How to Make Delicious Crispy Vinegar-Poached Squid at Home

Vinegar-dipped squid is an enticing dish featuring the refreshing sourness of vinegar, crispy and tender fresh squid, and a rich dipping sauce. Without needing too many ingredients, you can easily prepare this dish right at home. In the article below, Ola Squid will guide you through how to make vinegar-dipped squid simply so that the squid is crispy, delicious, and not fishy. Let’s follow along!

Ingredients for vinegar-dipped squid

For the vinegar-dipped squid to have a harmonious sweet and sour taste and for the squid to maintain its crispiness, you need to prepare the following ingredients:

How to choose fresh squid for dipping in vinegar

Fresh squid is an important factor helping the vinegar-dipped dish achieve a crispy texture and natural sweetness. When choosing squid, you can rely on the following easily recognizable characteristics:

• Squid head: Has a natural dark brown color, the head part is firm and not mushy.
• Squid body: Has a cloudy white color, shiny skin, intact surface, and not many scratches.
• Squid meat: Firm to the touch, has good elasticity, and leaves no indentation when gently pressed.
• Squid eyes: Clear, bright, not cloudy or abnormally discolored.
• Tentacles and feelers: Firmly attached to the head, not mushy, soft, or easily detached.
• Smell: Has the characteristic scent of fresh seafood, with no abnormal sour or foul odor.

How to make crispy, delicious, and non-fishy vinegar-dipped squid

To keep the squid crispy and avoid any fishy smell, you should prep it thoroughly, prepare the dipping broth first, and only add the squid when the broth is boiling.

Step 1 – Prepare the squid cleanly and remove the fishy odor

Bought squid should be gently pulled at the head to remove the intestines, ink sac, eyes, and the hard inner quill. Wash the squid with clean water, then use a little salt to gently rub the body and tentacles to clean off the slime. You can soak the squid in water with a few slices of ginger for about 3-5 minutes, then rinse it again and let it drain thoroughly. Finally, lightly score the squid body or cut it into bite-sized rings so that it cooks evenly and absorbs flavors easily when dipped.

Step 2 – Prepare other ingredients

Crush and cut the lemongrass into segments; wash and thinly slice the ginger; peel and crush the shallots. Peel the onion and slice it into wedges or thin slices as desired; slice the chili to create a mild spice and eye-catching color. Wash the fresh herbs, soak them in water, and let them drain. If eating with rice vermicelli, prepare fresh vermicelli in advance to enjoy as soon as the squid is cooked.

Step 3 – Mix the authentic sweet and sour vinegar dipping broth

Put 500ml of filtered water, 100ml of rice vinegar, 1 tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt into a pot, stir well, and bring to a gentle simmer. Then add the lemongrass, ginger, shallots, and a portion of the onion into the pot and boil to let the ingredients release their fragrance.

Taste the dipping broth again so that it has a mild sourness with a well-balanced salty and sweet flavor; if you like it spicy, you can add a few slices of chili. When the vinegar broth comes to a rolling boil and releases a fragrant aroma, you can start dipping the squid.

Step 4 – Dip the squid and enjoy the finished dish

Place each batch of squid into the pot of boiling vinegar broth, dip until the squid meat just turns cloudy white and firms up, then take it out.

Do not leave the squid in the pot for too long because the heat will continue to shrink the meat, making it easily chewy and losing its sweetness. Perfectly cooked squid has a beautiful white color, a slightly firm body, and when bitten into, it still retains its crispiness and natural sweetness.

Enjoy the hot squid with fresh herbs, cucumber, fresh rice vermicelli, and a spicy-sour dipping sauce to make the dish even richer.

Tips for making crispy, delicious, and standard vinegar-dipped squid

To help the vinegar-dipped squid maintain its crispiness, sweet meat, and prevent it from becoming chewy when left out for a long time, you should note:

• Choose squid tubes: Squid tubes have firm bodies, crunchy meat, and are easy to cut into rings, making them more suitable for vinegar dipping than bigfin reef squid.
• Boil the vinegar vigorously: The dipping broth needs to boil strongly before adding the squid so that the squid cooks quickly, retains its crispiness, and limits water release.
• Dip and eat immediately: Squid tastes best when it is just cooked. Do not soak the squid in the vinegar broth for too long because the meat will easily become chewy and lose its natural sweetness.

Explore similar delicious dishes:

• How to cook perfectly flavorful squid hotpot: fresh squid, refreshing and sweet hotpot broth
• Recipe for making squid dipped in fermented rice paste (mẻ) with a refreshing sour and rich flavor right at home

With the simple how to make vinegar-dipped squid method above, you can prepare a crispy, refreshing sour, and rich dish yourself right at home. If you want to change your palate with many delicious dishes made from dried squid, please explore the products at Ola Squid to choose the right type of squid and freely cook according to your preferences!