Buying fresh squid and prepping it yourself yields tender results. So tender it’s worth doing every time? Mmm, not in my humble opinion. I feel like I can smell the squid-y smell on my hands long after the dirty work’s been done. The frozen seafood pack is good enough for me!

But it’s a good skill to know. Cos you never know, when you might need it. Better to always be prepared.

What you need:

• Fresh or frozen (defrosted) whole squid

• Scissors

What you do:

• Give it a good rinse under running water (you can just do all this in the sink with the water running and keep rinsing as you cut and handle the squid).

• Cut the length down the body.

• Open it up and pull off the tentacles (all the guts will come off too).

• Remove bony spine (the hard plastic-like inner shell).

• Trim and remove errant pieces- it’s edible, but I just take everything off.

• Optional: Peel off the skin (this is purely for presentation purposes, you can leave it on).

• Rinse and feel around for any internal shell pieces you may have missed.

• There are innards that are edible, but I just cut off everything above the tentacles.

• Make sure to remove the sharp beak that’s its mouth. It is at the top of the tentacles. Just squeeze it and it should pop out.

• Boom. Done. Ready to be sliced and diced according to recipe.

This sounds like an instruction on medieval torture. I would like to state for the record that I am an animal lover. But I am find land and water meats delicious. Life is cruel. Enjoy!