Octopus,bacon& leek .... thing?

moikel · Jul 18, 2013

I cant work out what it is yet. But the octopus was just to fine to walk past at the market. I was after sardines to make village style preserved under salt & weights then cleaned up & put under oil in jars.Sort of a poor mans anchovies.About a 5 week turn around.Got 5 kg,so got some work ahead of me tomorrow.They will sit whole in rock salt with chopped oranges ,lemons & bay leaf overnight.I will butterfly them tomorrow.

Anyway back to the big O's.

There is that classic Normandy mussels dish with leeks ,bacon,white wine & bits. I think thats the path I am headed down.I am using up the last batch of my speck as I have a new batch + 3 beef tongues to go into smoker over weekend.

I intend to use a lot of speck in this to get max smokey flavour. I might even swap the leek for fennel .I will work it out .

Pictures soon.

dirtsailor2003 · Jul 18, 2013

Mmm extra tentacles please!

moikel · Jul 18, 2013

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moikel
Jul 18, 2013

Thats it so far. These guys are Tasmanian so cold water to us. Best ones for my $ & best time of year to eat them. For you non O'pus eaters bear in mind these guys eat shellfish,scallop,clam etc,shrimp & fish so what do you reckon they taste like ?

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

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moikel
Jul 19, 2013

Speck & a clove of jumbo garlic.

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moikel
Jul 19, 2013

Cleaned O's not a lot of waste & easy to work with.

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moikel
Jul 19, 2013

Ready to simmer for 40 minutes or so.

It went like this.Fried speck cut big in EVO. Took it out put cut up O in ,I cut the legs it in 4 ,& the heads in 3. Turned that around in pan until it coloured up. Took it out put cut fennel bulb x1 + chopped fronds ,leek x 1 ,garlic,lots of cbp,NO SALT. Fried that off a bit then put everything back in with chicken stock & white wine. I will put a fair bit of chopped parsley in later.I thought about a few other additions but then decided to keep it simple.

I put the speck rind in as well. Its sort of a twist on surf & turf, maybe pen & reef

Certainly smells good

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

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moikel
Jul 19, 2013

Lovely colour,very tasty .Fennel was a good idea,very smokey,slightly sweet probably from the brown sugar in the bacon brine ,just got to add chopped parsley. Its definitely a keeper.I smoke what the chinese butchers sell as belly strip ,long bit about 2'x2 x 14'',with a bit of rib cartilage,soft bone to chinese.I then call it speck & use it chopped in all sorts of things.This dish I used it in biggish cubes.

I left out salt in the cooking because the O'pus throws a bit when cooking.

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

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moikel
Jul 19, 2013

Really nice plate of food

. If you are not an eater of O'pus its a little hard to explain.Its clean,whiter ,dense ,sweet flesh that takes flavour well. In this case the smoky flavour from my home made speck really set it off.Fennel & leek together was a good choice.Fennel with seafood a bit of a no brainer but its the season here,cold weather ,cold water the mussels/clams /octopus are at their best & fennel & leeks are winter veg.

Got plenty for lunch tomorrow.

Bearcarver · Jul 19, 2013

Wow!!! Another Awesome Moikel Meal !!!

Looks Great !!!

Bear

link · Jul 19, 2013

This looks fantastic to me. I love Octopus but have never ventured to buy and cook one. After this I just may.Thanks

chef willie · Jul 19, 2013

Looks interesting....may have to throw an O'pus in my next Cioppino

dirtsailor2003 · Jul 19, 2013

Looks Fantastic Mick! Every once and while we catch one here and they are tasty!

smoking b · Jul 19, 2013

I haven't had octopus in a long time & now I want some - yours looks great! Nice job

Bearcarver · Jul 19, 2013

In the movies, Octopus ate people.

Now people eat Octopus!!!

Bear

smokinhusker · Jul 19, 2013

Mick that looks great and I'd eat it any day of the week!!!!

r 12 · Jul 19, 2013

Never thought about eating one those.

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

Thank you for the kind words. They are good eating & you adjust methods to size.Smaller ones marinated & char grilled ,boiled & dressed,cold as salad,braised with chorizo & red wine. The list goes on. Very easy to clean.Really big guys are sold headless here maybe 3 kg in just the legs. But throw a lot of salt,so blanched first by a lot of cooks.

I suppose its what you are used to I know some folk on this forum who eat a few things that arent going to turn up at the supermarket anytime soon

.

These were 3 = 2kg & just the right size for that dish. At the market there were 4 different grades by size.

dirtsailor2003 · Jul 19, 2013

Mick I don't know a store anywhere near me that even has octopus! When I was in Hawaii I lives off octopi poke. The last one I caught we pickled half and smoked half. Super good!

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

link said:
This looks fantastic to me. I love Octopus but have never ventured to buy and cook one. After this I just may. Thanks

If you want me to post some "how to" shots for cleaning just let me know. Really quick & simple ,you can just cut the head off if you want.I gut them & use the head as well but thats me.

I dont profess to be an expert but I understand that they are a sustainable fishery here to the point where if we didnt eat them we would have trouble because of the amount of shellfish they eat.Real buggers for getting into lobster pots in the XL sizes. Inshore free divers or saltwater lake waders look for a pile of empty shells outside of their hidey holes.

At the market they throw them into a cement mixer with a couple of shovels of stones to tenderise thats why they always have their tentacles curled up. Way less work than banging against rocks by hand.

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

Bearcarver said:
In the movies, Octopus ate people.

Now people eat Octopus!!!

Bear

Glad to see you are on the mend. I learnt to make bacon from your thread so only fitting that it goes into an Octopus dish that you liked.

moikel · Jul 19, 2013

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moikel
Jul 19, 2013

One slow process,every year I swear thats it

no more cleaning little fish.Sure enough I see them in season & buy 5 kg

. layered salt ,sardine ,salt baking paper into lasagne trays(ceramic) then weights on top ,you get about 5 layers to a tray.Leave for 4 to 5 weeks in the cellar.Then wash in 50/50 water & vinegar ,dry then under oil with ,garlic,chilli,rosemary,preserved lemon rind.

thoseguys26 · Jul 20, 2013

Dang Moikel, I need to stop by some time!

Octopus,bacon& leek .... thing?

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