Uncooked but still Smoked Shrimp

princess said:

I don't know if I should put this in Food Safety or here, but since this is the place where people deal with shrimpies... I figured I'd start here.

I want to make my favorite Shrimp Gumbo-Laya recipe.

My recipie calls for raw shrimp, peeled.

I want a smoky flavor on my shrimp.

So here's what I think I want to do, and please tell me if this sounds crazy:

I want to buy my raw shrimp, thaw them, peel them, brine them and smoke them. Low low low temp fruitwood (Apple, I think, or maybe Pear) and get them nice and smoky flavored, then bring them in the house and cook them like I normally would for the Shrimp Gumbo-Laya recipe.

How long is it safe to smoke the shrimp? Does the same "40 to 140 in 4hr" rule that I use for beef, pork & chicken apply? I have only smoked shrimp once before and as a landlocked MidWesterner, shrimp are a pricey delicacy... In other words, I don't want to screw this up!

Help?

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princess said:

So here's what I ended up doing... (I apologize for the poor res pics... just had the camera phone handy)

Found really good shrimp, fresh-never-frozen flown in from Maryland at D&R. $14.99 lb, appx 22 to a pound. The heads had been removed, but I still had to shell them.



Brined in a nice icy cold good brine. I used 3 qt + 2 cups of water and 2 cups of sake. Sliced lemon. Garlic cloves (smashed & sliced) some bay leaves, some peppercorns, 1 c. kosher salt and 1/2 c. sugar. Boiled, cooled & chilled the day before.



Turned on the smoker, dampers open ALL the way, running applewood small chips. Waited for the smoke to look nice and pretty. Patted the shrimp dry with paper towels, then popped them onto my tray. Top rack of the smoker, and it was cold enough out that it was only about 90* up there.



Left them in for an hour.

They had dried and gotten nice and tacky, but were obviously still very raw. Tossed them into a sautee pan with butter, garlic and a little more sake.



Served over rice. DELISH!!

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