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Is the part of the squid right above the tentacles edible? I think it's the bottom of the body, I've never cooked squid before. I washed it under cold water and felt it carefully with my fingers and I think the beak had been removed.

hunter2
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Celeritas
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    Very nice video explaining the process: http://video.about.com/culinaryarts/Cleaning-Squid.htm – nico Aug 01 '13 at 07:34

2 Answers2

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The tentacles and the muscular body of the squid are edible.

To clean squid, pull the head and tentacles off the body and remove the skin and fins from the body. Turn the body inside-out, remove the central bone, wash out the inside of the body, and turn the body back into its original shape. Cut the tentacles off of the head, and discard the head and beak. Summarized from: Jacques Pepin's Complete Techniques

J. Alfred Prufrock
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Get rid of the beak, internal shell, and the innards. The rest is edible, tentacles and all.

GdD
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  • Are the innards actually inedible, or simply unpleasant? – SAJ14SAJ Jul 30 '13 at 11:45
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    @SAJ14SAJ- I think in the context of non-starvation, unpleasant==inedible – Sobachatina Jul 30 '13 at 12:09
  • @Sobachatina I don't know, by that standard, crabs are entirely inedible. :-) I took the word at its literal meaning. – SAJ14SAJ Jul 30 '13 at 13:14
  • Do you have any pictures so I know what to look for? – Celeritas Jul 30 '13 at 17:04
  • I'm not an expert, but I'd think unpleasant. I've never seen any warnings about innards on squid, but unless you are pretty desperate I would guess they are pretty awful. Squid ink is the exception, it's sometime used in very chefy ways, like squid ink ice cream. Edible and apparently not much flavor. – GdD Jul 30 '13 at 18:13
  • @GdD: not much flavour??? It tastes actually extremely [unsurprisingly] fishy! Fantastic [with (or within) pasta](https://www.google.com/search?q=spaghetti+al+nero+di+seppia). – nico Aug 01 '13 at 07:25
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    Should this be read as "get rid of (the beak, internal shell), and (the innards and the whole thing) is edible" or "get rid of (the beak, internal shell, and the innards) and (the whole thing) is edible"? – Lars Viklund Aug 02 '13 at 12:21