Octopus can be a challenge to grill as all of its strength and muscle structure is distributed throughout its eight arms, making it quite firm and rubbery. Like its cephalopod cousin the squid, octopus is either best cooked very quickly or very slowly and should be tenderised before cooking – it is said that the Greeks would traditionally beat octopus forty times on a rock.
At the restaurant, we use a medium octopus from the Roaring Forties waters of the Bass Strait. They are captured using a specially designed pot and then tenderised. The intense heat of the embers cooks the octopus really quickly, maintaining its tenderness. Here, cooking over a wood fire imbues octopus with a smoky char, complemented by the bittersweet radicchio and enriched with buttery guanciale and the creamy texture of macadamia which, when finely shaved, looks like parmesan.