Separating Squid

Whats the best way of seperating a block of frozen squid for bait?

Donagh

A bit of hot water should seperate a few for bait without thawing those underneath.

Failing that a hammer and chisel should do it.
Thats what i use.

Adam

Wrapping things indiviually before freezing is handy too - they don't stick to each other.

[IDPearl]

I take it you've bought a box of frozen squid. If you leave the squid out of the freezer for an hour or so, you will be able to seperate a few of the outer squid. Work around the block and the others will start to seperate too. You can refreeze them straight away either in seperate bags or by placing one in the bottom of a bag, fold it on once, place another one in, etc. You can seperate them by a single sheet of newspaper, but don't forget that newspaper is an insulator, so don't build up layers around the squid. The paper also gets wet, so you still end up peeling the squid apart! Better to use plastic bags!

Unless your'e fishing whole squid for a target species, you should get at least eight strips off a small squid. If you are using the squid to wrap around a cocktail, then you will get three or four from a small squid. Small squid is around 6 inches.

Last edited by IDPearl on Thu Aug 19, 2004 10:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Thanks lads. I find leaving them out to pull them apart can leave bits defrosted. I fish them whole for conger and hopefully bull huss so using a hammer and chisel breaks some of them up. I'll try using hot water idea.

Thanks for the responses.
Donagh

We use squid in work to feed the fish and i find that water hot or cold will thaw the block enough to seperate the squid. I'd definitely use cold water if I was going to refreeze all the squid, because then the squid on the outside of the block will not defrost to quickly. this leaves plenty of time to refreeze them before any of them thaw significantly.