I want to cook octopus. What's your favorite way to eat it?

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It will be my first time cooking and eating Octopus... Anybody have some experience and/or advice for me?

I am terrified of tentacled things and this has squicked me beyond belief so I will not be reading this sub forum for a few days!

No really, I'll read it but just not this thread lol.

I have a recipe in an Italian cookbook that I might be able to bring myself to type for you if you want.

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I'm giving it another shot. We will see.
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There's a Chinese buffet place near the Northgate Mall that has a very nice preparation of octopus. I don't know what it is but it sure is delicious. I guess you can't fail if you bread it then fry it. I've seen restaurants serve salt & pepper squid which is that is.

Hah hah....I tried octopus once at a Chinese restaurant. I can be kind-of picky, but I must say that octopus isn't bad. Go for it. As for cooking it?

The Chinese restaurant deep fried it. Cannot go wrong with deep frying. Makes for 8 adventurous hors d'oeuvre!

I've had a tin of smoked octopus before and it was surprisingly good. But I agree that deep-frying sounds like the best way to get started. Maybe a tempura batter?

I've never been a fan of octopus personally....too chewy!

When I was a young boy my grandmother would occasionally make her Italian tomato based pasta sauce using octopus as the main flavoring component. She was an outstanding cook and made some very memorable holiday meals. My extended family came to her house every year. The variety of her recipes was incredible. She lived upstairs from me so I often ate my meals with my grandparents. While I ate her octopus pasta sauce meals I was not particularly fond of it and considered the meat rubbery.

If you are interested look up polpi sauce:

http://fishcooking.about.com/od/octopus ... w_octo.htm

I heard that you pound it to death and gently boil it for ages to get it tender, it rarely cooks well straight on the pan. I tried cooking baby octopus on the frying pan a few weeks ago and they turned into rubber tyres.

I wonder how octopus best like to eat us? Anyway, hope your recipe worked out!

Raw, fresh off the boat. I forget the name of the octopus and where I read about it, but there are articles about 600-800lbers that travel in packs that have been known to snatch fisherman away from their boat...

*Edit- I may have got that confused with squid.

I like eating octupus that someone else has cooked since I have only ever eaten at restaurants. To me it tastes good in a seafood salad where it is cooked and then chilled and combined with squid and other types of fresh seafood.

The closest thing I've ever had is Calamari but that was squid. That suggests to me though frying is the way to go.

Like this
Title: Adriatic Spaghetti (Spaghetti Dell'adriatico)
Categories: Italian, Seafood, Ceideburg 2
Yield: 4 Servings

1 sm Octopus (about 3 1/4 pounds)
1/2 c Olive oil
pn Rosemary
1 Bay leaf
pn Oregano
1 ts Cumin seeds
Chopped parsley
1 Green chili pepper chopped
1/2 lb Tomatoes, peeled and cut in
-strips
3 Cloves garlic, (inner buds
-removed), chopped
Salt and pepper
1 lb Spaghetti

The octopus must be very carefully washed and dried, and the mouth removed.
Cover the bottom of a saucepan with oil; add the rosemary, bay leaf
oregano, cumin seeds, parley, chili pepper, tomatoes and chopped garlic.
Place the octopus on top of this mixture and season with salt and pepper.
Cover the pot very tightly and simmer for about 45 minutes. Cook the
spaghetti in plenty of boiling salted water until it is 'al dente' (firm to
the bite). Drain and turn onto a warm serving dish. Mix the octopus sauce
into the spaghetti. Serve piping hot.

From "Feast of Italy", translated from the Italian edition published by
Arnoldo Mondadori Editore, 1973. Consulting Chef, Giorgio Gioco. Thomas
Crowell, New York. ISBN 0-690-00059-6

Serves 4 to 6.