Call It Squid

Doryteuthis opalescens, aka loligo or market squid, is a great catch. These small pinkish-white cephalopods with their arrow-tailed bodies and crown of tiny tentacles are tender, full of flavor, nutritious, and quite economical. They are also local, as they come from a near-shore Monterey Bay fishery where squid has been an important local industry since the 1860s.

The fishery is subject to strict management by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to ensure steady squid populations and minimal impact on the marine ecosystem with its full array of marine life and seabirds. The healthy numbers and sustainable fishing practices help rate Monterey Bay market squid as a solid green (sustainable seafood) choice.

But that “green” rating might lose its luster if you are buying already cleaned squid tubes. Per Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch information, a significant percentage of the catch is shipped to Asia to be cleaned and returned to the States as frozen calamari for consumer convenience. It’s a shocking thought for sustainable food advocates, but your squid can skip the carbon-producing journey if you buy whole wild-caught California market squid and clean them yourself. It is easy, if a bit messy, and if you have any budding biologists at home, those kids (or even grown-ups) might love squirting out the ink and digging for the gladius as mine always did.

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How to clean calamari

1. If you have never had a whole market squid on your cutting board, study it first. Feel with your finger around the opening where the tube meets the head.
2. Wiggle the head free and pull it off in one fell swoop.
3. As the head comes off, it will pull the innards out behind it. Set the head and innards aside.
4. Check inside the tube for the gladius (a thin plasticky thing). Pull it out and discard.
5. Leave the fins on the tube or tear them off and set aside to use in the dish.
6. The skin easily peels off the tube if you want to remove it, but it’s perfectly edible. Rinse the tube and set aside.
7. Next, lay the head flat on a cutting board and feel for the spot where the tentacles come together on the head. Cut right at that spot to keep the tiny crown of tentacles intact.
8. Note: If you want to harvest the ink, hold the head over a bowl, pierce it, and squeeze out the ink. Each head won’t yield much, but ink from a whole batch of squid might add up to enough for a nice squid ink risotto.
9. Find the beak, a tiny-but-hard piece in the center of the crown. Pick it out and discard it.
10. Tentacles, fins, and tubes are what we want to eat!