In Central Texas (including ATX), you can buy an octopus in Central Market or Asian supermarkets. Central Market labels its octopus as Mediterranian, while Asian species come from Thailand and the Philippines. After cooking both types, I noticed Asian octopus is somewhat bland and thus benefits from salt and basic spices added to the cooking water. Mediterranian one doesn’t need any. In a search to confirm my experience, I came across Mark Bittman’s Octopus Demystified. He says: “After weeks of cooking octopus from all over the world, I detected little or no difference in quality between those from Europe and those from Asia.” Does it have anything to do with quality or not, but to my taste, a Mediterranian octopus is much more flavorful than an Asian. Try both and see for yourself.
Where the octopus comes from is important because the recipe below is for a Mediterranian octopus.
