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.  

The Impatient Chef Goes Cajun in "The Great Shrimp Boil".

The Impatient Chef has on occasion delved into Southern Cooking.  It seemed only reasonable to go for the holy grail: The Shrimp Boil.

What is that you say?  It really should be a crawfish boil?  The Impatient Chef prefers shrimp.  Crawfish, as I've had them in the past are, shall we say, an acquired taste, not a required taste.  

This was my first attempt, and I decided to do it without a recipe. My goal was to create the taste I had at a local cajun restaurant a few months ago.  I flavored it a little at a time until I came up with the taste I wanted.  I will be doing it again soon, and may improve upon the recipe.  My wife cleaned her dish completely and waxed poetically about it, so I think it was a success. 

This is a spicy dish.  It isn't the kind that requires a Last Will and Testament, though.  You can survive it.  It has a pleasant burn.  

Feeds 6 because The Impatient Chef cannot feed the whole neighborhood.  Look up some recipes, they call for gallons of boil broth.  

Ingredients: 

• 1 pound shrimp, shelled and deveined (keep the shells)
• 3 ears of corn
• 4 andouille sausages
• 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 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:

1. Steam the potatoes until done.  I used an old fondue skewer to check for doneness, rather than cutting them open.  See “Notes on Potatoes” at the end of the recipe for why I did this.
2. While the spuds are steaming, shell and devein the shrimp, place them into a small bowl of cold water.  Hold for last.  Put the shrimp shells into a medium sauce pan, cover with water, and boil for 10 minutes uncovered to make shrimp broth.  
3. While the shells are boiling, chop the sausage into 1” pieces on an angle.  Cut the corn cobs into 1 1/2 inch pieces.    
4. When the Shrimp shells are done, strain liquid into a 8-cup measuring cup.  If you don’t have that size, use smaller ones to measure out the correct amount of liquid: 6 cups total.
5. When the potatoes are done, remove them from the steamer, and set them aside.  
6. Add the liquid to a large pot, and add the Old Bay, hot sauce, Cajun or Buck’s seasoning, cayenne pepper, butter, salt, pepper, and pressed garlic.  Stir.  Taste.  Adjust.  
7. Bring to a boil, covered, stirring occasionally.
8. Boil the broth for 5 minutes, and, add the potatoes, sausage and corn.  Stir.  
9. Taste.  
10. Boil for about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, trying not to break the potato's skins, then add the shrimp.  Boil for 1 minute.  It does not matter whether the broth boils.  Turn the heat off after a minute.  
11. Serve.  
12. Enjoy.  We like to have buttered sourdough bread, or some rice with this meal. 

         

Notes on Potatoes:  On my second try at this recipe, I chose small, red potatoes.  Ones that were small enough to cook whole.  The thought being that I would get a cleaner broth.  I started by steaming the potatoes, whole, until done, and setting them aside while I prepared the boil broth.  It was a success.  The multi-colored fingerling potatoes shown in the picture had to be cut up, and by the end of the boil, there was a bit of sediment in the bottom, which became worse upon reheating.  Being frugal, we like to eat everything we cook, and the end of the broth was not as pleasurable as the beginning.  With the small, whole potatoes, the broth was indeed very clean.  I cut them apart once in my bowl, and they absorbed plenty of the spicy goodness.  While this method is not traditional, I think it made for a better taste and texture.  

Another change to the recipe was the addition of 2 more cloves of garlic, and I upped the hot sauce to 1/2 cup.