Easy cocktail sauce

Sometimes I eat things purely for the sauce or toppings that accompany it. When I used to eat hot dogs, I was much more interested in the relish, sauerkraut, or onions that could be added to it. I love the peanut dipping sauce that comes with summer rolls. Even sushi must be eaten with soy sauce and pickled ginger.


So it is with shrimp cocktail.

The appeal of shrimp cocktail for me is definitely the cocktail sauce. It was an aspirational food while I was growing up--usually only on the menus of the rare steakhouse we visited, and always the most expensive thing on the menu (I remember the first time I ordered it was when eating with my dad and his co-workers while they were out for a business dinner (all the families were there); this was also in Kansas, which is why it now makes sense to me that shrimp would be so expensive there).

But when I saw how easy it was to make cocktail sauce, I almost didn't believe it. There are probably more authentic, better cocktail sauces out there, but this one involves ingredients I always have (and coincidentally are similar to what is used in a Bloody Mary).

Super basic, a la Bittman (#53):

• ketchup
• chili powder
• pepper
• lemon juice (I use lots)
• Worcestershire (I use lots)
• Tabasco
• horseradish (I leave this out)

Sometimes I'll cut up the shrimp into smaller pieces so that I'll get a better shrimp-to-cocktail sauce ratio.

And the cooked shrimp tastes even better the next day after being refrigerated.