Sensory Excitement - Tasting Octopus

Octopus

Taste & Texture

My first experience of octopus was actually very surprising. I was expecting the texture to be chewy & slimy. Therefore, I took extra care when preparing this dish for the first time.

In terms of the taste, I don’t think it was straight octopus that I tasted. Because I used a marinade in between the braising and BBQing, my first taste was slightly salty with a hint of lime. This is due to the fact that I used lime and a little bit of salt with my marinade. It was also a bit sweet because I added a reduced balsamic during the BBQing process. What I read about Octopus after I had completed this dish was that this seafood is actually quite tasteless on its own. So thank the heavens that I used a heavy marinade! It’s because of this marinade that my first experience with this new food was tender, soft and delicious!

Smell

As for the smell, I was once again quite surprised. I was expecting a pungent smell, the same that I had experienced with other seafoods. It didn’t even carry that particular smell of sea water. That said though, the smell takes on a completely different aroma as you prepare this braise. I've read that the octopus can have a bad odor if you have to clean it yourself. Though I didn’t clean the octopus myself, it did have a bad smell while braising. This smell was quite indescribable! I didn’t let that intimidate me though. The smell went away once I stopped braising. As soon as I plunged the octopus in a cold bath the smell was gone almost instantly.

Sight

Well, the sight part was quite challenging. To see an octopus in the flesh for the first time was really scary. Even though it was dead, it was wiggly and squirmy right up until I put it into the simmering braise. Before the braise, it had a translucent look to it. The color changed quite significantly after braising. When I pulled it out of the braise, the octopus had taken on a purple color like that of a cooked beet, but a little less red deep red. At this point, it was a little more stiff but still wiggly. As I started to cut the legs off, I could see that the appendages were quite smooth on the inside. The exterior though was an entirely different manner. The tentacles were still quite intimidating. I persevered and continued with the next part of the cooking process, BBQing!

This was my favorite part of the process. While BBQing the octopus, the tentacles would start to contract. The end of the legs would curl onto itself and started to look crispy. It was here that I began to get hungry! The smell of seafood was in the air and I couldn’t help myself. I took my first bit and it was excellent! This was starting to look like a real meal. The grill of the BBQ helped to make it that much more appetizing. The flesh of the octopus took on grill marks. This dish was starting to take on the same characteristics of that which I’ve seen in so many magazines. I first served it to myself on top of some risotto that I had cooked earlier that day. The two to them paired beautifully! I then served two more dished that were prepared similarly and gave them to my two neighbors down the hall. Their text messages said it all. “great job Desh. You’ve outdone yourself once again. I don’t even like octopus, but your dish made me want to try it and now I absolutely love Octopus." She later posted a picture of my dish on Instagram. It was that I quite pleased.

In terms of uniqueness, this dish is considered a delicacy in many countries. Most people have a lot of questions about octopus and therefore are hesitant in trying it. Some people have told me that cooking an octopus is an art that has to be mastered. Because of the delicate nature of this seafood, it’s easy for things to go wrong. This is why I took on this challenge. And I’m glad I did!

What I learned

I would definitely try this dish again; however, next time I would braise the octopus a little less more just to make the meat even a little bit more tender. Overall, I was quite pleased with how it tasted. I can’t say that it was unique to my pallet thought. Once again, the taste did resemble that of chicken and lobster.

The last thing that I did with my Octopus was to mix the rest of it with some bacon, leeks and reduced balsamic as seen in this picture here.