In my memory, these three tastes are very similar. After cooking, they are all white and very Q-bomb.
Until one day, I bought my own squid and cooked it myself, only to find that it was still translucent and unfamiliar after being fried for a long time. Something seems to be wrong.
Let's walk into these mollusks today and find out.
Squid, octopus and cuttlefish are all mollusks, and they all have tentacles and suckers.
Even if it is cooked, it tastes similar.
There are many kinds of octopus and squid, big and small. When the whiskers of the big squid and the feet of the small octopus were cut off and looked at, they couldn't even tell who was who.
But if we look at squid, octopus and cuttlefish from a local perspective, the difference is still quite obvious.
Squid's body wrapped in internal organs is tubular, and its feet are on the top of its head. We mainly eat tubular bodies (cut into squid rings or squid flowers) and squid whiskers.
On the other hand, octopus usually eats stout feet.
It takes several hours to cook the tough fiber of octopus, so there is a story of cooking octopus for an hour in Japanese high-end cuisine, and it is kneaded until it is soft.
In Korea, eating live octopus is also very popular, and the octopus is still moving in its mouth. In order to avoid suffocation caused by octopus sucker sucking in trachea, the safest way is to chew 100 times before swallowing, and then swallow without talking.
Cuttlefish is even different. On the one hand, we use its ink to make black food such as cuttlefish noodles and often eat cuttlefish larvae. The little one is very cute.
These mollusks are all aquatic foods, which meet the basic characteristics of high protein and low fat.
Among them, the cholesterol content of squid is relatively high, which is why many people dare not eat more squid.
However, just looking at a cholesterol data is not enough to evaluate whether it is healthy, and we need to judge it from more latitudes.
? Too much cholesterol in the body does increase the risk of atherosclerosis. Cholesterol mainly comes from the body's own synthesis, and cholesterol in food is a secondary supplement. Therefore, the World Health Organization has lifted the restriction on cholesterol intake.
? Although the cholesterol of squid looks high, the overall fat content is still very low. Compared with brain flowers, bone marrow and other foods, squid is more friendly to people with hyperlipidemia.
? The absorption rate of cholesterol is only about 30%.
Where there is no fresh squid, it is common to find dried squid and water-borne squid soaked in dried squid and restored to soft state.
Dried squid is hard. Soak in water for a few hours, it will still be chewy after cooking, so it needs to be soaked in alkaline water.
Alkaline water refers to the aqueous solution of soda ash, also called soda ash, and its chemical name is sodium carbonate (Na2CO3).
Squid soaked in alkaline water will become softer and thicker, very, very close to fresh squid, but the color will be slightly red.
However, some businesses are more eager for quick success and instant benefit, and will continue to add quicklime to alkaline water to make more alkaline caustic soda solution for foaming. The main component is sodium hydroxide (NaOH), which is very corrosive.
Soaking squid in this caustic soda solution makes the finished product swell bigger and heavier, but it is easy to rot and unhealthy after cooking.
At one time, some unscrupulous merchants even soaked squid in formalin to keep it fresh for a long time. After so many years, preservation and cold chain technologies have become more and more developed, and backward and harmful food preservation methods have gradually withdrawn from the market.
I have to say that life is much better now than before.
To sum up, eating fresh squid, octopus and cuttlefish is of course the best.
If you really don't have it, you can also use squid soaked in alkaline water, but you should pay special attention to choosing regular manufacturers to avoid buying inferior squid to avoid damaging your health.
When eating out, try to choose restaurants with high-quality ingredients, while very cheap buffet hot pots and street food stalls are the hardest hit areas with inferior ingredients, which need special attention.
Cooking by yourself, it is recommended to buy products packaged and produced by regular manufacturers. Farmers' markets should be carefully selected, carefully observed and sniffed, and strive to eliminate abnormal chemical tastes and distinguish between good and bad.
If you buy dried squid and soak it yourself, you can eat it by soaking it in a scientific way:
? Soak in clear water for 2 hours;
? 2000 grams of clean water, 10 gram of soda ash, mixed with five thousandths of alkaline water;
? Soak in alkaline water for 4 hours.
When we live in cities for a long time, away from fields, lakes and beaches, and faced with a lot of food, we no longer know their original appearance or even their real taste.
However, in order to protect health and enjoy real food, we need to try our best to taste food and improve our appreciation ability. Let yourself become a person who has the pursuit and attention to ingredients, and you can avoid minefields to the maximum extent.
When you have tasted real ingredients and come across risky food, your picky taste buds will be the first to know that it will protect you.
References:
Li Juan, Chen Bin, You Jingjing, Yang Guo. Investigation on the background value of formaldehyde content in aquatic products [J]. Modern Food, 2018 (24):190-196.
Qu, Chen Xinjun, Chen Shunsheng. Research progress of squid processing and utilization technology in China [J]. Journal of Shanghai Ocean University, 2019,28 (03): 357-364.
[3] Qin. Literature collation and contemporary value research of Zhoushan fishery and fishery culture in the Republic of China [D]. Zhejiang Ocean University, 20 19.
[4]. China Nutrition Society "China Food Composition Table" Volume II.