Home Cooking with Steve – Grilled Cajun Shrimp

There are grilling purists out there who believe that anyone who “grills” with propone that they are cheating the art of grilling on an open fire.

As someone who does both, I can say there is a distinct difference between the two, and while cooking on a wood fire takes much more time, it’s the way I prefer when I have the time. At our house, we have a steel fire pit that once had legs but now its bottom bowl is dug into the earth in the back yard. The fencing is old and frayed, it can still be used so why throw it away?

When preparing to grill over a fire, there a few things to consider:

First, is your pit legal for where you live?
What kind of rock will you be placing your grill top on? Please know, regular construction brick is not dense enough and could pop when getting too hot.
When choosing what kind of wood you want to use for the fire, know that the aroma will smoke into what you are grilling (do yourself a favor and never use wood from a pine tree).
The closer your grill top is to your fire, the quicker your meats and veggies will cook.
Have smaller, thinner pieces of wood to place on the hot coals while you are cooking.

A fire below a fire. — Cooking over an open flame is a treat if you can do it.

Grilled Cajun Shrimp

Of course, the shrimp need to be raw, thawed, shelled, and de-veined. The cooking time will depend on the size of the shrimp you purchased. From there, the recipe and steps are easy.

These are my preferred seasonings for the shrimp.

Recipe:

Medium to Large raw shrimp
Cajun seasonings (my favorite are the ones in the photo, and yes, one is a rub rib but it’s very good).
Chili powder to preference
Garlic powder to preference

The shrimp are on the grill. — The shrimp are cooked directly on the grill.

Directions:

In an appropriate-sized mixing bowl, season the shrimp with your favorite Cajun spices.
1. Along with my Cajun seasonings, I add garlic powder and a little chili powder for some extra bite.
Be sure to even out the season on the crustaceans so every bite pops with flavor.
Place the seasoned shrimp on skewers for easy flipping on the grill top.
Put a few smaller pieces of wood on the fire and let them catch and burn a bit.
Place the skewers on the grill top but do not walk away. Shrimp cook quickly!
Depending on the heat of your fire, you will need to flip the skewers after just a few minutes.
Remove the skewers from the grill top and enjoy!