Wednesday, April 18, 1973, was the first day I tasted calamari. I enjoyed it lightly fried for my first meal in Spain. I distinctly remember my first bite that late afternoon in the dimly lit El Trocadero restaurant, adjacent to the Mediterranean Sea on the Costa del Sol. I was hooked.
I am certain of the date because I recorded this momentous squid experience in my travel journal. Leafing through the pages many decades later, I'm only mildly surprised to find so little mentioned about Mediterranean scenery, museums, architecture or beaches.
Instead, faded pages in my travel diary are filled with vivid culinary notes detailing local olives, breads, appetizers, paella, sea bass baked in a rock salt, and evening meals that never began before 10 p.m.
But mostly, I was following the squid Sharon Tyler Herbst later described as “the ten-armed members of the cephalopod class in the mollusk family… related to both the octopus and cuttlefish,” in The Food Lover’s Companion (see sources).
Also referred to as calamari, I devoured many forms—more than my share, in tapas bars, cafes and restaurant kitchens when I went back to talk with the chef. Squid became the compelling focus for my first European adventure. And when I wasn’t sampling flavor variations, I chatted about calamari with fishermen and local cooks.
During this inaugural European jaunt, I savored every bite of this tender, exquisitely delicious seafood. And by the time I flew back to the States, I had managed to sample every imaginable preparation, including steamed for salads, stuffed, sautéed with tomatoes, fried with olive oil and simmered in its own ink.
And then—BOOM. I returned home to an almost “squid-free” culinary stateside environment, as described by The Galloping Gourmet in The Graham Kerr Cookbook (see sources).
“Squid is used mostly for bait. This seems to me to be a gross waste of a delicious seafood,” the “pre-Food Network TV” host had noted.
In the New York Times Food Encyclopedia, Craig Claiborne (1920-2000), included international translations for squid (see sources). Still, the food editor noted a North American lack of interest.
“Browsing through the international sections of a number of cookbooks, I noted that almost every one of them lists recipes for squid. That interested me because Americans seem to have a very small appetite for squid, a delicacy that I would place in the highest category of good things to eat from the sea.”
So, how did I continue researching my new obsession? Living in San Francisco before widespread Internet availability, I scrutinized books, library indexes, joined radio call-in shows, followed Herb Caen’s column, and flipped through the yellow pages until I located a small Richmond-district restaurant offering one squid dish on its limited menu. Yes, there was only one. And yes, I began weekly visits.
My personal calamari graduate studies included cleaning squid and testing recipes with fresh squid special-ordered for my Pacific Heights’ kitchen.
Among cookbook tips, Chefs Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman offered easily-followed squid cleaning instructions in their Cucina Rustica book, where they compared fried squid to “Italian potato chips,” reasoning that “It’s impossible to stop once you start eating good calamari.” This cheerful volume also offered tips to help avoid tough fried calamari. “…taste it frequently during the frying. Every batch requires a slightly different cooking time.”
In “A Well Seasoned Appetite,” Molly O’Neill (1952-1999) recalled being similarly “captivated” by her first calamari bite in Provincetown, Rhode Island.
“…surprised at the sweet tenderness of the squid, surprised at the elation that comes from nibbling away at some little fear, surprised at the transcendence. Rereading her “squid-inspired” emotional shift resonated with memories of my long-ago holiday squid introduction. And I understood completely when she upgraded feeling “delighted about squid” to becoming “messianic”—“I baked it, stuffed it, turned it into paillards, tossed it with pasta,“ she wrote.
Gen Z Joins the Squid Table
Enjoy this quick, fried calamari recipe made more delicious with the most fresh squid available. And keeping with our constant alert to help bridge generational gaps with recipes, Skillet Diaries shares this link to Alessandra this week. Her dad was “born and raised on an Italian island.” And our Generation Z culinary school graduate offers an energetic demo of her dad’s favorite. (Link to Fried Calamari).
Since the New York Times identified calamari as a food trend peaking in this country in 1996 (see sources), I’m looking forward to “full-circle squid appreciation status” as this Boomer transfers squid and calamari recipes to my “dependable old-favorites” roster.
San Francisco Squid with Aioli 2 cups flour 1/2 teaspoon each: paprika, salt Freshly ground pepper 3 cups peanut oil 2 pounds cleaned squid, tentacles and bodies Lemon wedges Aioli sauce: 5 small cloves ripe garlic 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 egg 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Sift flour with paprika, salt and pepper into a large bowl; set aside. Heat peanut oil to 375 degrees in a fryer or large pot. Meanwhile, add one fourth of the squid to the flour mixture. Toss to coat completely; shake squid individually to separate and remove excess flour. Add squid to hot oil; cook until barely golden, about 1 minute. Drain on paper towels. Repeat until all squid is cooked. Serve hot with lemon wedges and aioli.
For sauce, process garlic and salt in a food processor to form a paste. Add egg; process in a food processor until frothy, about 30 seconds. Drizzle olive oil into feed tube very slowly while machine is running until mixture thickens. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Sources and notes:
Food Lover’s Companion by Sharon Tyler Herbst (Barton’s Educational Series, 2001)
The New York Times Food Encyclopedia by Craig Claiborne (Wings Books, 1985)
“The Greeks have a word for squid, of course, and it is kalamaria. In Japan, where squid is prized for, among other things, sushi and sashimi, it is known as yika. In Italy, it is calamari and in France, it goes by many names, but principally calmar. “
The Graham Kerr Cookbook, by The Galloping Gourmet (Doubleday, 1966, 1969)
Cucina Rustica by Viana La Place and Evan Kleiman, (William Morrow, 1990)
A Well-Seasoned Appetite by Molly O’Neill (Viking, 1995)
Special Sauce For Measuring Food Trends, New York Times by Neil Irwin, April 12, 2014 https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/upshot/special-sauce-for-measuring-food-trends-the-fried-calamari-index.html
Yellow pages: Merriam-Webster.com defines the yellow pages as ”the section of a telephone book that lists business and professional firms alphabetically by category”.