 Two servings ofshrimp cocktail with cocktail sauce | |
| Type | Sauce |
|---|---|
| Course | Appetizer |
| Place of origin | United States of America |
| Region or state | San Francisco, California, USA |
| Invented | 1860's |
| Serving temperature | Cold |
| Main ingredients | Ketchup or chili sauce mixed with prepared horseradish |
| Ingredients generally used | Lemon juice, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco sauce |
Cocktail sauce, also known asseafood sauce, is one of several types of cold orroom temperature sauces often served as part of a dish referred to as a seafood cocktail or as acondiment with otherseafoods.[1] Seafood with spiced, cold sauces was a well-established part of the 19th and 20th century culinary repertoire in the United States of America.
Seafood cocktails originated in the 19th century (1800s) in the United States of America in the saloons of the San Francisco Bay area of California during the California Gold Rush era. Recipes for a cocktail sauce composed of ketchup, horseradish, and Tabasco Sauce were documented as early as the 1860s-1880s on the U.S. West Coast. An 1889 article published in the Chicago Tribune newspaper reprinted an article from the New York Sun newspaper about a man from San Francisco who was at the famed Manhattan steakhouse "Delmonico's" and was teaching his fellow diners how to construct an "oyster cocktail." These seafood cocktails were usually made withoysters as they were cheap and plentiful for gold miners to enjoy with their alcoholic beverages, but when the oyster supply dwindled due to over harvesting,shrimp became the new favorite option. In 1919, Victor Hirtzler's book titled "The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book", established the first standardized, printed version of the recipe. The traditional American sauce combines ketchup or chili sauce with prepared horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, and Tabasco Sauce. Shrimp Cocktail gained popularity in the 1920s as a way for bars to repurpose their cocktail glasses during Prohibition and it once again became popular in the late 1950s and 1960s in the luxurious casinos of Las Vegas, Nevada. While cocktail sauce is most associated with theshrimp cocktail, it can be served with any fish, shellfish, crustacean, cephalopod, or seafood dish. Cocktail Sauce can also be used as an ingredient in other condiments, sauces, and dishes. Sometimes cocktail sauce is used as an ingredient in Louisiana-style remoulade sauce, which is often used to dress shrimp, or deep-fried shrimp or oyster po'boy sandwiches, and it is creamy, red-hued, and zesty, resembling a mix of tartar sauce and cocktail sauce.
In theUnited States andCanada it generally consists of, at a minimum,ketchup orchili sauce mixed with preparedhorseradish. Unlike cocktail sauces elsewhere, mayonnaise is not used in the North American style. Lemon juice,Worcestershire sauce andTabasco sauce are common additives, often all three.[2]
The common form of cocktail sauce in theUnited Kingdom,Ireland,Iceland,France,Belgium,Italy and TheNetherlands, usually consists ofmayonnaise mixed with atomato sauce to the same pink colour as prawns, producing a result that could be compared tofry sauce. It is similar toThousand Island dressing, but the more usual British name isMarie (or Mary) Rose Sauce. The origins of the name are unclear and it is variously credited to a 1980s dive team cook working at the site of the Tudor ship, the Mary Rose, and Fanny Cradock. However, the term first appeared in the 1920s as a term for a garnish of shrimp, and was in use for cocktail sauce by at least 1963.[3] The name was linked to the colour and Escoffier uses it to describe a pink iced pudding. It was so ubiquitous in the 1960s and 1970s that it has since become something of a joke in Britain, along with its most commonly associated dish, theprawn cocktail.[4]
In Belgium, a dash ofwhisky is often added to the sauce. It is popularly served with steamedshrimp and seafoodon the half shell.
In Australia, it is often provided infish and chip shops.
In most Americanoyster bars, cocktail sauce is the standard accompaniment for rawoysters and patrons at an oyster bar expect to be able to mix their own. The standard ingredients (in roughly decreasing proportion) are ketchup, horseradish, hot sauce (e.g.,Tabasco,Louisiana, orCrystal),Worcestershire sauce, andlemon juice. Asoufflé cup is usually set in the middle of the platter of oysters along with acocktail fork and alemon slice.
