Why it works: Squid and olive work together. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and 203 recipes mention both. Both carry nonanal, which smells fat, citrus. The science ↓
The recipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the squid
Wash and clean the squid, separating the outer sacs from the heads and tentacles, removing and discarding the translucent cartilage, and small sandbag and ink.
Rub salt on the outer sacs and rinse them inside and out with cold water. Rinse head and tentacles thoroughly.
Cook
Heat the oil in a pan, add the squid, including the tentacles, and onions, and cook slowly until the onions are translucent.
Pour the vinegar and wine over the squid and onions, then add the remaining ingredients and enough water to almost cover the squid, if necessary.
Cook, uncovered, over low heat until the squid are tender and all the wine has been absorbed, approximately 1 to 1 1/4 hours.
Remove the spices and bay leaf.
Serve
Cut the squid into bite-sized pieces and serve warm or cold.
This recipe comes from the Recipes Wiki on Fandom and is licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Our formatting and summaries are shared under the same licence.
Steps grouped into stages for easier reading; the method is the source's own.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.
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Squid + olivetop 5% of all pairsAroma overlaplowMentioned together203 recipes
Shared aroma: nonanal (fat, citrus).
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Cinnamon + clovetop 1% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together14,027 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Clove + peppertop 3% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together13,144 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl octanoate (fruity, wine).
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Red wine + clovetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapmoderateMentioned together636 recipes
Shared aroma: ethyl cinnamate (sweet, balsamic).
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Vinegar + red winetop 4% of all pairsAroma overlapstrongMentioned together569 recipes
Shared aroma: sotolon (curry, maple).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Squid
- Forms the main body of the dish, becoming tender during long, slow simmering.
- Onions
- Soften and turn translucent, adding sweetness and body to the cooking liquid.
- Dry red wine
- Adds acidity and flavour, and reduces as the squid cooks.
- Vinegar
- Adds sharp acidity that brightens the rich, slow-cooked flavour.
- Olive oil or corn oil
- Carries heat for initial cooking and adds richness to the sauce.
The step that matters
Long, uncovered simmer over low heat. Squid turns from tender to rubbery if cooked too hard or too briefly. Gentle low heat lets the connective tissue soften while the liquid slowly reduces and is absorbed.
Flavor stand-ins for the onion
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (squid, olive, vinegar, red wine, cinnamon, clove, pepper):
- Capsicumbetter flavor fit
- Tomatobetter flavor fit
- Carrotbetter flavor fit
- Onionthe original
Fit is the average pairing score against squid, olive, vinegar, red wine, cinnamon, clove, pepper. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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