Baby calamari are the tiny, cute seafood, which we most often like to eat fried and rolled in crunchy dry breading.
Their very name suggests the miniature size of these small sea creatures, which immediately evokes in us the idea that cleaning calamari is difficult and too much work, as well as their preparation. However, you will see that it is not difficult at all and it doesn't take long.
Baby calamari are considered to be all those little calamari that do not exceed 3 cm in length.
Due to their small size and the fact that they have not yet developed some of their organs well, or they are extremely small, sometimes they do not even need special cleaning other than the obligatory washing.
But in order to be neat and not take risks, it is good to check and clean the baby calamari.
How to clean baby calamari
Separate the tube from the tentacles. Similar to the way we clean larger squid, we need to empty the inside of the tube. For this purpose, for small ones, it is enough to squeeze them lightly from the top to the hole. Check with your finger whether there is a transparent thin cartilage - the spine and take it out.
As we said, with baby calamari it can be almost invisible or absent and many chefs don't even bother to look for and clean it.
The tentacles are too small and therefore do not have clearly defined eyes and head. They are not cleaned unless you notice a hard ball or already formed eyes on them, which are simply cut out.
Baby calamari doesn't need to be peeled either. What's left is to wash, strain and dry them and they are completely ready to be breaded or added to various seafood dishes.
It is important to know that frying baby calamari takes 2-3 minutes for them to be fully fried.
Serve the breaded calamari with lemon and a glass of cold beer or white wine.
See more delicious recipes for stuffed calamari.
