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Terrifying Cthulhu-yaki created by lazy Japanese home chef

Casey Baseel Oct 17, 2019
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If you’re using the Necronomicon as your cookbook, you might end up with something like this monstrosity.

Takoyaki, round, bite-sized dumplings, are one of Japan’s most popular street foods, but they’re actually pretty easy to make at home too, provided you’ve got the proper equipment. All you need to do is pour the batter into the half-sphere indentions of the special hot plate, add a little morsel of sliced seafood, and cook them until they’re closed, giving you a batch of tasty golden brown spheres with delightfully gooey centers.

▼ A takoyaki maker from manufacturer Iris Ohyama, which sells on Amazon for 1,166 yen (US$11).

▼ Takoyaki

Traditionally, the filling for takoyaki is supposed to be octopus (tako in Japanese), but you can actually put whatever you want in there, like squid. Now, since the dumplings are called takoyaki when they’re made with octopus, you might expect this variation to be called ikayaki, since ika is the Japanese word for “squid.” “Ikayaki,” though, already refers to a whole grilled squid just by itself, and so squid takoyaki don’t really have an official name. In the case of this example recently shared by Japanese Twitter user @7_0_1_, several people think it should be called “Cthulhu-yaki,” and it’s pretty easy to see why.

？ pic.twitter.com/Q796iLn2H1

— 701 (@7_0_1_) October 4, 2019

Remember when we said takoyaki is easy to make? That’s true in the sense that it’s not complicated, but the prep work is kind of a hassle. Because the dumplings are bite-sized, you have to chop the fillings into tiny pieces, and if you don’t periodically stir each of them with a toothpick or other pointy utensil while they’re cooking, the batter can burn or overflow. So apparently whoever was in charge of cooking the batch shown in @7_0_1_’s tweet decided that was too much of a hassle, and just planted a half-dozen or so bunches of uncut squid tentacles atop the hot plate, kept pouring batter until the whole thing was covered, and left it cook until it took on the appearance of a dark deity being summoned from an interdimensional realm of bubbling starch.

The startling visual earned multiple shout-outs to H.P. Lovecraft’s literary icon, including an enthusiastic “Rise, Cthulhu, rise!” Terror is as subjective as taste, though, and with squid tentacles being commonly eaten in Japan, more than one commenter also said he’d like to have a bite of the edible Old One.

Source: Twitter/@7_0_1_ via IT Media
Top image: Pakutaso
Insert images: Amazon/アイリスオーヤマ(IRIS OHYAMA), SoraNews24
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Follow Casey on Twitter, where’s he’s partial to shrimp-filled takoyaki.