cooking in Korea

Today was a market day. We always go and buy fresh vegetables and every now and then fish or chicken at the open markets. The market just so happened to fall on a Sunday this week, and we decided to spring for a new tasty seafood treat! Chris bought this LIVE octopus before I could tell him NO. I knew exactly what would happen, and I really didn't want to deal with the mess and the ordeal that would come with taking a living and moving octopus home. We got home and immediately googled how to prepare an octopus. What did people do when they didn't know what to do before there was google...this boggles my mind every time google saves me! It was a bit of a mess, but we did it.

Well, Chris has a tendency to be a sissy when it come to things of this matter. So, I was actually the one to hold and rip all of the insides out of the octopus, but wait...he wants me to mention that he did cut the eyeballs out. I might add that he did this WITH SCISSORS, after I searched and found them with my bare hands. I'm not really sure if killing and preparing octopus for dinner constitutes another notch in my "domesticated ability belt." Maybe this is just a reflection of my family's redneck nature and Kentucky upbringing! Either way, we ate a delicious octopus dinner tonight.

Have I mentioned that I've recently decided my ultimate goal in life may be to have my own cooking show? I think all of the cooking of new and different foods I've done while living in Korea has really taught me a lot. Hopefully, I will not be sucked back into boring meals after returning home, and I can continue to be an adventurous cook. Look out Rachel Ray, here I come! I know... I'm a dreamer :)

So, exactly how do you prepare octopus?

First, it starts out with a live octopus. This is a bit frightening, notice Chris using scissors and chopsticks to remove it from the bag!

Then you flip it's head inside out, this is where all of the organs are located. They must come out!!!

Next, you get rid of the eyeballs, and I went on and cut it's head off!

Then it's ready to boil.

After it boils, it should look like this:

Then you cut all the tentacles off, soak it in a marinade and fry or grill the meat. Unfortunately, I dont have a grill :(

ENJOY!!!