/ck/ - Food & Cooking

>>8825633
Day one of octopus procedure. Thawed the octopus and gave it a good scrub in the sink with some kosher salt, to remove the algae and slime. Once it was fully clean, I threw it into the fridge while I prepared the brine.

I used a 2.5% brine flavored with honey, dried orange peel, star anise, and pu'erh tea. The octopus went into the tea brine for 3 hours, whereupon it was drained, quickly rinsed off, and returned to the fridge. It'll get cooked off tomorrow.

The brine not only helps season the octopus but the salt content helps break down some of the fibrous tissues, making it more tender.

Pic is the octopus thawing in cold water. This piece is a bit over 1kg.