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| Alternative names | Shrimp cocktail |
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| Course | Hors d'oeuvre |
| Main ingredients | Prawns,cocktail sauce |
Prawn cocktail, also known asshrimp cocktail, is aseafooddish consisting of shelled, cookedprawns in aMarie Rose sauce orcocktail sauce,[1] served in a glass.[2][3] It was the most popularhors d'œuvre in Great Britain, as well as in the United States, from the 1960s to the late 1980s.[4] According to the English food writerNigel Slater, the prawn cocktail "has spent most of (its life) see-sawing from the height of fashion to the laughably passé" and is now often served with a degree of irony.[5]
The cocktail sauce is essentiallyketchup andmayonnaise in Commonwealth countries, or ketchup andhorseradish in the United States.[6] Recipes may addWorcestershire sauce, hot sauce, vinegar, cayenne pepper or lemon juice.
A dish of cooked seafood with a piquant sauce of some kind is of ancient origin and many varieties exist.[7] Oyster or shrimp dishes of this kind were popular in the United States in the late nineteenth century and some sources link the serving of the dish in cocktail glasses to the ban on alcoholic drinks during the 1920sprohibition era in the United States.[8] A version of the shrimp cocktail was popularized inLas Vegas casinos in the late 1950s, beginning with theGolden Gate Casino onFremont Street, which sold as many as 2,000 shrimp cocktails daily, at inexpensive prices, no more than 99 cents. The dish is considered somewhat synonymous with the gambling and entertainment mecca.[9][10]
In the United Kingdom, the invention of the prawn cocktail is often credited to British television chefFanny Cradock in the 1960s;[11][12] In their 1997 bookThe Prawn Cocktail Years,Simon Hopkinson andLindsey Bareham note that the prawn cocktail has a "direct lineage toEscoffier".[13]
Nigel Slater says "it is all in the sauce", and that "the true sauce is principally mayonnaise, tomato ketchup and a couple of shakes ofTabasco."[5]
The chefHeston Blumenthal states that prawn cocktail is his "secret vice": "When I get home late after working inThe Fat Duck there's nothing I like better than to raid the fridge for prawn cocktail." Blumenthal notes that it is best to use homemade mayonnaise, and recommends adding choppedbasil andtarragon.[14]
The television chef and writerDelia Smith states that the best version is with self-cooked prawns, and that in the 1960s it was "something simple but really luscious, yet over the years it has suffered from some very poor adaptations, not least watery prawns and inferior sauces."[15]
As Hopkinson and Bareham note inThe Prawn Cocktail Years, what was once considered to be the "Great British Meal" consisted of prawn cocktail, followed bysteak garni with chips andBlack Forest gateau for dessert; they comment that "cooked as it should be, this much-derided and often ridiculed dinner is still something very special indeed."[16]
Before the 1992 British general election,[17] theLabour Party campaigned to win the support of business and financial leaders by persuading them that they would not interfere with the market economy. The campaign was lampooned as the "Prawn Cocktail Offensive".[18]
The ubiquity of the prawn cocktail has led to such products as prawn cocktail flavourcrisps, which are still one of the most popular varieties of this snack food in the United Kingdom. Prawn cocktail flavour crisps were the second most popular in the UK in 2004, with a 16% market share.[19]
Clams, oysters, squid (as asquid cocktail), or other seafood can be substituted for shrimp.[20] Various preparations use ingredients such as fish and octopus. Seafood cocktails often include lime juice and a tomato based sauce and are sometimes served with lemon. In the US, they are regulated by theFDA which requires the proportions by weight to be stated when the dish is sold in a prepared form.[21]
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