The most difficult part in achieving anything is asking the question. During a recent workshop, we were asked if it was possible to make an octopus chicharron. We have explored the technique of making puffed snacks and chicharron-like products. We have an amazing recipe for kimchi cracklings (chicharron) in “Ideas in Food: Great Recipes and Why They Work.” Our calamari crackling recipe is here. Once asked, we set about achieving the desired results. Instead of using actual octopus, we started with the intensely seasoned and oceanic broth left over from cooking the octopus. This is a flavorful by-product that is often discarded. We combined roughly one part octopus stock with two parts tapioca flour and pureed them into a wet dough in the food processor.
Then we divided the dough between two large vacuum bags and sealed them at high pressure. We used a rolling pin to spread the dough to the inside edges of the bag so that a uniform thickness was achieved, about two millimeters thick. We placed both bags in a steamer large enough to hold them and gently steamed the dough for 45 minutes. Then we removed the bags from the steamer and cut them open. We carefully removed the dough and laid it on dehydrator trays. We dehydrated the sheets for several hours until the dough was completely dry and brittle. When fully dry, the sheets took on a shiny, opaque appearance and were easily broken into pieces. We removed it from the dehydrator and broke the sheet into pieces roughly 4 cm wide and 8 cm long.
When we were ready to fry, we heated a pot of peanut oil to 204°C. We slid two pieces at a time into the oil. The dried dough sank to the bottom of the oil and then began to puff and expand. We flipped the puffed cracklings once or twice to make sure they are completely puffed and cooked. Then we removed the puffed cracklings from the oil with the spider and drained them on a tray with a cooling rack. We seasoned the Octo-Puffs with a sprinkling of salt and Espelette pepper.
The Octo-Puffs are light, airy, crispy, and taste like the essence of octopus. The under-valued octopus stock has been utilized to create a delicious chicharron.
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