What Is Calamari? 7 Things You Should Know About This Seafood

What is calamari? It’s a type of seafood typically served fried, boiled, or grilled. People who are unfamiliar with it question if calamari is squid or octopus, but it’s another term for squid. It’s used in a variety of starters, salads, and main dishes and provides many essential nutrients. These are the seven things you should know about this seafood.

Why Is It Called Calamari and Not Squid?

According to Merriam-Webster, “calamari” came from the Latin root “calamus,” meaning “reed pen,” which fits given that squids eject black ink and live in the ocean. Also, the long, slender form of a squid is pen-shaped. The Latin word led to Italy’s use of calamari, a plural form of “calamaro.” Calamaro means grilled squid, which is one of the many ways Italians eat it.

What Parts Are Edible?

A squid has a head with a hard beak made up of jaws and a mouth, but it also has tentacles, innards, and a tube-shaped body, but only the tentacles and body are edible. Next to the liver is an ink sac, which contains the key ingredient in squid ink pasta.

How Do You Clean a Squid for Use?

Fishmongers do not always sell it cleaned, but cleaning and preparing squid is easy.

• Separate the head and innards from the body using a twisting motion while pulling the two sections apart.
• Remove the ink sac from the innards, if desired, and save it for squid ink pasta or stewed dishes.
• Use a sharp knife and slice the tentacles from the head ensuring that none of the hard, black beak remains, and set those aside. Tentacles are edible.
• Discard the head, including the beak, as this portion isn’t used.
• Check inside the body for any remaining innards, and pull out the hard translucent gladius with your fingers.
• Use the tips of your fingers and peel the speckled skin from the body.

Calamari Nutritional Facts

Calamari is a good source of several essential nutrients. The USDA reports that a 3-ounce serving contains:

• 13.3 grams of protein
• 0.3 grams of essential fatty acids
• 209 milligrams of potassium
• 38.1 milligrams of selenium
• 28 milligrams of magnesium
• 27.2 milligrams of calcium
• 0.58 milligrams of iron

How Do You Make Fried Calamari?

Fried calamari is a popular appetizer in restaurants around the U.S. Traditional calamari recipes dredge the rings and tentacles in seasoned flour before deep frying them, and cooks serve this dish with marinara sauce and lemon wedges.

Rhode Island-style calamari recipes also dredge the rings and tentacles in seasoned flour, but cooks toss the fried seafood in melted butter, garlic, cherry peppers, and banana peppers, and plate it with lemon wedges.

What Are Other Popular Ways to Prepare Calamari?

While fried calamari is popular in the U.S., cooks use it in many different ways around the world. Throughout the world, stuffings made of cheese or ground meat fill the body cavity before it’s grilled over hot coals. In Malta, people stuff the squid’s body with a mixture of herbs, rice, chopped capers, and breadcrumbs and stew it in red wine. Spaniards stew rings and tentacles with chopped onions, tomatoes, herbs, and spices.

Head to Asia where the Japanese use this type of seafood raw in sushi and sashimi. Chinese stir fry it with a variety of vegetables and additions like black pepper, soy sauce, and black bean paste. Koreans preserve it in salt as an accompaniment to white rice. Filipino adobong pusit recipes simmer squid in soy sauce, vinegar, onions, tomatoes, garlic, sugar, squid ink, and black pepper.

What Does It Taste Like?

What does calamari taste like? This seafood doesn’t have a strong fishy flavor, instead, it’s more like scallops with a sweet, creamy taste. When cooked properly, it is not chewy and is very tender, but be warned that overcooking it makes it rubbery.