Exotic Seafood Survey #28: Big Squid.

When you consider ordering squid in a restaurant, you would be well advised to ask how big the squid are. The smaller ones--around four inches long--are the ones that are commonly cut into rings after the tentacled "fried spider" head part is pulled off. That's the kind that Italian restaurants fry with a side of marinara sauce on the side. But squid can be bigger than those. Much bigger. And bigger still--all the way up to the well-named colossal squid. That one is so gargantuan that it can battle a sperm whale to the death. The larger squid species don't look much like squid when they come out of the kitchen. Large sections of the body wall are cut into rectangles, boiled, then scored. All of that is necessary to make them chewable--and even so, it's borderline. Sometimes this kind of squid is grilled. I find it tough and flavorless no matter how it's cooked, although they are well liked by some customers of sushi bars and Thai restaurants, the two main users of these large cephalopods.