Comments on Medellitin: Sous Vide Supreme: Octopus

After failing miserably the first time around by s...

2011-07-02T09:34:14.058-04:00

After failing miserably the first time around by simply throwing the thawed octopus on the grill and ending with grilled rubber, I used my sous-vide demi and obtained spectacular results. I vacuumed sealed the still frozen octopus, thawed it overnight in the fridge and placed it for ~4 Hrs in the demi at 165F. After that, I let it cool, trimmed the tentacles and marinaded it with garlic, olive oil, wine vinegar and spanish smoked paprika for another 2 Hrs. Then a quick 5-10 min on the grill and I had perfect grilled octopus. Wouldn't have been able to do it without the demi.

@Pablo: Tried some baby octopus for 8hrs @176 and ...

2011-02-16T14:24:15.680-05:00

@Pablo: Tried some baby octopus for 8hrs @176 and they were yum! Definitely tender. Next time I'll try them even longer.

@Erich: Sorry about that. Definitely report back...

2011-02-01T17:33:25.092-05:00

@Erich:

Sorry about that. Definitely report back. Also note that you spawned another post on Sous Vide Octopus and low temp cooking advice.

@pablo: mine was frozen, around 3lbs. I guess the ...

2011-02-01T17:18:16.258-05:00

@pablo: mine was frozen, around 3lbs. I guess the communication break down was "a couple of hours". By now I have read that some people cook them for up to 36 hours. I will try it again (but for significantly longer) and report back.

if 180 then it may take a little less time, the di...

2011-01-29T17:29:03.433-05:00

if 180 then it may take a little less time, the difference is not very noticeable but noticeable as far as the texture goes, the one for 180 has more bite to it the one at 176 cooked longer is a tiny bit more tender but based off what you pair it with u may want something with more bite??

I think where I went wrong here was saying in my o...

2011-01-29T16:20:30.241-05:00

I think where I went wrong here was saying in my original post that I put it in the bath for 'a couple of hours'. I definitely did more than 2 hours.

@wolvesmouth do you find a tremendous difference between 176 and 180?

u need to cook about 5 hrs to get it to break down...

2011-01-29T16:06:50.719-05:00

u need to cook about 5 hrs to get it to break down, even up to six hours... 176-180f

My guess is that you needed to leave it in the wat...

2011-01-27T14:55:37.980-05:00

My guess is that you needed to leave it in the water bath longer, but here are things that may be different between You and I:

1. Size of Octopus. I don't know how thick your Octopus was. Any guess on it's size? Even weight might be helpful.

2. Fresh vs. Frozen. Not saying I know for sure that mine wasn't frozen earlier, but I bought mine in non-frozen form at a fish monger.

If yours was larger and colder to start with, it might take longer to get tender. Finally, another thing I do is occasionally squeeze the octopus through the bag to get a sense of texture.

Hope this helps.

Ok, I need some help here. Bought a whole octopu...

2011-01-27T12:17:55.739-05:00

Ok, I need some help here.

Bought a whole octopus, thawed it, cleaned it, vacuum bagged it, and cooked it for 2 hours at 180F in my sous vide bath. The thing came out very rubbery. Basically the same consistency one would achieve pan frying it. Anything, I'm missing here?

BTW, this is not first sous vide dish, but definitely the one that didn't come out at all.