make it all soggy.
06:50 So here, I'm gonna be adding the yuzu zest.
06:52 It's gonna add that nice acidic pungency.
06:54 I'm gonna use this aioli as my base to work around.
06:57 Here, I got my ears, let's create some body here.
07:00 And then I'm gonna take my big pieces
07:02 and I'm gonna finish this with the tentacles and the head.
07:06 - Last one on the plate.
07:08 I have my seasoned marinara sauce, gorgeous.
07:13 And then last but not least, lemon wedge.
07:16 - Couple slices of lemon,
07:18 add a little bit more yuzu zest on top.
07:20 - And this is my fried calamari
07:21 with a marinara dipping sauce.
07:22 - And that is my fried calamari.
07:25 - And that is my fried calamari with a yuzu mayo.
07:35 - I was able to achieve this beautiful brown,
07:37 crispy crust on this calamari.
07:39 - It looks like something you'd get
07:41 while you're sitting on the beach,
07:42 looking out, watching the waves crash.
07:44 - So the first thing I'm gonna do before I eat these
07:46 is hit it with some lemon. - Slice a lemon.
07:47 - I am so excited to try these out, let's go.
07:50 - Into the sauce. - Moment of truth.
07:52 - That is really good.
07:57 - Crunchy, chewy, flavorful.
08:01 - The inside is perfectly cooked,
08:02 nice and tender from the buttermilk.
08:04 - The acid in the mayo is cutting all the fat out.
08:07 - All in a day's work, that's delicious.
08:09 - I think this is a winner.
08:11 - Calamari is a delicious, often fried seafood dish
08:14 with lots of options for preparation.
08:16 Let's see how each of our three chefs made theirs.
08:19 Calamari is made from squid,
08:24 a cephalopod in the phylum mollusk.
08:26 Squid are carnivores with large eyes
08:28 and arms attached directly to their heads.
08:31 They have extremely thin muscle fibers
08:33 with proteins that contract when heated,
08:35 so cooking them properly is essential
08:38 to avoiding rubbery calamari.
08:39 John used frozen calamari rings.
08:42 The hood is trimmed, scored, and put through a machine
08:45 that cuts it into rings.
08:46 They're then flash frozen and bagged for convenience.
08:49 Daniel used fresh squid that required cleaning
08:52 before being cut into rings.
08:53 Sometimes when you're working with fresh fish,
08:56 you'll find some surprises,
08:57 like part of the animal's cartilage or a rogue tentacle.
09:01 Taka used a whole, fresh reef squid.
09:03 Scoring the hood makes the squid more tender
09:06 and gives it a nice shape as it's fried.
09:08 Taka was careful not to waste any part of the squid.
09:11 John used store-bought commercial breadcrumbs.
09:17 They contain a lengthy list of preservatives,
09:19 dough conditioners, and anti-molding agents.
09:22 Although they are crispy, the particle size is small
09:25 and they tend to make a thinner crust.
09:27 Daniel soaked his rings in almond milk
09:29 and dipped them in a mixture of seasoned starches,
09:31 which included Old Bay seasoning,
09:33 a favorite to use with any seafood.
09:35 Taka soaked his squid in buttermilk
09:38 and then was careful to thoroughly dry his squid
09:40 before seasoning it.
09:41 He made a batter for his squid from a blend of starches,
09:44 baking powder, and seltzer water.
09:46 The effervescence of the seltzer
09:48 and the formation of carbon dioxide from the baking powder
09:51 added a tender quality to Taka's batter.
09:54 John pan-fried their calamari,
09:59 but John had some trouble with the breading.
10:01 It didn't adhere well to the wet squid.
10:03 The excess water steamed when he put his squid
10:06 in the hot oil and his breading fell apart a bit.
10:09 Daniel fried in hot vegetable oil.
10:11 Taka did a double fry method,
10:13 cooling his calamari in between fries.
10:16 The first fry lightly cooks the fish.
10:18 Cooling in between means it will not become tough
10:20 from overcooking and mitigates for differences
10:23 in temperature as the squid comes out of the hot oil.
10:26 The second frying makes the breading
10:28 on the calamari extremely crispy.
10:31 All three chefs rested and seasoned their calamari
10:34 immediately after frying, while the heat of the fish
10:37 and coating are prime for seasoning that adheres perfectly.
10:40 Calamari is a delicious appetizer, lunch, dinner,
10:44 late night snack, tasty and satisfying
10:46 any time of the day or night.
10:48 When you're thinking of making this delicious dish,
10:50 we hope you'll take some tips from our three talented chefs.
10:54 (chime)