Shrimp cocktail sauce

[Sugarella]

Having spent another round of holidays looking forward to shrimp cocktail apps only to have them served to me smothered in the standard vile storebought horseradish/ketchup concoction, I've decided this past week to buy myself a boatload of shrimp and experiment with sauces myself. The end goal here, for me, is that after you dip the shrimp you should still be able to taste the shrimp, which is something that horseradish versus ketchup thing does not allow for.

I've come up with one so far that's half decent.... it's basically an acidic pureed salsa with hints of good soy and cilantro in the background. I'm happy with that one.

But as I don't know from sauces, the other experiments are going all wrong....

I'd like to make something sort of like a lemon cream, perhaps with a hint of saffron in it, and another creamy sauce with wasabi, but so far everything has ended up in the trash bin. Apparently I cannot make creamy sauces very well. Both ended up very liquidy and no good, although taste-wise they were ok, sort of.

Does anybody have a good recipe for something like these, or could you help me fiddle with the ingredients I'm already using??

I don't host holidays at my place because I don't have the dining apparatus necessary for large groups (read: big table) but someday I will and plan to completely take over all control of holidays from my family, god willing.

[bavila]

I made one recently from Martha Stewart. It was basically mayo, dijon mustard and tarragon. Definitely creamy.

[patti]

If you want a lemony sauce, how about a lemon aioli?

[Sugarella]

If you want a lemony sauce, how about a lemon aioli?

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1) Lemon aioli sounds terrific!

2) What's lemon aioli?!

[Mayur]

Lemon mayonnaise.

Standard aioli recipe is to mash some garlic with salt, beat it egg yolks, and then whisk in the oil in a thin stream so that it emulsifies properly. A lemon aioli would just be doing the same thing but adding in lemon juice (and, I'd recommend, a little lemon zest) after the mixture has turned properly creamy.

I'd probably go a bit fancier: Shrimp is a pretty basic canvas, so I'd recommend making a sweet soy sauce (soy + brown sugar + mirin or sake and a little oil) and a ginger aioli (as above, but add minced/pureed ginger to the aioli) as dual dipping sauces, if you want an "Asian" theme, or pairing an anchovy-caper-tomato puree and a lemon aioli for a Mediterranean feel.

[scott123]

Try adding wasabi to mayo and letting it sit for the flavor to develop.

Make a cream based saffron lemon zest foam.

Combine soy sauce, strained orange marmalade, cayenne and a tiny amount of minced ginger/garlic.

Pesto mayo works wonderfully with shrimp as well.

Ceviche marinade thickened with a xanthan gum (or any other thickener that works without heat)

Edited January 3, 2006 by scott123 (log)

[JLam]

Maybe it's just me, but I like the storebought sauce, with extra horseradish added in. Lots of horseradish.

Of course, I'm also a big fan of A-1 Sauce on my steak. I know, I know.....

But now you've got me thinking, and I think I'll experiment a bit with this.

Edited January 3, 2006 by JLam (log)

[patti]

Lemon mayonnaise.

Standard aioli recipe is to mash some garlic with salt, beat it egg yolks, and then whisk in the oil in a thin stream so that it emulsifies properly. A lemon aioli would just be doing the same thing but adding in lemon juice (and, I'd recommend, a little lemon zest) after the mixture has turned properly creamy.

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Yes to the inclusion of lemon zest.

Spicy ketchup based cocktail sauce is just fine with me. Ketchup and Thai chili garlic sauce is enough to make me a happy girl.

Edited January 3, 2006 by patti (log)

[Sugarella]

Thanks so much everyone for all of the terrific suggestions! You're all much more creative than I am.

Mayur: I just made your soy/mirin/brown sugar suggestion but I used avacado oil as a base for it.... not sure if I like it as a dip but it was pretty dam good on the salad I made right after!

I'll try the aiolis and variations suggested.... now that I know what aioli is.

Now to bug Scott:

Make a cream based saffron lemon zest foam.

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..... you totally lost me! Cream based in what way and foamed in what way?

Combine soy sauce, strained orange marmalade, cayenne and a tiny amount of minced ginger/garlic.

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.... this one sounds excellent, actually. I assume I should heat the marmalade first, then chill to combine with other ingredients?

Ceviche marinade thickened with a xanthan gum (or any other thickener that works without heat)

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.... you also lost me with ceviche.

Sorry for all the dumb questions.... ceviche and foam I don't know from but at least I have saffron, wasabi & mirin in my cupboard, so at least I have good ingredients going for me, right? .... and I do have xantham gum so that's good.

[scott123]

Now to bug Scott:

Make a cream based saffron lemon zest foam.

←

..... you totally lost me! Cream based in what way and foamed in what way?

Combine soy sauce, strained orange marmalade, cayenne and a tiny amount of minced ginger/garlic.

←

.... this one sounds excellent, actually. I assume I should heat the marmalade first, then chill to combine with other ingredients?

Ceviche marinade thickened with a xanthan gum (or any other thickener that works without heat)

←

.... you also lost me with ceviche.

Sorry for all the dumb questions.... ceviche and foam I don't know from but at least I have saffron, wasabi & mirin in my cupboard, so at least I have good ingredients going for me, right? .... and I do have xantham gum so that's good.

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I would say, yes, heat the soy sauce and the marmalade together and then strain/chill. Unless you want the zest from the marmalade in the recipe. It might just work and save you from having to wash a strainer. If you've got mirin on hand, you might want to add some of that as well.

Foam Recipes

Ceviche is a Latin American dish of raw seafood that's marinated in citrus juices. The acid in the citrus 'cooks' the fish (to an extent) without any heat. Ceviches can include a variety of ingredients including garlic, onions, tomato, cilantro and chopped red or green peppers.

Although serving ceviche marinade as a dipping sauce for cooked shrimp is highly unconventional, I'm certain the flavors would work. The trick, though, would be adding a bulking agent to get the marinade to coat/cling better.

You have xanthan?! Wow, I'm impressed. After much consideration, I'm going to backtrack on the xanthan, though. By the time you add enough xanthan to get the marinade to cling, it'll be slimy as heck. The problem with most thickeners is that they involve heat. Ceviche marinade and heat are not friends. You could take the whole thing and blend it (almost like a thick gazpacho). That might give you a coating consistency. Or maybe blended with a little xanthan. Hmmm... maybe blend in a little cooked rice. Or bloomed gelatin. Or... blend the ceviche marinade with a banana. Sorry, once I start riffing, I can't be stopped.

Here are some new ideas that came to me while replying:

Tzadsiki (Strained greek yogurt with cucumber/dill and sometimes garlic) could fit the bill here as well.

Mojo (Latin American garlic marinade/dipping sauce) is really great stuff is you want to go heavy on the garlic.

Satay dipping sauce (peanut/coconut/garlic/lemongrass/chili)

Wasabi may not have quite enough depth of flavor when combined with the mayo. Dijon is very complementary, if you have it. Horseradish mayo is pretty good too.

A chutney perhaps.

Edited January 3, 2006 by scott123 (log)

[deltadoc]

I've tried for years to come up with a really great Shrimp cocktail sauce. Many have been good, but not great. I've yet to find one that is better than Hoffman House brand Shrimp and Seafood Cocktail sauce. It is outstanding.

I additionally squeeze some fresh lemon juice on the shrimp while they're sitting on the ice getting really cold.

An extra step that really isn't necessary since Hoffman House already has some lemon juice in it.

doc

[petite tête de chou]

Perhaps a spicy mango dipping sauce? Pureed mango, minced habaneros (or milder chili), honey, lime juice, cilantro, pepper/salt and perhaps a splash or two of coconut milk.

[I_call_the_duck]

How 'bout a shrimp aoili? If you bought unpeeled shrimp and have shells around, brown them in some oil, and use the oil to make aoili. Or would that be overkill?

[lcdm]

How about Green Goddess Dressing?

Recipe here:

http://www.post-gazette.com/food/20020801saladsdp2.asp

[chow guy]

I've always had great luck with Tequila Lime Cream for shrimp. Just add lemon and lime juice (with zest) to sour cream and mayo, a dash of worchestershire sauce and a hit of wasabi.

[Sugarella]

Oh! ... you guys are just so terrific....what great ideas here.

Foam Recipes

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Great.....now I need a foamer! I'll just add it to my long list of other kitchen stuff that I'll probably end up never getting. Wonder if I can make these just by whipping the cream but I expect they'd likely fall flat pretty quick.

Thanks for all the terrific suggestions Scott. I made your marmalade/cayenne suggestion and it was really very good; I also made the lemon aioli and liked that a lot too.

I'll be trying petite tête de chou's spicy mango and chowguy's tequila lime cream suggestions next; I'll repost with the results but it may be a while....I have been eating an awful lot of shrimp here.

Thanks again everyone......

[fifi]

My "new" favorite sauce is this one that they make at my favorite seafood "joint" in San Leon TX, Topwater Grill. It isn't exactly a recipe but you can get the idea and work with it.

We got talked into the lump crab meat and it is a good thing we did. See that little cup of sauce on the side? See fifi’s jaw drop at the first taste? Well, it did. Why haven’t I had that sauce before? It is described as a lemon butter sauce, made by sautéing some garlic and shallot in butter, add white wine and reduce, add lemon juice and heavy cream, drizzle in butter while whisking. They strain it before serving. All I know is, it is light, incredibly tasty, and I want a vat of it. Snorkel, please.