Have you ever hooked a squid on the end of a fishing line? From all accounts, they're quite the catch to battle–either dropping deep, like a dead weight, or shooting dramatically forward at the end of the line, propelled by a thick jet of black ink. The idea of having to wrestle with those disembodied tubes you buy at store–nevermind the pigment dying some plate of pasta or risotto–may seem difficult to believe, but after reading Dana Goodyear's California Postcard “Squidding” from last week's New Yorker, you will almost certainly change your mind. Goodyear reports on the mass of squid–Humboldt squid, a giant variety, weighing in excess of one hundred pounds–that recently passed through the waters off of Orange County:
“Last month, as freakish and familiar as wildfires, mudslides, or earthquake light, a “squid invasion” began on the coast of Southern California. As they periodically will do, thousands of the slippery, suckery, tentacled deep-sea hoovers known as Humboldt squid were making their way north from Mexico, devouring everything in their path. That night, Poke and some seventy other fishermen–warriors with Budweisers–set out on a boat called the Western Pride to try to beat them back.”
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The Newport Beach dining crowd haven't been feasting on this plentiful local catch, however, with only Billy's at the Beach putting out plates of the giant cephalopods–beer-battered and fried, of course.
A number of recipes are recounted in the piece, shared by fishermen accustomed to cooking with giant squid–maybe they could offer some feedback on Dave's 225-pound sea bass fish taco recipe?
