Find out shop for fresh calamari.
The mild flavor and delicate texture of calamari, the Italian name for squid, often comes as a shock to new consumers of the odd looking sea creature. Seafood connoisseurs are often drawn back to the cephalopod for its taste, low cost and abundance. Calamari is also simple to prepare, requiring only a couple of minutes of cook time. However, calamari only keeps for two days before it should be cooked or frozen. If you're interested in cooking calamari at home, there are several factors to consider to ensure that your calamari is fresh and ready for consumption.
Buying Direct
Visit your local port landing to find calamari freshly trawled from the ocean. Trawlers, ships that drag the ocean floor with heavy nets, bring in a varied catch of seafood and are the best approach for catching large quantities of calamari. You can generally find markets set up at the landings to sell the day's catch from fishing vessels. Visit the market at your local landing to find out what days the trawlers go out and what time they come in. You can also talk directly with the fishermen to find out how often they net calamari and in what quantities.
Ordering Online or Over the Phone
Order squid online or over the phone to get it delivered to your address. Calamari isn't found in freshwater. However, seafood shipping services offer a reliable option for getting fresh squid to customers hundreds of miles away from the ocean. Some seafood shipping companies will freeze their calamari to maintain its freshness, but many others offer overnight solutions to provide their customers with fresh and unfrozen product. Before ordering fresh calamari online or over the phone, ensure that they ship the calamari precleaned and unfrozen.
Scrutinizing Calamari for Freshness
Smell the cephlopod to get a general idea of how fresh it is. Like most other seafood, calamari should only give off a very faint "fishy" smell. Pass up on any squid that has a strong fishy smell. Check the body of the squid for a bit of firmness, soft and discolored flesh indicates that the squid's fresh is near or past expiration.
Considerations
Check that the clean is cleaned before purchasing it. Purchasing cleaned squid will cut time in preparation, seeing that the cephlopod only last two days before it spoils. If you don't foresee yourself being able to cook the squid within a day of purchasing it, consider freezing it. Freezing will take away a bit of the squid's freshness and texture, but it'll enable you to store your calamari longer if you can't get around to cooking it when you planned. Frozen squid will maintain its freshness between three and six months.
Tags: days before, ensure that, fishy smell, fresh calamari, from ocean, landing find, maintain freshness
