How do I clean and prepare a whole squid?

Whole squid is a fraction of the price of prepared rings and gives you three usable parts instead of one. The job looks unpleasant and is actually simple: nothing is difficult to find, everything you want comes away by pulling, and it takes about two minutes once you have done it twice.

What you'll need

• A small sharp knife
• A bowl for the trimmings
• Cold running water

Step by step

1. Work out the parts before you cut anything.The tube is the body, and it is the main prize. Two triangular wings sit on it. The head carries the eyes and the tentacles. Inside the tube are the guts, the ink sac and a long transparent quill. You keep the tube, the wings and the tentacles.
2. Pull the head out of the tube.Hold the tube in one hand and the head in the other and pull firmly and steadily apart. The head comes away bringing the guts and the ink sac with it in one piece. Do it over a bowl or in the sink — the ink stains.
3. Cut the tentacles free just in front of the eyes.One cut across, keeping the tentacles and discarding everything above it. Do not cut behind the eyes or you take the tentacles with the head.
4. Squeeze out the beak.In the middle of where the tentacles join there is a hard round beak the size of a pea. Push it up from underneath with your thumb and it pops out. It is the only genuinely inedible part of the tentacles.
5. Pull the quill out of the tube.Reach in and find the long clear strip that looks exactly like a thin piece of plastic. Pull it out and discard it. Anything soft still inside comes out with a finger.
6. Pull the wings off and strip the skin.The wings peel away with a thumbnail under the edge. The mottled purple membrane strips off the tube and the wings in sheets — start at the open end and pull. A piece of kitchen paper gives you grip. It is edible but tough and it makes the finished dish grey.
7. Rinse everything, inside and out.Run water through the tube and rub the inside with a finger to clear any remaining membrane, then rinse the tentacles. Drain and dry thoroughly on kitchen paper — wet squid will never brown.
8. Cut it for the method you are using.Rings for frying, flat rectangles scored on the inside in a diamond pattern for a fast sear, whole tubes for stuffing, and long strips for a slow braise. Score on the inside face only, about halfway through.

Tips

• Keep the ink sac if it survives intact — a small silver-black sac near the guts. It freezes well and one sac colours and flavours a risotto for two.
• Squid freezes better than almost any other seafood, and freezing actually tenderises it slightly. Frozen tubes are a good buy and a good store cupboard staple.
• Score the inside of a flat piece, never the outside. The scored side curls away from the heat and gives you the classic pine-cone shape.
• Small squid can be cooked whole, tube and tentacles together. Below about 10cm there is nothing to gain from cutting them up.
• Ask the fishmonger to clean them. It is free and takes them seconds — worth it the first time so you can see what the finished parts should look like.

Common mistakes

• Cutting the tube open to get the guts out — Unnecessary and it wastes the tube. Everything inside comes out in one piece if you pull the head straight out. A cut-open tube cannot be stuffed and cannot be cut into rings.
• Leaving the skin on — It is edible but it toughens, tastes of very little and turns the whole dish a dull purple-grey. It comes off in seconds, so there is no reason to leave it.
• Not drying it before cooking — Squid holds a lot of surface water and it goes straight to steam. That is the difference between browned squid and grey squid boiling in its own liquid.

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