I've bought an octopus from my fish monger, but, when I asked if he could clean it, he openly admitted he's never done octopus before and doesn't know how. Well, neither do I but I've taken it on myself. This is clearly a poor decision, I don't even like gutting fish!
I'm reading up on this, and a certain website says the following
Octopus must also be cleaned, so you may want to ask your fish monger to do it if you're uncomfortable doing so yourself. Hold the head under running water to simply remove and discard the ink sac, stomach, and eyes. Then use a sharp knife to cut out the beak, which is found at the bottom of the head
I'm very lost with this statement; it seems like the article suggests by holding the head under water, everything will just fall away (doubtful otherwise it would have a rubbish time being a sea creature!). Has it glossed over the 'how' because it's very difficult?
More reading on other sites suggests that the head is very gelatinous and the vast majority of meat/flavor is from the arms.
So, based upon my own research (if it is correct), is it worth cleaning an octopus (and if so, can some one explain how) or would I be better off just chopping the head off (and removing the beak) and discarding them, keeping just the legs/arms?