The Impatient Chef Celebrates the Anniversary of the Great Cajun Shrimp Boil

It's been a year since I posted the Shrimp Boil recipe, and I have made it quite a few times since then.  Today I made a change.  Not to the recipe, but to the cooking method.

Enter: The Multi-Cooker.

The Impatient Chef is a cast iron pan kind of cook.  Give him a heavy pan, and a steady fire to sail her by, and you'll be in supper heaven before the sun sets.  So the Multi-Cooker seems like a sharp turn through the guardrails of cookware preference, and a fiery crash into the ravine of trendiness. But, fear not, all is well.  There is a reason for this that is more practical than it may seem.  

The Impatient Chef owns a Jenn-Air stove, half of which is a grill.  The grill half is a complete waste of cook space.  It will never be used as intended because it would be impossible to clean.  That leaves only 2 usable burners.  If the Impatient Chef was wealthier, he would replace it.  We play the cards that are dealt, so the grill side serves mostly as a place to put the deep fryer, or as a bread cooling rack.  An induction hot plate added a third burner, and now the Multi-Cooker makes a fourth, and, more importantly, is both a pressure cooker, and steamer among other things.

The Multi-Cooker version of the Great Cajun Shrimp Boil uses 3 of the cooker's functions, and makes only one pot dirty.  It also speeds up the process.   The multi-cooker you use for this recipe should have these settings: pressure cook, sauté, and simmer.  

This recipe also parts with the previous by using frozen shelled and de-veined shrimp instead of fresh.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds frozen shrimp (shelled and de-veined)
• 3 ears of corn
• 4 andouille sausages (I use ones that are about 10" long. Use more sausages as necessary.
• 1 1/2 lbs new potatoes (small and red), or other, just not russet. 
• 8 cups water (including the shrimp broth) 
• 7 large cloves garlic, pressed 
• 3/4 cup hot sauce (Franks, or Louisiana Hot) 
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp Old Bay Seasoning 
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or more if you dare) 
• 1/2 stick of butter 
• 1/2 tsp salt 
• Freshly ground pepper to taste 
• 1 1/2 tbsp Tony Chachere’s Cajun seasoning, or Buck’s Zestier BBQ seasoning

Directions:

I used the steamer basket for the potatoes, but used the pressure cook setting.  Go figure.  I think that they turn out better when not submerged in water.  I used a cup and a half of water.  

Prep: 

1. Get the shrimp out of the freezer.
2. Crush the garlic.
3. Husk the corn, and cut each cob into 3 to 4 pieces
4. Cut the sausage into 1" diagonal slices.
5. Measure out the seasonings into a small dish.  
6. Measure out the hot sauce.  
7. Measure out the 6 cups of water.  

Cooking:  

1. Add the potatoes to the steaming basket, put the lid on, and set the valve to Pressure.  Set the function for Pressure Cook/vegetables/high/5 minutes, and hit Start.
2. When the cooker alerts you that it is done, Select Stop (or off), and let the steam out by turning the pressure valve to Steam, or by whatever means your multi-cooker uses to do the same thing.  Just don't open the lid before depressurizing the cooker.  Remove the potatoes, and dump out the water.   Set the potatoes aside.
3. Set the cooker for 300 degrees/Sauté.  Hit Start.  Melt the butter, and add the garlic.  Sauté, stirring constantly for a minute, no more. 
4. Select Stop on the cooker.  
5. Immediately add water, and the corn.  If your cooker does not advise adding cold water to the hot kettle, warm it up first while completing the first 4 steps.  Put the lid on, and set the valve to Pressure.  Select Pressure Cook/vegetables/high/8 minutes, and hit Start.
6. When the cooker indicates done, set the valve to Steam to vent the pressure.  
7. Remove the lid, and add the potatoes, and sausage.  Add the spices and hot sauce.  Stir and put the lid on.  Leave the valve on Steam.  
8. Set the cooker for Simmer/Soup/55 minutes.  You won't use all of that time, so if your cooker has smaller time settings, the total time should be 15 minutes when up to temperature.  Hit Start.
9. Once the cooker indicates that it is up to temperature, set a timer for 10 minutes, or just look at a the clock on the cooker.
10. After 10 minutes, remove the lid, add the shrimp, stir, and put the lid back on.  Let simmer for 5 more minutes total.  If your cooker uses some of that time to get back up to temperature before restarting the timer, the shrimp will be overdone.  It should be 5 minutes from the time you add the shrimp.
11. Serve in a bowl with buttered sourdough bread on the side.  

Notes:  

This version streamlines the recipe quite a bit, and still yields a flavorful broth with the right hit of spice, and all of the high notes of the shrimp and sausage.  Total prep and cooking time was less than an hour.  Impatient Chefs everywhere rejoice!

Thanks for looking!

--The Impatient Chef.