Steam shrimp cooker

Abstract

A steam cooker for cooking foodstuffs, especially shellfish such as shrimp, in a continuous cooking process in a pure saturated-steam environment at 100° C. and atmospheric pressure. The cooker comprises a cooking chamber covered by an enclosure movable between a raised position admitting access to the cooking chamber and a lowered cooking position. A conveyor transports shrimp from a feed tank, through an entrance opening, and into an upper cooking region of the cooking chamber where the shrimp are cooked. The conveyor deposits cooked shrimp into a discharge race through an exit for downstream processing. Hydrostatic seals formed at the entrance and exit and between the bottom rim of the enclosure and a water-filled trough bounding the cooking chamber prevent steam from escaping at those places. One or more ports through the floor of the cooking chamber are open to the atmosphere at vertical positions at or below the vertical positions of the hydrostatic seals and are of sufficient cross section to maintain atmospheric pressure within the cooking chamber. A feed mechanism including a paddle for controllably depositing shrimp in the feed tank onto the conveyor is mounted to the enclosure. Lifting the enclosure to the raised position lifts the feed mechanism away from the conveyor for ready access to the cooking chamber. A sampling device can be extended through the discharge race into the cooking chamber to sample cooked shrimp for quality just as they exit the upper cooking region.