
I first became aware of squid through the classic Disney movie 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. In the movie, the squid does not look very appetizing.
In fourth grade, I disected a squid. This happened outside on the blacktop next to the playground instead of in a classroom, presumably to minimize the mess. I only remember that the squid had a beak, which I washed and took home with me for unknown reasons.
Somewhere along the line, I grew to love fried calamari. As a rule, anything fried is delicious, but squid has a texture that stands up to the thick crispness of the batter. I also grew to enjoy sautéed squid in vegetable dishes, albeit not as eagerly as I did the fried calamari.
For my sophomore year of high school, I became a vegetarian. This had something to do with proving my strength of will to myself, and when, after a year or so, I decided my point had been made, I stopped. In the meantime, I spent two weeks in Taiwan learning Mandarin. All the people given the task of feeding me were flummoxed by my vegetarianism, since even most Chinese vegetable dishes have a little meat in them. Because I was a pesco-ovo-lacto-vegetarian, however, I was served a lot of squid. By the end of the trip, I had sworn it off entirely, with the exception of my first love, fried calamari.
A couple months ago, when visiting Caleb and dining at a Thai restaurant, I made a startling discovery. Not only did I like scallops after years of disdain for them, but my taste buds had forgiven squid and welcomed them back to the gastronomical fold.
Two nights ago, we had Chinese fondue. This consists of a broth simmering in a fondue pot in the middle of the table and various raw ingredients to cook at one’s own discretion, before dunking into a mixture of soy sauce and egg and eating. One of these raw ingredients was squid, but we didn’t finish it all. Knowing that it wouldn’t last long in the fridge, I searched for a recipe in which to use it, and was delighted to finally have an opportunity to cook from Saveur. I love Saveur, with its fancy European spelling, its beautiful photography, its less conventional approach to food writing. It’s not that practical, though. Most of the recipes are pretty esoteric, requiring special ingredients and tools and looking like something from another world. Which is, of course, part of its appeal.
When my usual go-to sources failed me, however, I found that a catalogue of unusual recipes was perfectly suited to an unusual ingredient. This dish involves simmering the squid for a longer period of time, which is the only alternative to cooking it very quickly, and I found it tender and juicy at the end. I only had 1/4 pound of squid to begin with, so I reduced a lot of the ingredients. I wish I had reduced the amount of jalapeños much more than I did. I had initially intended to leave them out entirely, but I found a small can of jalapeños in the pantry. Stupidly, I added the whole can. It’s a feat of the dish’s tastiness that it was still edible. I ended up picking out all the peppers, but it was still unbelievably hot.
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