Bocadillo de calamares
Madrid's most famous sandwich, sold in the bars around Plaza Mayor from morning to night — paradoxically in a city 300 km from the sea. The recipe is simple: a baguette and fried squid, nothing more, at most a squeeze of lemon or alioli. The whole art is the squid: fried briefly, 90 seconds at most, since longer turns it rubbery, and coated in flour only, without egg, so the coating is thin and crisp.
Your own work in that: 5 min.
- Squid 15 min
- Soaking in milk 30 min
- Frying 10 min
- Assembly 5 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneClean the squid and cut rings
Remove the clear quill and innards from the tubes, peel off the thin skin and cut into rings 1 cm wide. Even width matters — uneven rings fry at different rates.
Ingredients: 600 g squid · 250 ml milk · 120 g plain flour · 1 tsp salt · 600 ml olive oil
Even, a centimetre each — they fry at the same pace.Soak the rings in milk
Cover the rings with milk for 30 minutes in the fridge. Milk mellows the sharp sea smell — a common trick in Spanish bars.
Ingredients: 600 g squid · 250 ml milk · 120 g plain flour · 1 tsp salt · 600 ml olive oil
Heat the oil to 180°C
Heat the oil in a deep pan to 180°C. Oil too cool soaks into the coating and the squid turns greasy, and fried longer at a low temperature it turns rubbery.
Ingredients: 600 g squid · 250 ml milk · 120 g plain flour · 1 tsp salt · 600 ml olive oil
Coat in flour and shake off
Drain the rings, pat lightly dry and toss in the salted flour. Tip into a sieve and shake off the excess. Flour only, no egg — this gives a thin, crisp coating.
Ingredients: 600 g squid · 250 ml milk · 120 g plain flour · 1 tsp salt · 600 ml olive oil
Flour only, shaken in a sieve — thin and crisp.Fry briefly, in batches
Fry the rings in batches for 60–90 seconds, until pale gold. No longer: squid cooks in a minute, then toughens like an elastic band. Too many at once chills the oil.
Ingredients: 600 g squid · 250 ml milk · 120 g plain flour · 1 tsp salt · 600 ml olive oil
A minute, ninety seconds at most — then rubber.Drain and salt at once
Lift the squid onto paper with a slotted spoon and salt it at once, while hot. Salt clings only to a hot coating. Keep warm in the oven while you fry the rest.
Ingredients: 600 g squid · 250 ml milk · 120 g plain flour · 1 tsp salt · 600 ml olive oil
Split and briefly toast the baguettes
Split the baguettes lengthways, not all the way through, and toast them briefly in the oven so the crust crisps. In Madrid the baguette should be fresh, with a crisp crust and soft crumb.
Ingredients: 4 pcs baguettes · 1 pcs lemon · 4 tbsp alioli or garlic mayonnaise
Fill with squid and serve at once
Fill the baguettes generously with hot squid, squeeze over lemon or spread with alioli. Serve immediately — in Madrid bars a bocadillo comes hot, the squid crunching at every bite.
Ingredients: 4 pcs baguettes · 1 pcs lemon · 4 tbsp alioli or garlic mayonnaise
Before you start
Without sauce is also original
Purists eat bocadillo de calamares plain — just bread and squid, maybe a drop of lemon — but many Madrid bars serve it with mayonnaise or alioli. Worth trying both.
Frozen squid is fine
Good-quality frozen squid rings give a very good result, provided you thaw them slowly in the fridge and dry them thoroughly before coating. Avoid pre-breaded rings.
Eat immediately
A dish of one moment: after five minutes the coating softens from steam and the bread soaks up fat. Prepare and soak the squid ahead; fry only when everyone is at the table.
