Pulpo Enamorado del Pacífico Oaxaqueño

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 8-quart stockpot, deep enough to submerge the whole octopus
• •Sharp chef's knife for slicing the cooked tentacles
• •Wide barro negro or ceramic Oaxacan serving platter
• •Tongs or kitchen spider for handling the octopus
• •Citrus juicer or hand reamer for the limes

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean and ready the octopus

   If your fishmonger has not already done it, turn the head inside out and remove the ink sac and the small organs at the top. Find the beak in the center of the tentacles and push it out. Rinse the octopus under cold running water. Run your fingers down each tentacle to make sure no sand is hiding in the suckers. The cooks at the Mercado de Mariscos in Salina Cruz do this without thinking. Now you do it too.

   If you can only find frozen octopus, use it without apology. The freezing actually breaks down the muscle fibers and tenderizes the meat. Spanish and Oaxacan cooks have known this for decades.
2. 2

   Scare the octopus three times

   Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil with the halved onion, garlic, bay leaves, oregano, salt, and the wine cork if you are using one. Hold the octopus by the head and dip the tentacles into the boiling water for about five seconds. Lift it out. Wait fifteen seconds. Dip again. Wait. Dip a third time. The tentacles will curl into perfect spirals and the skin will set. This is called asustar el pulpo, scaring the octopus. Skip this and the skin slides off in the pot and the tentacles cook unevenly. No me vengas con atajos.

3. 3

   Simmer until tender

   Lower the whole octopus into the pot. Reduce the heat until you see lazy bubbles, never a hard boil. Hard boiling makes octopus rubbery. Cover partially and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, depending on size. The octopus is ready when a paring knife slides into the thickest part of a tentacle, just below the head, with no resistance. Do not overcook it. The line between tender and rubbery is about ten minutes wide.

   The wine cork is a trick passed from Oaxacan grandmothers, who learned it from Spanish ones. Whether the cork's enzymes actually tenderize the meat is debated by science. The cooks of Puerto Ángel do not care. They keep using it.
4. 4

   Rest in the broth

   Turn off the heat and let the octopus rest in its broth for fifteen minutes. This is not optional. The meat reabsorbs liquid and finishes relaxing. Pull it from the pot and set it on a cutting board. Save a cup of the broth in case you need to moisten the dish later.

5. 5

   Cut the tentacles

   Slice each tentacle on a slight diagonal into bite-sized pieces, about three-quarters of an inch thick. Cut the head into similar-sized pieces if you are using it; many Oaxacan cooks reserve the head for soup the next day. The pieces should still be warm when you dress them. The warmth opens the meat to the lime and oil.

6. 6

   Make the dressing

   In a wide bowl, combine the diced tomato, diced white onion, minced chile serrano, chopped cilantro, lime juice, olive oil, and crumbled oregano. Stir gently. Taste. The dressing should be bright, herbaceous, with the chile humming underneath. If it tastes shy, add another pinch of salt and another half of a chile. This is called salsa enamorada, the loving salsa, and the dish is named for it.

7. 7

   Marry the octopus and the dressing

   Add the warm octopus pieces to the bowl with the dressing. Fold gently so every piece is coated. Let it sit for ten minutes at room temperature so the octopus drinks up the lime and the oil. This is why the dish is called enamorada. The octopus and the salsa fall in love at the table, not in the kitchen. Taste again. Adjust salt. Add a final scattering of cilantro and a pinch of flaky sea salt from Salina Cruz if you have it.

8. 8

   Serve family style

   Spoon the pulpo and all of its juices into a wide barro negro platter or a shallow Oaxacan ceramic bowl. Surround with sliced avocado, hand-pressed corn tostadas, lime halves, and a small molcajete of salsa de árbol for those who want more heat. Eat warm or at room temperature, never refrigerator-cold. Each guest builds their own tostada at the table. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your octopus from a fishmonger you trust. Fresh is ideal but frozen is honestly fine. Octopus that has been frozen and thawed cooks more tender than fresh, because the freezing breaks down the tough muscle fibers. The Spaniards have known this forever and the Oaxacan cooks who care about results know it too. A bad fresh octopus will ruin the dish faster than a good frozen one.
• •Mexican lime, the small green ones called limón criollo, is what you want here. Persian lime is sweeter and rounder and will make the dish taste muffled. If Mexican lime is not at your market, ask. They are usually somewhere, often unlabeled. If you cannot find them at all, use Persian lime but cut the quantity by a third and add a few drops more at the table.
• •Serve this warm or at room temperature. Never cold from the refrigerator. Cold octopus tightens up and the olive oil congeals on the surface. If you are making it ahead, dress it warm, let it sit at room temperature, and serve within two hours of dressing. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo, and pulpo enamorado is not a make-and-forget dish.
• •The wine cork in the cooking water is folklore. Maybe the cork's enzymes do something. Maybe they do not. The cooks of Puerto Ángel keep using it and so do I. If you have a cork, drop it in. If not, do not lose sleep.

Advance Preparation

• •The octopus can be simmered up to four hours ahead and left whole at room temperature, covered loosely. Do not refrigerate it before dressing. Cold octopus tightens and the salsa cannot do its work.
• •The salsa enamorada can be chopped and combined up to one hour ahead, but hold the lime juice and salt until the last minute. Salt and lime pull water from the tomato and the salsa turns watery.
• •Once dressed, the dish is best within two hours. After that the lime continues to cook the octopus and the texture turns chalky.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 315g)