"cocktail sauce" news and stories

Why is it that a shrimp cocktail can instantly transport us to 1965, hostess pajamas, a martini shaker and Frank Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours" pouring from a Hi-Fi?

The classic appetizer still works today, but cocktail sauces have evolved from the ketchup-heavy to lighter ones using fresh tomatoes and herbs, such as the dill sprigs Special KRB captures here. If you feel like a Mexican version, try a recipe using green chiles, lime juice, cilantro and avocado. Or go Cajun with a creamy, horseradish-spiked remoulade (which also works beautifully with salmon croquettes).

Sinatra, however, is still the perfect soundtrack for shrimp cocktail and icy gin.

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Shrimp cocktail. Photo: No Recipes.

While shrimp is delicious on its own, deep-fried or sautéed with pasta and butter, it it seems to pack the most flavor -- and color -- when served as part of the classic shrimp cocktail.

Pleasing to the eyes as well as the palate, this single shellfish from No Recipes is dipped in an Asian-inspired twist on the staid red cocktail sauce, combining the usual fresh tomatoes and tomato sauce with Thai sweet chili and fish sauces, lime juice and wasabi. It sounds so good, we're tempted to try to pluck the perfectly pink crustacean straight off the screen.

[Via No Recipes]

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

Spice things up the Tunisian way with a harissa made with garlic and chili paste.

Starbucks takes its first steps towards being healthier and greener with a new menu and more eco-friendly water faucets.

Impatience Inspected: How long will you wait for a table?

Cherries are in season in parts of the country, which means it's time for cherry-flavored salad, sauces, mojitos, margaritas, clafouti and ice cream sandwiches.

Shrimp and cocktail sauce gets a new twist with a mixture of avocado, corn and mango.

Seven teas to keep you ice-cold all summer long.

Be still, our sugar-loving hearts -- a butterscotch pudding recipe that takes less than 20 minutes to make.

The Maine shrimp (Pandalus borealis) season just started and goes from December 1, 2007, through April 30, 2008 It is my first Maine shrimp season since I only moved to Mid-Coast Maine late last spring. I've been waiting ever since for the season to start, because while I've had them several times before as sushi, what the Japanese call ama ebi, or sweet shrimp; and here and there in soups and salads, but I've never had them fresh and never frozen. I would have been looking for them a few days ago but I have been at Cornell University's Agricultural Experimental Station In Geneva, NY for the past week, taking workshops on Artisan Distilling and Hard Cider Production.

Today as I was driving along running errands I saw a roadside truck which had them at $1.50 a lb., which is cheaper than I expected, although I heard just a few minutes ago that you can sometimes get them as low as 79 cents a lb. I slid on the icy and slushy road as I made a quick u-turn and then I skidded to a stop next to the truck and jumped out. I chatted for a bit with the vendor and then I picked up five pounds of these tiny beauties, all red and glistening, and smelling clean and sweet, with only a hint of brine to them.

As I got in my car I popped several out of their shells and ate them raw on my way home. Super sweet and tasty, and many were fat with roe. As soon as I got home I brought a pot of water to a boil, threw in a pound or so and turned off the heat. Three minutes later I dipped them out and let them cool a bit, after burning my fingers several times as I anxiously tried to dig in.