Octopus

Octopus
Octopus is a Cephalopod, just as is a squid. A Cephalopod has tentacles and ink sacs.

There are many different species, all of which live in warm water. There's a Dwarf Octopus, which is 4 inches long (10 cm), the Californian Octopus, which is less than an inch long (2.5 cm) , and the Giant Pacific Octopus, that can span more than 30 feet (9 metres). One, the Blue Ringed Octopus off Australia, has a poison that is deadly to humans.

All Octopuses have 8 arms. If one arm comes off, it will grow another. They have two eyes, one on each side of the head. They have very good eyesight, but no hearing. They have 3 hearts. The arms are often popularly referred to as "tentacles", though technically only a squid has tentacles.

An Octopus digs a den, dragging stones or shells in behind it to close off the entrance for safety. It comes out at night to hunt prey. If feeds on mollusks and crustaceans; an Octopus particularly loves crab and lobster. It grabs its prey with its arms. The suckers on the arms provide it with a death grip while it bites its prey with its sharp beak, injecting it with a paralysing poison. Then, with its mouth, it sucks out the flesh.

To defend itself, an Octopus can adjust its skin colour to fit in better with surroundings. It will release ink to confuse the water to allow escape from a predator.

Female Octopuses won't eat until their eggs hatch. Given that the eggs take up to 50 days to hatch, and that up to 150,000 eggs will have been laid, you can see why many female Octopuses die of starvation.

When sold whole, an Octopus has usually already been cleaned and had the beak removed. You can buy it fresh or frozen, but usually it's shipped frozen, because it degrades quickly, and isn't valuable enough to justify air shipment.

The Spanish are both the top producers and consumers in Europe. The Japanese have more than half the world's catch.

Cooking Tips
Will go from tender to tough back to tender again during cooking.

If handling live Octopus, wear rubber leaves as they can bite (though some can bit right through gloves). To clean, cut off the top of the head, scoop out the inside of the head and discard that inside stuff. Cut the mouth (called the "beak") off. Chop tentacles off from the head. Cook both the tentacles and the head. When cooked, Octopus turns a deep red outside, but white inside. The flesh has a rubbery texture.

There are many different ways to approach cooking it.

Firstly, like squid, you have to either barely cook it or really cook it -- anything in between results in tire rubber. You can cook it a short time, meaning 5 minutes and under -- no more, unless you are prepared to go all the way. The Japanese approach it both ways: cook lightly and use as sashimi or cook for a long time.

Many cultures have different ways to make Octopus tender. The Spaniards cook them in copper pots or in pots with copper coins in them. The Italians put a few corks in, as in corks from wine bottles. No one can give a reason for this, but as tender Octopus can be cooked with or without corkscrews, this appears to be a relatively recent folklore practice -- after all, wine bottle corks haven't even existed that long, if you think about it. This folklore practice is even advised by the FAO: "...put one or two clean bottle-corks in the cooking water (remove them before serving!)" [South Pacific Commission "South Pacific Foods". FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). Leaflet No. 18 - 1992. ISSN 1018-0966]

The Greeks beat the poor things on rocks. Some Americans use more advanced tools -- putting the Octopus through the wringers of an old-style washing machine, or tossing the Octopus into a front-loading washing machine for a few cycles (the top-loaders are reportedly a bit too vigorous). Many people pound it with a mallet.

None of these techniques are really necessary. Long, slow cooking should always deliver tender results. The usual mistake with Octopus, in fact, is to go overboard and overcook it, which dries it out. The average simmering time should be about an hour for a one pound (450g) Octopus, two hours for a four pound (1.8kg) Octopus, but that will vary. The best way to tell is to treat it like a potato: poke it with a knife and when it's ready it should feel as soft to the knife as a potato would. Don't simmer past that. You may see the word "boiling" used, but what is meant is simmering. Whatever is done with the Octopus afterwards, whether it is used for pasta, grilling, etc, it always needs to be simmered first.

Baby Octopus especially doesn't need tenderizing and is fine with very brief cooking.

To serve 4 people, allow two to three pounds (1 to 1.5 kilos), cleaned.

The ink sacs can be used to add a dark colour to foods.

Substitutes
Squid. Other seafood such as Scallops.

Nutrition
Per 3 oz (85g), cooked by simmering: 140 calories, 25g protein, 4g carbohydrate, 1.7g fat.

Storage
Store fresh Octopus in the fridge in a tightly sealed container, and cook within a day of purchase, or freeze for up to two months. Store leftover cooked Octopus in a sealed container in the fridge, and use within 3 days.

Language Notes
The Romans never used the word "Octopus"; Octopus was a word made up in the 15th or 16th century by scientists to classify the creature. It was derived from Classical Greek, with "octo" meaning 8 and "pus" (also "pod") meaning foot. The supposed plural, "Octopi", came about as an error from people supposing it was a Latin word. In theory, given that it's a word derived from Greek, the plural should actually be "octopodes". Fowler, in his "Guide to Modern English" will have nothing to do with either Octopi or Octopodes. He says the plural is Octopuses.

The Roman word was actually "Polypus". That you can safely pluralize as Polypi.

Also called: Octopus dofleini, Octopus vulgaris (Scientific Name) Poulpe (French) Krake (German) Polpo (Italian) Pulpo (Spanish) Polypus (Roman)