Calamari Fritti — Crispy Fried Squid with Lemon

Use 600 g already cleaned and drained squid; when buying it, ask for tubes, fins, and tentacles with no innards, cartilage, skin, eyes, or beaks. Cut the tubes into rings about 1 cm wide and the fins into strips of a similar width. Cut larger tentacle clusters in half lengthwise and leave small ones whole. Pat every piece thoroughly dry with paper towels, including inside the rings and between the tentacles, to reduce splattering during frying.

Put the flour in a wide bowl and have a dry sieve ready for shaking off the excess. Wash and dry the lemon, then cut it into 8 wedges, removing any visible seeds. Prepare a plate lined with paper towels and a rack for the fried squid after a brief drain.

Pour 1 l oil into a stable pot with an inside diameter of about 20 cm and a height of at least 12 cm. The oil should be about 3 cm deep, with plenty of room above it; do not fill the pot more than one-third of its height. Heat over medium-high heat for about 10 minutes to a frying temperature of about 180°C. The oil should not smoke; adjust the heat as you fry to maintain this temperature.

Divide the squid into 6 small batches of about 100 g each. Just before frying, coat the first batch in flour, separating the rings, then gently shake it in the sieve over the bowl. A thin coating of flour should remain on the surface, with no loose clumps; coat each remaining batch only just before adding it to the oil.

Carefully lower the floured squid into the hot oil, keeping it close to the surface, and separate any pieces that stick together with a dry slotted spoon. Fry each batch for about 2–3 minutes, until the coating is light golden and crisp and the squid is tender; do not keep frying to achieve a dark brown color. Remove the batch and let the oil return to about 180°C before adding the next one, usually for 1–2 minutes; coat the next batch in flour during this time. Fry all 6 batches this way, allowing about 30 minutes for frying, transferring the squid, and reheating the oil; discard the flour left over from coating.

Hold each batch briefly over the pot as you lift it out, place it on paper towels for about a minute, and sprinkle with some of the salt. Transfer to the rack in a single layer so steam does not soften the coating; divide all the salt among the fried batches. Serve each batch as it is ready with lemon wedges, allowing a total of 2 wedges for each of the 4 portions; squeeze over the juice just before eating to keep the squid crisp. The oil left in the pot is not part of the served dish.