Hound Dog
Jul 25, 2010, 1:22 PM
Post #6 of 6
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Re: [robt65] Calamari - Squid or Octopus?
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Do you find that calamari has a taste alone without any coatings or sauces? I have not.
I have never eaten calamari in Mexico but it is very popular in San Francisco and is served extensively in bars and bistros in the Financial District, North Beach and Fisherman´s Wharf. Ah yes, Robt., you bring back memories of those years when Dawg worked (if that´s the word) as a banker in San Francisco´s Financial District and spent many an afternoon at one of his favorite bar/restaurant establishments playing liars dice, drinking scotch on the rocks and dining on squid San Francisco style which traditionally would be pan fried with a light batter in olive oil and/or butter and heroic amounts of garlic then served with lemon and, perhaps a good tartar sauce or horseradish infused cocktail sauce (optional). Calamari is one of those dishes where the flavor is enhanced significantly in the cooking in any number of ways. Calamari prepared the Dawg way as above takes on a rich taste of the sea not unlike that one might encounter when eating clams cooked in a similar fashion. Raw squid, on the other hand, is relatively flavorless.
In Mexico, the closest thing to calimari I have eaten in restaurants, only a bit more flavorful, has been conch prepared in a similar fashion but I have only found conch in Mérida where it is called caracol (sea snail) on restaurant menus. I have never seen caracol or calamari in restaurants at Lake Chapala nor have I seen it in Chiapas. However, in Mérida they understand caracol (and maybe calamari as well although I have never tried it there) and know how to cook it which is important since both calimari and caracol must be properly prepared to be edible.
Now, as an aside, and in the interest of cross-cultural education, Dawg presents the typical afternoon of a San Francisco banker after he/she returned from the mid-day racketball games with clients circa 1982 (this was before instant communications with the home office and boss made such an itinerary more problematic:
1:30PM: Walk from Financial District office to such-and-such nearby bar & grill and banker, stockbroker, attorney hangout.
1:30 - 3:30: Drink favorite libations ranging from (double) scotch on the rocks to (double) extra dry martinis up or other favored hard alcoholic beverage according to taste all the time playing liars dice with clients and/or friends.
3:30: Sufficiently soused, adjourn from bar and join clients and/or friends at table to order lunch which typically would consist of another libation or two or three or a glass of house wine and, perhaps the house special calimari or Dungeness crab cakes or some other such shellfish or a nice veal piccata - it probably didn´t matter at that point as one´s palate at that point was somewhat compromised.
4:30: Retire to bar for another drink or two and some more liars dice.
7:00PM: Find oneself at home having mysteriously negotiated one´s way there with the grace of God.
This was usually what was known as customer service back in the 1980s and while the bosses performed these duties in the interest of ongoing public relations at the expense of the bank or the client; the bank and client´s factory or law office or what have you that supplied the cash flow just kept humming along.
A hell of a great way to make a living.
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