I was at a restaurant recently and had some excellent peeled, tail-on shrimp that was cooked on a "wood fire oven" like they use for wood-fire oven pizzas. It was excellent, and inspired me to try to smoke some shrimp at home.

I didn't find much on the forums about how best to smoke peeled, deveined shrimp. So I took a stab at it and did the following:

* Put a half rack of frozen large sized peeled and deveined shrimp that you can buy in the frozen food section of Sam's Club.

* Smoked at 250 degrees with 1 oz. of mesquite for 2 hours. Once they were done, I drizzled them with lemon juice.

The verdict: They were way over done and very rubbery tasting. Oh well, live and learn. However, the smoke taste was excellent and I could tell that it has the potential to taste very good if it's not overcooked.

Next time I think I'll do the same as mentioned above, but only put it in for an hour. Does this sound about right? Has anyone else smoked peeled shrimp and had success? Have any tips to share?

Here ya go Studly. I searched on smoked shrimp and found this.

Smoked shrimp link

bob

Thanks! Yup I did read that before smoking my shrimp, but because my shrimp was unthawed, I thought it would take a lot longer. Plus cooking for only 20 minutes, as that thread said, seemed too little time to me (since it takes the smoker at least 20 minutes to preheat and get to the desired temp), but now I know that the correct time would be closer to 20 minutes than the two hours that I tried out!!

I'm guessing that 45 minutes to an hour would be the right amount of time to cook frozen, unthawed, peeled shrimp, when the smoker hasn't been preheated. What do the rest of you think?

Also, I see that many people smoke shrimp with the shell on. Wouldn't the shell block the smoke so it doesn't settle on the shrimp meat?

Any tips would be appreciated!

Studly, no need to cook shrimp frozen. Those babies will thaw in no time. Just dump 'em in a big bowl, fill it with cold tap water and let the fauced run at barely a rtickle. They'll defrost in minutes.

studly .
hope this helps. for steamed shrimp they only take 3 to 5 mins. i think you are cooking way to long and that 20 mins is correct.
try this - preheat smoker and get your smoke running good and pop them in for the 20 mins. i think you will like the results better. and for all you northerners gator smokes just like chicken (cepting of course the legs, theys tuff)
jack
2 Greyhounds....SMOKIN!!!!

I do them as jack suggests.

I also learned from Stuart that if you let the mesquite smoke until it burns off the yellow smoke,before you put the shrimp,it lessens the bitter taste that mesquite can sometimes give.

My husband always makes smoked shrimp for parties. He does not peel them, but drizzles a little oil on them and seasons them with lots of spicy stuff, like jerk seasoning or Cookshack Spicy Chicken Rub. The smoke does penetrate the shell, with just enough of the spicy taste to make them gooooooooodddddd. They go in at 180 degrees for about 45 minutes with 1 - 2 oz. hickory wood.

We serve them in a big bowl with plenty of napkins and they disappear like they are evaporating.

Donna

I marinate in pineapple juice, garlic, butter, lemon pepper, old bay seasoning, etc. I use mesquite as suggested above waiting for the yellow smoke to burn off on 200*F. With the seafood rack completely covered, I usually leave them in for 30 minutes. YUMMY!

Thanks for the tips every one! Looks like I have to crank down the temp and limit the time to 30-45 minutes.

Donna - When your hubby smokes these, doe he put them in a jerky screen on some other "container" to keep them from falling thru the std CS racks? Sorry if this is a dumb question.

bob