Ink & Feather

Eighty recipes for the things most people walk past at the counter — octopus, duck, quail, rabbit, sea urchin, whole fish — across eight chapters. Nothing here needs a specialist supplier or a licence. It is all sold at a decent fish counter, a butcher who breaks down whole animals, or an Asian or Italian grocer, and every recipe says which.

Recipes

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What's inside

01 10 recipes

Octopus & Squid

Both go tender or rubbery on one decision: long and slow, or hot and brief.

02 10 recipes

Duck & Goose

All of them are really about rendering the fat out before the skin can crisp.

03 10 recipes

Sushi & Sashimi at Home

Starting with the rice, which is where nearly every fault is.

04 10 recipes

Crudo, Tartare & the Cold Plate

Built in the last two minutes before the plate goes out.

05 10 recipes

Oysters, Scallops & Sea Urchin

Including the shucking grip that makes the first one possible.

06 10 recipes

Quail, Squab & Rabbit

Small animals with no fat to forgive five extra minutes.

07 10 recipes

Roe, Cure & the Cold Larder

These need salt, time and cold, and not one of them a stove.

08 10 recipes

Monkfish, Eel & the Odd Fish

What the counter still has at four in the afternoon, which is why it is cheap.

Sample recipe · page 12

Salt and Pepper Squid

Ingredients

1½ lb (700 g) squid, cleaned
½ cup cornstarch
1 tsp fine salt
2 tsp black pepper, coarsely ground
6 cups neutral oil, to fry
3 scallions, sliced
2 red chiles, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 lime, in wedges

Method

Cut the squid bodies into rings and halve the tentacle clusters. Dry them on paper towels for 10 minutes.
Mix the cornstarch, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss the squid through it, shaking off the excess.
Heat the oil to 375°F. Fry in three batches, 90 seconds each, until pale gold and no longer.
Lift onto a rack, not paper — paper traps steam and the coating goes soft.
Pour off all but a spoon of oil and fry the scallions, chiles and garlic for 30 seconds.
Toss the squid through them and serve with the lime.

Page 12 of Ink & Feather — Salt and Pepper Squid recipe with dual metric weights and steps

Where to buy it, in the recipeEach chapter opens on something most readers have never carried home, so what to ask for and what to refuse is written into the method rather than left to a footnote. Where frozen beats fresh — octopus is the clear case — it says so.

Every counted piece carries its weightTwo duck breasts is anywhere from 300 to 500 grams depending on the bird. Each piece is given with a gram weight beside it, and the per-serving figures are computed from those weights rather than from a guess at the size.

Six recipes are eaten raw, and say soThe crudo, the tartare and the cured anchovies each carry the handling step in the method where it cannot be skipped — including the two-day freeze before the anchovies are cured.