There really is nothing to making shrimp cocktail sauce. Mix up a few ingredients. Let stand for few minutes. Good to go. So I really don’t understand why people buy it. The jarred stuff is a little dull. Lifeless. It’s been sitting on a shelf for months. Shrimp is not cheap. Why would you waste it using mediocre shrimp cocktail sauce.
Three key ingredients for great shrimp cocktail sauce
Shrimp cocktail sauce is mostly ketchup. And that’s actually not a bad thing. It works well in here. Something about its sweet tang just tastes right. It’s what you do with the ketchup that matters. The other ingredients. And there’s no magic here. Three simple additions to ketchup make it great cocktail sauce. cost people have ketchup n the refrigerator. Horseradish – when it’s fresh, jarred horseradish has bite. Sinus clearing bite. A little goes a long way. But it makes the sauce. That’s the taste you are looking for here. But it starts to fade the day you open the jar. So buy a fresh bottle. It matters. Pure chili powder – Pure chili powder is not the stuff they sell at supermarkets labeled “chili powder” or “chili mix”. It’s the ground version of a real dried chili. Look for New Mexican red or ancho. It brings a bit of complexity to the sauce. Fresh lemon juice – Don’t use stuff from a bottle. Fresh lemons are pretty easy to come by. There’s really no excuse for using that pre-fab stuff. It’s not the same. You want the fresh, bright acidity only the real thing delivers. That’s it. A little salt and pepper and it’s done. Easy. And so much better. Try this – you’ll never use bottled cocktail sauce again. Serve it with foolproof shrimp cocktail. You’ll be glad you did.
