I really like smoked oyster and clams. I first had octopus in DC where they fry baby octopus with calamari as an appetizer. Our local King Soopers used to sell the baby octopus as Teriaki Octopus, which was really tasty. We have a local Korean market that sells octopus and I've tried some of their Korean style barbecue that was excellent (couldn't get my wife to believe that though.)
I saw a reference to Octopus Bacon in Nico's Food Adventures, a food blog written by a Chilean grad student in Vancouver writing his thesis on Vancouver restaurants serving sustainable seafood. It looked interesting and I found the following recipe using a Google search.
Octopus Bacon
Serves 12
12 pounds octopus, washed well
8 ounces course kosher salt
4 ounces sugar
32 ounces water
2 pounds course pickling salt for washing the meat
Using 1/3 of the pickling salt as an abrasive, scrub the octopus to remove the protective outer membrane. Rinse. Repeat this step three times using the rest of the pickling salt. Rinse well then place in a non-reactive container and cover with the salt, sugar and water mixture. Brine for 14-18 hours. Rinse. In a warm smoker, using maple chips, treat octopus for about two hours. When the meat is smoked, place in a large pot and cover with canola oil. Cook slowly, as you would for confit, for about 1 ½ to 2 hours, depending on the size of the octopus. Let the meat cool in the oil. When cold enough to handle, drain off the oil. Wearing rubber gloves, remove the suction cups from the tentacles, by running your closed hand down the arm from the head to the tips. The octopus is done when the suction cups can be easily removed from the flesh. Cut the arms into 6 to 8 inch lengths and then slice rashers of “bacon†from these tubes.
I saw a reference to Octopus Bacon in Nico's Food Adventures, a food blog written by a Chilean grad student in Vancouver writing his thesis on Vancouver restaurants serving sustainable seafood. It looked interesting and I found the following recipe using a Google search.
Octopus Bacon
Serves 12
12 pounds octopus, washed well
8 ounces course kosher salt
4 ounces sugar
32 ounces water
2 pounds course pickling salt for washing the meat
Using 1/3 of the pickling salt as an abrasive, scrub the octopus to remove the protective outer membrane. Rinse. Repeat this step three times using the rest of the pickling salt. Rinse well then place in a non-reactive container and cover with the salt, sugar and water mixture. Brine for 14-18 hours. Rinse. In a warm smoker, using maple chips, treat octopus for about two hours. When the meat is smoked, place in a large pot and cover with canola oil. Cook slowly, as you would for confit, for about 1 ½ to 2 hours, depending on the size of the octopus. Let the meat cool in the oil. When cold enough to handle, drain off the oil. Wearing rubber gloves, remove the suction cups from the tentacles, by running your closed hand down the arm from the head to the tips. The octopus is done when the suction cups can be easily removed from the flesh. Cut the arms into 6 to 8 inch lengths and then slice rashers of “bacon†from these tubes.
