Celebrity chef Bobby Flay at a live cooking demonstraton. - Alexander Tamargo/Getty Images For all but the most experienced or merely cavalier among us, octopus can be pretty tricky to make at home.

To make the octopus meatballs, start by cooking the octopus (already cleaned): place it in a large pot immersed in cold water (1), add a scant handful of coarse salt (2), black peppercorns, crushed ...

If you've ever come across this unusual tip - putting a cork in the pan when cooking octopus - and thought it was superstition or an eccentric chef's trick... know that there's a reason behind this ...