Smoke shrimp like Alton Brown

It has come to my attention, the smoked shrimp method from Alton Brown was not listed on the recipes on FN's site for the South Beach Grillfest show. I have given my best attempt to pick up FN's slack on the matter.

The smoker was made from what looks to be an 18/10 stainless steel bowl, probably a six quart model like AB used as a popcorn popper.

The amount of shrimp is in question as well, but the gallon zip top bag held one quart of water as per Alton's instructions on the brine. The brine was one quart of water, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of salt and 1 teaspoon of red chile flakes. Soak for 45 minutes.

Smoking the shrimp, was straight-forward. One t0 two quarts of charcoal, remember AB said he weighed charcoal in the pork tenderloin episode! From the segment, it looked like the chimney starter was almost full.

The smoker was the large bowl placed over a terracotta planter bottom. Alton then put the glowing red coals in the bowl and added well soaked wood chips. Remember to use hardwood chips for this.

The soaked wood chips cause the charcoal to smoke and serve as the platform for placing the skewered shrimp on for the smoking process. AB used curved skewers in the method.

Lastly, another bowl is placed on top of the big bowl to capture the smoke.

The length of time to smoke the shrimp was not given, but it is safe to say cook until the shrimp turn pink. :)

I love this concept and if I can find a bowl suitable sacrifice for the process, I will be trying it. Of course, this is from 2007 and I still haven't tried it!

The mustard dipping sauce:
1/4 cup whole mustard seeds
1/4 cup dry mustard powder
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
a little water
a little cinnamon
a little ground ginger



Mix all of the ingredients together in a saucepan. Bring to boil. Blend with a stick blender and drizzle in olive oil.


I've even made a similar smoker to try the technique at home!