"Squid" news and stories

They're slippery. They're slimy. And they're alive.

This coming week, Fine Living Network will be airing episodes of our favorite Iron Chef Japan in which creatures of the deep are battled every night at 11/10 Central. Watch as these chefs attack and cook living sea creatures in a way that makes you wonder if you're a bad person for watching. This is an excellent week for anyone who hasn't had enough Halloween, or likes Animal Planet and wishes Japanese chefs could be involved.

Not for the squeamish, these squirmy seafoods do get slaughtered right in front of your very eyes. Mother nature would be proud watching the food chain established so aggressively, but your mother might think you need therapy. You be the judge!

Oh, and click here for the Iron Chef Drinking Game.

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• This week's recipes: Black Bean and Ginger Soup with Yellow Rice Pilaf, Chicken Stew with Grapes and Tarragon, and Roman-style Mozzarella Toasts.

It should be no secret to most Slashfood readers by now that I'm a sucker for Japanese snack foods, especially the fishy ones. So, naturally I nearly fell off my chair when I heard of postcards made from dried squid.

The squid postcard pictured here is the brainchild of a fishing cooperative from the coastal town of Susami in Japan's Wakayama prefecture. Surumail, as the postcards are known, takes their name from the surume variety of squid, which is a local delicacy. The critter has been turned into jerky, flattened and then vacuum-packed at which point you can then affix the label and send the whole lot it to your friends and loved ones as a keepsake of your time spent in Susami. The cooperative says it sells between 4,000 and 5,000 of the squiddy souvenirs yearly.

[via Neatorama]

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The web's first Japanese pizza page, as this web site proclaims itself, shows your the truly odd pies they're creating over there. Now, I'm all one for a little adventure in food, but come on, mayonnaise and octopus on a pizza? Gah.

I also love the design of the site. I said to myself, "wow, that's very 1996," and then I scrolled to the bottom of the page and found out that the page was created in 1995. OK, so I was a year off. I love how it looks like they haven't changed it since then (no kidding here, I'm actually serious).

But that still doesn't mean I'm going to throw scallops or crab legs on top of my pizza.

I recently learned that a Japanese confectioner, Sapporo Gourmet Foods, makes lamb-and-vegetable-flavored caramels. It also offers Sapporo-beer flavored candy. I'm no stranger to odd snacks and have fond memories of eating tiny candied crabs (yes, crabs, with shells)  that I bought at renowned snack emporium Aji Ichiban. So what really piqued my interest in this article was squid-flavored chocolate from Takuma Shokuhin. A cursory Web search pulled no results for the company. It did list an old blog entry for chocolate-covered shredded squid, which doesn't sound half bad, kinda salty and sweet. I'm pretty sure this is not the same thing as squid-flavored chocolate.

Before I trek out to Mitsuwa, has anyone ever had either of these strange treats or know where to get them in New York City?

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