Cooking Octopus...in Japan?
 

Hello everyone, I'm not sure if this is in the right thread, but it seems like I've got a number of questions which may place my situation in various categories. Anyway, I'll get down to the point. By the way, I'm in Japan.

I'm planning on cooking for a friend who usually prefers to eat vegetables, but I'd really like to cook something too. I know octopus has been okay in the past, so I was thinking that; maybe throwing it in some salad. So, what would be the best way to go about this? I'm thinking it'll be a huge disaster if i attempt to buy a whole, fresh octopus and try to clean, separate, and cook it myself. Do you think it's possible to buy frozen, diced octopus or am I going to have to bite the bullet and learn from the start? I'm just always so overwhelmed when I go into a Japanese grocery store and have to look through the stuff I can't really read or understand too much of.

On a side note, anyone have any suggestions of healthy things to make that don't involve too much meat, bread, or noodles (possibly rice as well)? I was thinking about the salad and then having some mushrooms on the side as well as some olives on the side. I'm just not a cook but am trying to learn. Being in Japan makes it even more difficult I think.

It should definitely be much easier to find and buy boiled octopus than whole raw octopus - so I wouldn`t worry about that. Just buy a pack with the tentacles already firm and red, with the meat opaque white.

Cut that into wedge shaped slices (round, but wider at one side than the other) and mix them in with salad. Octopus goes really well with マリネ type salads as it has a chance to soak up the flavor.

Thanks, this is pretty good news for me. I was thinking about marinating the octopus myself because I think it is great when it soaks up the flavor. So, just to clarify, I could find already boiled octopus in the grocery store? It would be in the same area as the other seafood right? Just packaged up with plastic wrapping and all that I assume?

If its already been blanched or boiled, the flesh will have at least a pink tinge to it, if not almost red. The longer it was boiled, the deeper the color. If it is still gray (various shades) it is still raw. Of course, I think once you got home and opened the package, the texture would clue you in whether it had been cooked yet.

Does albino (white) octopus turn red when cooked? I never thought about it till now.