If instead of raw, you buy it already precooked, it will be ready to eat or ready to use in your recipes. This is a great option if you're not quite sure how to prepare it, as it's very important to cook it to perfection, and getting it right can be complicated if you don't have a lot of experience.
Octopus can be eaten raw (alive, even, assuming you don't find that inherently cruel), and it can also be prepared using quick-cooking methods like sautéing, though it's riskier to do that than with, say, squid, a related animal that starts out much more tender.
The smoked octopus can even be a new kind of product, ready to eat, being commercialized as a snack to be added, for example, to salads.
You can find frozen octopus tentacles already cooked. After processing, the octopus tentacles are cooked and graded by size, packed individually on a tray, and finally frozen.
Companies pre-cook octopus often because it is easier for chefs and home cooks to manage it. When you buy octopus raw or whole you will have to cook the octopus, remove its head, remove the beak, and then prepare each tentacle the way you want to eat it.
Check with the sharp point of a thin-bladed knife; when it meets little resistance, the octopus is done.
Gently boil the octopus for about 15-20 minutes per pound of octopus, testing the texture with a fork every 10-15 minutes until it has become fully tender and ready to serve.
Octopus muscles are full of collagen and they release a lot of gelatin, which if not drawn out from the muscles can leave the octopus rubbery and gelatinous. Use more water than you need to draw out as much of the excess gelatin as possible.
How do you cook frozen raw octopus? To cook frozen raw octopus, add the octopus to boiling water (without salt). Once the water comes back to a boil, cook for 15 minutes, uncovered, on medium heat for a 2-pound octopus. Then allow to rest off the heat for 15 to 20 minutes with the pot covered.
When raw, octopus tastes faintly like the sea. It is not fishy; instead, it has a slightly salty and sweet flavor. But this flavor is so mild that some people will say that an octopus does not have its own flavor. For this reason, it is common for people to use dips and sauces to make the raw octopus tastier.
Is octopus really chewy? 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.
Tenderising the octopus:
The best thing you can do is to take a rounded wooden stick (or a meat pounder) and to beat it hard, for about 10 minutes, on its the head (the area around the eyes) and on the tentacles all their way long. This operation will stretch the fibres and make the meat tender.
So try this instead. Blanch the unbrined octopus arms for 30 seconds in boiling water, cook them in a covered dry pan in a 200-degree oven for four or five hours or until tender, and cool them slowly in their own juices.
"It's not recommended. There's a choking hazard predominantly from the suckers getting stuck to the inside the throat, leading to the octopus causing an obstruction." In April 2010, a South Korean woman collapsed and stopped breathing after eating a live octopus, and died in hospital 16 days later.
If your octopuses are small enough and your pan is hot enough, you can keep the bodies whole, but I usually slice up the head and the tentacles to prevent overcooking.
The meat is very white with a nice, firm texture. If prepared correctly, it is not tough or chewy, but actually quite tender. To me, they taste kind of “scallopy” and “crabby” at the same time, and can be served in cold dishes as well as hot preparations.
Let octopus cool in the cooking water. Drain, wrap in plastic or store in an airtight container, and refrigerate until chilled. (Chilling helps set the skin so it doesn't fall off later, so it's good to do even if you're planning to serve the octopus warm.)
All parts of a fully eviscerated octopus are edible, and the tentacles are the most tender. The raw meat is cream-colored with a hint of pink. Once cooked, the meat is firm with full-bodied flavor.
Steam with a closed lid for about 20 minutes. Pierce the thickest part of the Fremantle Octopus with the help of a sharp paring knife or toothpick. If it goes through without much resistance, your Fremantle Octopus is cooked. Otherwise, cook for another 5 minutes and test again.
Octopus is rich in many essential vitamins and minerals, making it an ideal choice for your seafood palette. Specifically, a serving of octopus is high in vitamin B12, potassium, iron, magnesium, and certain fatty acids.
Our fully cooked octopus is a great addition to almost any type of salad, whether leafy greens, chopped tomato and onion, or citrus. Serve it cold or sear briefly to heat through and give a pleasant caramelization to the surface. Octopus appears in salads in many cuisines, so you can adapt to your liking.
Blanch the octopus: After thawing in the fridge for a day or so, bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil. Do not salt. Once the water is boiling hard, place the octopus in the pot, cover, and return to a boil.
When the oil is hot, add the onion, garlic, bay leaves and smoked paprika and cook for 2 minutes. Add the whole octopus and some sea salt and black pepper. Put the lid on and cook for 1 hour, or until the octopus is tender. To check, insert a knife into a tentacle; it should cut through with ease.