Sous vide octopus for maximum tenderness
A few years ago I had a delicious 15-hour slow-cooked (then charred) octopus at a japanese restaurant in New York. The flesh was moist and tender without being gelatinous, and I could sense the layers in the tissue as I bit through it.
I've been trying to replicate the process using a sous-vide cooker, with very limited success as my results have invariably produced rubbery octopus.
As even food mega-nerd Harold McGee noted in a New York Times column, the recipes for tender octopus vary tremendously, and even his quest continues.
My instinct is that sous-vide is a good approach here. The sous vide recipes vary, but generally recommend ranges of 170-185F for 3 to 7 hours.
I've tried variants of these (with medium, fresh octopus, bought whole, cleaned and done one leg per bag), but with invariably rubbery results.
Question:
Is it possible to get reasonably consistent, moist/tender, medium sized octopus legs using sous-vide cooking?
- If so, what preparation/setting is recommended?
- If not, what are the factors which make this so damn hard?
Best Answer
Keller does octopus sous vide. I believe there is a recipe in his Under Pressure cookbook, but I don't have it at this location. I did a search on the web and came up with 77C (170.6 F) for 5 hours.
Personally, I have had the best results with the oven method in your McGee Link.
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Quick Answer about "Sous vide octopus for maximum tenderness"
Sous Vide Octopus is the easiest and fail-proof method to cookDoes octopus get more tender the longer you cook it?
Cook until octopus is tender enough that you can pierce the thick part of a tentacle with a paring knife with little resistance, about 1 hour; keep in mind that this time is a rough estimate, and the octopus may be done sooner or it may take longer, but it will get there. Let octopus cool in the cooking water.How do you make an octopus more tender?
Salting is essential to tenderness, or fatal; brief dips in boiling water tenderize, or long slow cooling, or a rubbing with grated daikon, or the addition of a wine cork to the cooking liquid. Last week I stumbled on a Greek food scientist's report that small amounts of vinegar tenderize octopus. A solid lead at last!What temp do you sous vide octopus?
To achieve the best results with cooking octopus sous vide, we recommend following Thomas Keller's lead from his book, Under Pressure, and cooking at 170.6\xb0F (77\xb0C) for 5 hours.How do I stop my octopus from being rubbery?
Octopus is much like squid: If you keep the cooking time minimal, under five minutes or so, you get a chewy but not unpleasant texture; this is a good technique for octopus salad or sushi. But for most preparations, long, slow cooking, which yields a tender texture, is best.Sous Vide OCTOPUS Experiment - AKA Pulpo!
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Answer 2
I also tried different sous vide strategies. I get the best results with 4 hours at 82celcius. Remember to leave the octopus in the warm water to cool down slowly. The octopus seems to take in extracted moist in this process. If really like to create a Thai flavoured marinade that in this cooling process creates an intense flavour.
Answer 3
It'll sound a bit dramatic but it works because of some basic biology. Cut off the body of the occy so then you have a "fan" of legs. Cut through between the legs making pairs of legs still conjoined. Cut vegie peeler strips from a cut, still green, papaya ( or paw paw) one thin strip for each pair of legs. Place the cut pairs of legs in the sous vide bag and intersperse the pairs with the strips of papaya (or pawpaw). Seal the bag and sous vide at 72 degrees C for 3 hours. Finally remove the pairs of legs and wash them to remove traces of the fruit. Now grill, slice, saute, whatever you might wish and there you are. Biology? The fruit has a natural enzyme - papain which partially breaks down some of the protein tissues of the occy. Method also works for large squid which can also be quite tough. Don't overdo the time/temp though as the papain can, over time turn the whole occy to mush. Also, take care with storage as there is a bacterium on the surface of such animals - vibrio which can cause both rotting and stomach upsets in quantity. If you wish to keep the occy longer term either freeze in fresh bags without the fruit or before sous vide drop the occy legs into rolling boil water for a minute with stirring to ensure full surface exposure before sous vide.
Answer 4
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