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Thursday, June 19, 2008

Olive wood smoked shrimp & ABTs

I wanted to try a different type of wood for smoking, found some pre-packaged olive wood. I made my usual ABTs and homegrown shrimp for the experiment.




For the stuffed jalapenos, I used garlic,
cooked/chopped shrimp, minced green onion
and a squeeze of lemon juice combined with an 8oz package of cream cheese.



I stuffed the halved and seeded jalapenos, then wrapped them in bacon.



I cleaned and deveined the shrimp and marinaded them in a mixture of
evoo
sherry
minced garlic
and my homemade/cold smoked seasoned salt



Then wrapped in bacon.



Onto the smoker.



I smoked at a higher temperature than usual, 315 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.



Both the peppers and shrimp came out great. I made a chipotle dipping sauce, but the flavor was so good, I liked the shrimp with no sauce too. I'm not sure if I will buy more olive wood, it was a bit expensive....but I enjoyed the change.









4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi -

I had a large olive tree which blew down in my front yard during a storm, and I ended up bucking it up with my chain saw into 14 inch lengths, and then split the rounds with an axe. I've had the wood stacked and curing/drying for the past year (about 3/4 of a cord), and am ready to start using it. I've never used olive wood before for my pit smoker and wondered what your experience has been when you used olive wood. What sort of flavor does it impart to the meat, fish, shrimp, etc. ? I understand that olive wood is commonly used in parts of the Mediterranean and in the Middle East.

Thanks,

Michael
(neurocognitive@yahoo.com)

cowgirl said...

Hi Michael,
I found the wood to be very light, mild... almost like an apple wood.
It was nice though.
Sounds like you have a nice supply. That's great!! :)

Anonymous said...

Question: Can I use "green" olive wood for smoking? I have a lot of olive trees and do a lot of smoking. If the wood has to dry, how long should it take to dry out?

Thanks,
Johnny

cowgirl said...

Hey Johnny,
I've never dried olive wood, I buy it already cured...but with other woods I use for smoking, I dry them from 6 months to a year before using. I really prefer wood cured for a year.
Good luck with your smokes! :)