Peruvian · appetizer

Pulpo al Olivo

Name: Pulpo al Olivo
Prep time: 1 h 11 min
Total time: 1 h 31 min
Cuisine: Peruvian
Ingredients: baby octopus — 1200 g; red onion — 160 g; bay leaf — 1 g; aceitunas de botija — 120 g; mayonnaise — 150 g; lime juice — 15 g; extra-virgin olive oil — 14 g; ground white pepper — 1 g; flat-leaf parsley — 30 g; cancha serrana — 60 g; salt — 3 g

Pulpo al Olivo reads sourness 5.4, citrus 5.3 and salinity 4.7 on Palate's 0–10 flavor X-ray — a Peruvian appetizer, about 1 hr 31 min. Measured from the recipe itself: ingredients and technique.

The flavor X-ray — six axes, 0–10

Umami & Savory — 5.5 / 10
Sweet & Fruity — 1.6 / 10
Sour & Bright — 7.0 / 10
Bitter & Earthy — 2.0 / 10
Rich & Fat — 4.3 / 10
Aromatic & Spice — 3.0 / 10

The measured notes (of 18)

Sourness 5.4 · Citrus 5.3 · Salinity 4.7 · Marine & Briny 4.2 · Richness 3.9 · Umami 3.4 · Herbaceous 2.7 · Allium 1.9 · Bitterness 1.8 · Fruity 1.3 · Nutty 1.2 · Earthy 1.1 · Sweetness 0.9 · Warm Spice 0.9 · Floral 0.9 · Heat 0.7

What's in it (11)

baby octopus — 1200 g
red onion — 160 g
bay leaf — 1 g
aceitunas de botija — 120 g
mayonnaise — 150 g
lime juice — 15 g
extra-virgin olive oil — 14 g
ground white pepper — 1 g
flat-leaf parsley — 30 g
cancha serrana — 60 g
salt — 3 g

Time & effort: about 1 hr 31 min (1 hr 11 min active) · effort: involved

Nutrition (per 100 g, engine-estimated): 81.7 kcal, 10.4 g protein, 2.6 g fat, 3.5 g carbs

Dietary: Contains meat · Contains seafood — engine-derived; double-check anything allergy-critical.

How it's cooked (7 steps)

This is the emblem of Lima's Nikkei kitchen: Rosita Yimura, a Japanese-Peruvian cook in Callao, put a Peruvian olive into a Japanese mayonnaise and served it over octopus sliced like sashimi. It is a whole cuisine in one plate, and it takes twenty minutes of work.
Bring a large pot of unsalted water to the boil with the halved onion and the bay leaves. Salt hardens octopus while it cooks, so hold it back until the end. Take the octopus by the head and dip the tentacles into the boiling water three times, five seconds each, until they curl — this sets the skin so it does not shred.
Lower the whole octopus in, drop the heat to the barest simmer, and cook 45 to 55 minutes, until a knife slides into the thickest part of a tentacle with no resistance. Let it cool in its own water for 20 minutes; pulling it out hot makes it seize.
Meanwhile make the sauce. Blend the botija olives with the mayonnaise, lime juice, white pepper and salt until it is a smooth mauve cream. Do not use a Spanish or Californian black olive here — botijas are cured soft and fruity, and a firm brined olive turns the sauce bitter and grey. Any Latin grocer stocks them in jars.
Cut the cooled tentacles on a sharp bias into 5 mm coins. Fan them over a cold plate, overlapping like scales.
Spoon the olive sauce over the octopus in a broad ribbon, leaving some of it visible. Drizzle with olive oil, scatter the parsley and the cancha, and serve cold — the toasted corn is there for the crunch against the soft octopus.
Substitutions: Japanese kewpie can stand in for the good mayonnaise.

Dishes with a similar flavor shape

Amêijoas à Bulhão Pato — Portuguese
Greek-Style Grilled Tuna Steaks with Lemon-Oregano Oil — Greek
Peruvian Crab Causa — Peruvian
Greek-Style Grilled Swordfish Steaks — Greek
Aguachile Verde de Camarón — Mexican · Sinaloa

Keep reading: what sourness, citrus, salinity mean in the flavor lexicon · the world's cuisines, by flavor.

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Every number above is Palate's engine-measured estimate, computed from this recipe's ingredients and techniques — not human-tasted ratings or reviews.