Grilled Octopus???

[StickyDan]

I did a little searching but didn't find much so I'm hoping you guys can chime in with some advice.
First, the back story.
So I was recently in Las Vegas and we stopped at a place called Seablue at the MGM for happy hour.  They had a variety of appy's for cheap so we tried a few different things.  The one that stood out the most was the grilled "Octopops".  It was basically a small popcicle stick with a piece of octopus on it which was than grilled on an oak fire.  Man things where tasty and the octopus was so freakin' tender.  Not at all rubbery like all the other octopus I've had in the past.  It was probably seasoned lightly with some S&P but the real flavour came from the oak. 
So we're having some friends over for appys and drinks tomorrow night so I figured I would try to make some octopops.  Obviously I don't have an oak fire but I do have a Bradley with some oak pucks.  I'm thinking I would cold smoke the octopus for 20 minutes and than cook on the grill and serve.  Now some of the research of done mentions boiling the octopus before grilling. It supposedly helps tenderize it.   I've also seen mention of people beating the crap out of the octopus to tenderize and something else about boiling with the cork from a wine bottle.  Is this really necessary or will boiling the octopus make it more rubbery?  Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks

[Ka Honu]

You can't take a fresh octopus and dry cook (smoke, roast, broil, etc.) it, no matter how much you beat it.  We used to put octopus through an old washing machine mangle and/or freeze it to help tenderize.  You still have to boil and/or pressure cook it beforehand.  Norm is about an hour of cooking followed by an overnight marinade before smoking and/or grilling.

[StickyDan]

So you're saying I should boil for about an hour tonight and marinade over night?  Any suggestions for a marinade?
I only plan on cold smoking for about 20 mins and than grill.  Any thoughts on how to grill these things?

[Ka Honu]

Assuming you're basically looking for Greek-style, there's a pretty good recipe and technique explanation here and a shorter one with pressure cooker info here.  You could smoke before you grill, but you must do the boil/tenderize thing first.

[StickyDan]

Thanks Ka honu. Some good info there.
The octopus was great and I'm sure our guests where surprised to see it on the menu.  Even the non-seafood people gave it a try. 
Here' what I did in case anyone wants to try this and I suggest you do.
Boiled the octopus for about an hour and 20 min.  I put salt, pepper, vinegar, red wine and garlic powder in the water.
Rinsed the now shrivelled up octopus under cold water and placed it in a ziplock back.  I marinated it with EVOO, garlic, shallot, cilantro and S&P for about 5 hours. 
I cold smoked it in the BDS for 20 mins using a Crown Royal puck and than onto the grill at high heat long enough to warm it up and add a little charring. 
Once complete, i chopped it up into bit size pieces, added a tooth pic and served. 
As mentioned, these things shrivel up to probably half their original size so considering the amount work involved, I think I'll probably do 2 or 3 next time. 
Cheers

[ArnieM]

How big was it?  I saw some done on TV that were about sandwich size.

[StickyDan]

Honestly I'm to sure.  I didn't even look at the package to see how much it weighed but my guess would be about a pound to a pound and a half. 
I'd say the head has about the size of my hand before I cooked it.  After the cook, the head shrunk down to the the size of my 2 thumbs. 

[Caneyscud]

Interesting read.  I've never smoked octopus before - the only octopus we can get here is occassionally Whole Paycheck has "baby" octopuses for sale.  I usually fry them like calamari.  While in Athens, had some "big" octopus at the tavernas.  Really liked it, but haven't been able to cook it myself.  Maybe when Restaurant Depot opens up they can get it!

[ETHIKILL]

Awesome, cold smoked and grilled octopus!  I never would have thought.  I will be giving this a try.  Thanks for the write up.