Its actually common in Hawaii. And there are many ways of preparing and cooking them. People go skin diving for them and it is an art in itself to find them. They are masters of disguise and, as a friend showed me once, you can be staring directly at them and not know its there. Anyway to prepare them for cooking they must be gutted and tenderized. The one I did was frozen for over a year so that took care of the tenderization. Some people pound it with mallets or sticks. Some people rig up washing machines to do the job. I had the honor of tenderizing a freshly caught one once by simply adding Hawaiian salt (sea salt) and then turning it over by hand in a five gallon bucket. You just pick it up and let it fall. Its messy as the salt makes it emit "juices" but it also deslimes it. Then I had to deslime myself. You can tell when its ready when the legs get curly and shortens. I had to lomi (massage) with Hawaiian salt to get the slime off of that one in the pic. Then I rinsed it well and let it soak in a bowl of water so it wouldnt be too salty. Then into the smoker for about 4 hours and then pau (finished). There is also a post on the virtual webber bullet website about smoking tako. You can also grill it with very good results. Next one I do I will add some of Jeffs rub to the salt to try and give the flavor more depth.
Thanks
Brian
Thanks
Brian
