Calamari is one of the more divisive foods I’ve seen.  I remember once seeing it on a menu, mentioning it out loud, and one of my dining companions immediately launched into a diatribe against it.  ”Oh God, nobody actually likes that stuff.  People only order it to gross out the people they’re dining with.”

Of course, I responded “Well, before you interrupted me, I was thinking about ordering it.”  And, truth be told, I still did.

Calamari itself is actually not that difficult to make, once you clean it.  You just have to be careful about cooking times.  It stays tender if you cook it for about a minute, and then it turns rubbery unless you cook it for another hour.  So really, you either cook it fast or you cook it slow.

Myself, I usually like a fast preparation, but there admittedly isn’t much you can do about that.  You flash fry it, and it comes down to whether or not you breaded it or not.  That said, there is plenty of avenue to experiment with the sauces that you dip it in.

Now, some find that simple marinara is the only acceptable choice for dipping them.  I do enjoy that, but I feel like a tomato sauce is only the start of your dipping choices.  I’ve always been fond of fra diavolo sauce myself, and the extra zing that a bit of spiciness brings to the dish is always enjoyable.

One sauce that I’ve seen gaining popularity is sriracha – or, as my family traditionally calls it, that weak stuff with a rooster on the bottle.  Mind you, I find it tasty, but it’s a bit lacking for my taste buds.  However, I’m making it into the greatest sauce ever, at least I hope – two teaspoons of honey, one teaspoon of rice wine vinegar, and one teaspoon of sriracha.  Hoping this comes out to a sauce that’s rich, flavorful, and maybe just a tiny bit of a kick.

Which isn’t to say that I’m shying away from a major kick.  I’m also going to roast some habanero and serrano peppers together, and blend that with a bit of molasses and a touch of dijon mustard.  That should be for people like me, who think that the major problem with calamari is its lack of nuclear qualities.

Sadly, though, I’m not sure when this experiment will happen.  So much is going down; I don’t know when it’ll all end.  Hopefully, when it does, I’ll easily be able to chow down on tentacle fun.  Such is life, I’m afraid.