AB’s Shrimp Cocktail
A week or two ago, my brother, sister-in-law, my mom, the little one and I had a special dinner honoring my dad on Father’s Day. My SIL made an amazing spread: bacon-wrapped filet, steamed crab legs, potatoes, grilled asparagus, and a delicious shrimp cocktail. She was inspired by some Good Eats episodes for most of the meal, and used his recipe for the cocktail sauce.
Here’s the first part of Alton’s Crustacean Nation episode:
I just loved this meal and I wanted to share part of it for you. Lots of love to my SIL for all of her hard work on the meal, especially in her third trimester, and to my dad, of course, for being great.
(Fun Fact: This was the first time I had cocktail sauce. Yum!)
Alton Brown’s Shrimp Cocktail
Ingredients
- 32 shell-on (21 to 25 count) tiger shrimp
For the brine:
- 1/4 cup kosher salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups ice
For the cocktail sauce:
- 1 (14 1/2-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained
- 1/2 cup prepared chili sauce
- 4 tablespoons prepared horseradish
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- Few grinds fresh black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Sprinkle Old Bay seasoning
Directions
Using a pair of scissors or a serrated knife, make an incision down the backside of the shrimp, following the intestinal track. Eviscerate shrimp and rinse under cool water leaving shells intact.
Place cleaned shrimp into a bowl with brine and refrigerate mixture for 20 to 25 minutes. While shrimp are brining, place tomatoes, chili sauce, horseradish, sugar, pepper, and salt in food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate cocktail sauce until ready to serve.
Place cleaned shrimp into a bowl with brine and refrigerate mixture for 20 to 25 minutes. While shrimp are brining, place tomatoes, chili sauce, horseradish, sugar, pepper, and salt in food processor and blend until smooth. Refrigerate cocktail sauce until ready to serve.
Place a baking sheet or broiler pan under oven broiler and preheat for 5 minutes. Remove shrimp from brine and drain thoroughly. Rinse the shrimp under cold water and dry on paper towels. In a large bowl, toss shrimp with olive oil and sprinkle with Old Bay seasoning, if desired.
Place shrimp onto a sizzling sheet pan and return to broiler immediately. After 2 minutes, turn the shrimp with a pair of tongs. Return the shrimp to broiler for 1 minute. Transfer to a cold cookie sheet. Refrigerate immediately.
Once shrimp have chilled, arrange with cocktail sauce in a martini glass or as desired.
Side note from the SIL: My husband and I are pretty much AB obsessed. We watch episodes together and then go make the stuff all the time. He made a comment on another episode that a broiler is just an upside down grill, so he broiled instead of grilled in bad weather. Since I didn’t want to heat up the house, I grilled the shrimp instead of broiling. Turned out just fine.