ISO: Crispy Calamari

We were given a couple of packages of freshly caught and beautifully cleaned squid today. I used one of those boxes of Seafood batter mixes and added a bunch of Old Bay seasonings, plus salt and pepper.

I used a candy thermometer and brought the oil up to the 375 mark, which was recommended and dropped the battered rings/tentacles into it. They cooked for 3-4 minutes, and never got brown and all the batter seemed to disappear.

We LOVE calamari and get it all the time, but I've never made it myself. I have one more batch to go, so want to see if anyone has a recipe for CRISPY Calamari and has any idea what I might have done wrong.

It looked anemic and had no crunch to it at all - very disappointing, the bigger rings were starting to be rubbery. DH ate the whole platter of it because he likes it any old way, I couldn't eat it.

Hope to get a response from someone - would like to try the last batch tomorrow.

Thanks - June