6 fried calamari with cornmeal Recipes

cleaned calamari, cut into rings, cornmeal or 1/4 cup cornstarch, eggs, slightly beaten, garlic, mashed, breadcrumbs (i like garlic and parsley flavored), salt, oil (for frying )

squid (cleaned, fresh or frozen, thawed ), all-purpose flour, cornmeal, seasoning (old bay , salt blend, or plain old salt n pepper), vegetable oil (for frying )

buttermilk, several dashes hot sauce, calamari, cut into rings, vegetable oil, for frying, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, essence, recipe follows, plus more for sprinkling, marinara sauce, recipe follows, for dipping

this recipe yields calamari lighter in color than most restaurant versions , so keep this in mind when frying. follow the cooking time, not the color, and you will have perfectly cooked squid. while we love the texture and visual appeal of the tentacles, not everyone does; most fishmongers will gladly sell only bodies if you so desire. before slicing the squid, check the bodies for beaks the fishmonger might have missed. they look and feel like pieces of transparent plastic. for a specialty native to federal hill, the italian neighborhood in providence, rhode island, toss the fried calamari with thinly sliced rings of jarred pepperoncini. the spicy bite of the peppers and the tanginess of the brine are surprisingly good with fried squid. for the best results, clip a candy/deep-fry thermometer to the side of the saucepan to monitor the temperature of the oil., unbleached all-purpose flour, fine-ground cornmeal, ground black pepper, cayenne pepper, salt, egg whites, squid , bodies sliced crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick rings, tentacles left whole, vegetable oil for frying, lemon , cut into wedges