When cooked properly, fried calamari is the perfect appetizer: crisp and tender, perfect for popping into your mouth all on its own, with a spritz of lemon, or dipped into marinara sauce. On the other hand, fried calamari can easily become sad and soggy, chewy to the point of being rubbery, or — worst-case scenario — both of the above.
Luckily, there are two key steps that guarantee crispy-tender fried calamari to rival anything you’ll find at your favorite fried seafood joint. First, make sure to give the calamari a quick marinade in buttermilk; this helps tenderize it and also adds flavor. Next, after you drain off the buttermilk, toss the calamari pieces in a mixture of all-purpose and rice flour. The rice flour (regular not sweet!) helps create a delicate coating that shatters when you bite into it.
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