Now we have had pulpo lots of times in restaurants each time it comes on a Pine plate and is delicious, the pulpo not the plate! So here is how they prepare and cook it in Spain. 
Most people I spoke to started with frozen pulpo, which means that it comes all cleaned and prepared, if you get it fresh you would have to remove the insides from the body, then they recommend that you freeze it, to help soften the flesh.
So to cook.
Frozen pulpo, thawed.
A large pot is filled with water and brought to the boil, add salt pepper bay leaf and one onion (whole).
Hold the pulpo by the top, pulpo is then lowered into the water, brought out, lowered again and on the third lowering you leave it in the boiling water.
Simmer.
Now the length of time depends on the size of the pulpo, but about 20 mins per pound I was told was the norm. The important part is that you keep testing with a fork to see if it’s cooked. Our 3.7lb one was ready in 40 mins (only 10mins a lb). Don’t over cook, otherwise you end up with no flavour. Remove from pan, cut tentacles into half inch pieces, mix with hot olive oil, salt and pepper then when serving, sprinkled cayenne pepper on top. This photo is from a rerastaurant. We only lacked the pine serving tray. Taste was better!
A little heat from the pepper makes all the difference. That’s it simple but tasty.
Most people I spoke to here preferred not to eat the head/body part, but said you could.
1 response so far ↓
1 Margarita // Nov 22, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Looks delicious – hope I could be there to try some
Here is a ‘greek’ recipe you might like to try when you find some more of this delicious meze
—Octopus in Wine—
Ingredients:
– 1 (3 kg) octopus
-250 ml white wine
-250 g chopped tomatoes
-125 ml olive oil
Herbs/aroma givers:
-6 to 8 peppercorns
-1 onion pierced with 4 cloves
-4 cloves of garlic
-1 carrot
-1 small pepper
-1 stick of celery
-1 sprig of thyme
-a pinch oregano
-1 bayleaf
Instructions:
1. We take out the eyes and mouth of octopus and wash it thoroughly.
2. We put it in a pan with the lid on, and add the herbs and wine.
3. We slow-boil the octopus in its own juice until ready (try several times with fork).
4. We take the octopus out and cut it into pieces of approximately 1 inch.
5. We sieve the juice into another pan, we add the tomatoes and oil, and we leave it to boil for 10-15min.
6. We put the octopus back in the juice and we boil for another 5-8min.
7. We serve, eat,drink ouzo or wine, sleep for a couple of hours, wake up, go to the toilet ….and we (usually) don’t forget to flush!