Instructions
Don’t put too much stock in first impressions. It has oft been noted that things aren’t always what they seem.
There was a time that I thought I could recreate my youth in tight leather pants and ruffled shirt. On initial listening it seemed that the Backstreet Boys just might have found a definingly cool new groove. And who wasn’t taken in by the thought that Mark Latham might have all his faculties intact.
Ah, bitter disappointment.
But not all misapprehensions need fill us with regret. Take cuttlefish for example.
All too often you’ll find squid, calamari and cuttlefish lumped together as one broad ingredient, as if to suggest that their uniqueness exists in name alone. Now there’s a first impression that deserves re-assessment. To suggest such commonality ignores the crucial truth that it is the subtle nuances of food that can make it special.
Cuttlefish have a creamy, softness to their texture and a rich, buttery flavour, far more than their evolutionary cousins. They lack the briny aftertaste of squid and calamari, and don’t toughen as much when cooked. Physiologically cuttlefish differentiate them selves by their cuttlebone, a porous calcium-rich shard inside their carapace which they can vary in density to create buoyancy under water.
Like all cephalopods cuttlefish are best bough fresh, not frozen, although you’ll usually find them pre-cleaned at most fishmongers. You then need to make a choice, fast or slow. The cooking I mean. Flash-fried is great, but so too is braising and gently cooking in oil. It’s like the French technique of confit. It both tenderises and preserves.
But even with all these differences noted, if you can’t tell them apart don’t be too alarmed. Cuttlefish are undersea charlatans who ply their trade by imitation. These impostors have a photochromic skin that enables them to change their appearance and colour at will to hide, hunt and deceive.
Told you that things aren’t always what they seem.
Casarecce with cuttlefish and beans/