I like the idea of squid. I like the look of it. It's funky. It's cheap and plentiful and I can buy it easily in a great fishmonger's in Shoreham. I mean; there it is - a few easy gentle strokes with a sharp knife and it obligingly twists up and makes me look good. But... I've decided it's too easy to just go with that because underneath all that glam foody stuff remains an aftertaste, a puff of floorcloth kept under the sink. I tried cooking it long and slow; same thing. I tried flash frying; better, but still a bit floorclothy. More like, I imagine, the Queen's floorcloth, so better - but even she keeps it in a cupboard that doesn't get opened too often. The tentacles are best, I find, but the body, though cleaned and as fresh as you like, always leaves me more impressed with the look of things rather than making me want to go again tomorrow and buy more. Kippers are a bit like that. I can get very very good kippers. They're as kippery as a kipper can be, not too strong, nice and sweet, tender after jugging, and I do enjoy eating it. A lot. But after scraping the bits into the bin and doing what I can to rid the jug, the plate, the sink, my clothes, my mouth, the cat of lingering essence of smoked oily fish I've sort of had enough kipper for a year. Are there any other foods like this? Tastes that are good, once every now and then? I'll have to think on that...
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