How to scare the octopus before cooking?

How to scare the octopus before cooking?

I love octopus!  And not until two years ago I learned how to cook it and  I am surprise how easy is to cook it and not to mentioned how delicious. 

 My husband likes to help me when we cook octopus, he takes care of washing and taking away some parts of the octopus that you don't want to cook, like the ink sack and the eyes. 

Meanwhile he is washing the octopus, I prepare the boiling water  and some bay leaves, olive oil and sea salt on the instapot.   

To scare an octopus (espantar el pulpo😂)  is a process you need to do to have a tender and not rubbery octopus after is cooked.

Octopus is very rich is collagen and if you just boil it,  the contraction of collagen will make the octopus very hard. When you scare the octopus you will be breaking the collagen with drastic changes of temperature, you will be making brief dippings in hot water and after that is ready to cook. 

Here is a video where you can see how to scare the octopus. 

After we did that, I decided to cook it in an instapot. I cook it for 15 min in the pressure cook mode and did a quick release. I take it out of the instapot and let it cool completely.  Then I sliced it in small chunks and set it aside. 

You can cook it for less time, if you like it more al dente or if you are planning on grilling.  You need to check that it reach an interior temperature of 135 ºF to be safe for eating.