[Suzanne]

In this case, added to the cooking water for octopus: do you have any idea why some people think it helps to tenderize the octopus? Does it really do that? Or do you agree that by the time the cork is tender, the octopus will surely be tender?

[Harold McGee]

I haven’t been able to track down the origins of the cork as a supposed tenderizing agent, but I have done the experiment several times. The cork rides at the top of the pot, with maybe a couple of square millimeters in contact with the liquid, and in my experience makes no difference whatsoever—even when I covered the liquid surface with corks.

Harold