Hand Dipped Calamari in Onion Beer Batter Recipe

Hand Dipped Calamari in Onion Beer Batter Recipe

You just can't go wrong with well prepared Calamari! Beaten and pounded, tenderized perfectly, then dipped in a Beer and Butter Milk Onion batter, deep fried in clean oils, and served with a Cajun Aoli, and a Roasted Tomato Cocktail Sauce. Served in paper elegantly, and beautifully! Damn good!! What else can I say!? 

Making something with a recipe is boring and time consuming. That's my opinion anyways. What I like, personally, is to cook mostly by eye, taste, and smell. How else do you think recipes become recipes? Nobody just writes a recipe without experimenting to get there, right? So, do I really need to post my recipe? 

Of course I do.

Let's get to know Calamari first though, then get into the recipe. 

Handling Calamari is like handling any other raw meat. Being that its seafood and comes in various forms of holding, from frozen to fresh, to even canned. Calamari, Squid, Octopus, and a variety of different "Cuddle Fish" or edible invertebrates related to squid should be handled in respect to cross contamination and watching for improper holding temperatures. 

You should keep thawed squid on ice throughout your prepping process, until ready to be fried or stored for later.

Chef Kaufman's Beer Fried Calamari Recipe 
Total Time: 30 + min 
Prep: 10 + min 
Cook: 8 + min 

Ingredients 
Deep Frying Oil, Peanut or Vegetable 
1 pound cleaned squid meat, with tentacles. Cut body and hood piece into 1/3- to 1/2-inch-thick rings with no beaks or plastic like cartilage in the pound and pound thin with a meat mallet or tenderizer.
2 cups all-purpose seasoned flour (Flour & Spices)
1.5 tablespoons dried parsley and basil mixed
1 Tsp Sea Salt or Kosher Salt and freshly ground black pepper 
2 lemons or limes. 1 cut into wedges, One halved (Your choice, but a sugared Lime half slightly grilled for a garnish is perfect...just saying) 
1 cup simple cocktail sauce, or smoked tomato cocktail sauce. Ask for recipe.
4 cups Buttermilk
1 room temperature beer 
1 egg beaten

Mix about 1/2 the beer with the egg and Buttermilk. Using your hands, start by rolling the squid in the seasoned flour mixture, then hand dip each piece into the beer mix. Then dip again into the flour. You can repeat this process if you desire a thicker fry on the batter, but for the most part, a simple dip, dip, and dip and your done.

Cook time, approximately 8 mins at 300F. 

Garnish as shown, or be creative. I love to take a half of lime, dip it in sugar, and then grill for 1-2 mins. I burns the sugar just a little, but when squeezed over the squid...YUM!!