1 Video | Photo: The Shrimp Cocktail Recipe
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 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.
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By doxi_4_5401675
Greensburg, PA
on January 12, 2013
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I have never brined seafood. I have whole turkey and pork, but never seafood and thought it strange to brine shrimp. I did it anyhow and oh BOY am I glad I did. These were the BEST shrimp cocktail ever. The shrimp are amazing made this way!! Used my cocktail sauce I already had because the shrimp are the star here.
By nancimac55_13060661
Woodland, 43
on January 12, 2013
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Fantastic, and everything was on hand in the cupboard. We added 5 T of fresh horseradish and some Bay Seasoning to the sauce as well as the shrimp, cut down on the sugar and it was fantastic. Thanks, as usual, Alton.
By koltenk
on January 08, 2013
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After watching this episode, I tried broiling shrimp because of all of the rave reviews on broiling. I didn't want to wait 30 minutes to brine the shrimp (because it doesn't make a huge difference with chicken so I figured it wouldn't make a huge difference with shrimp. Long story short, I wasn't overly impressed. It tasted the same as if you were to pan fry or even steam.
However, I tried this recipe again (only I actually followed it this time and bought shell-on shrimp and brined them. The brine makes all the difference in the world! And maybe the fact that the shell was still on made a difference too. I didn't have any oil, so I just melted some butter and tossed the shrimp in that. It was absolutely the best shrimp I have ever had. The saltiness was amazing. In fact, I kind of thought it tasted better hot out of the oven rather than chilled with cocktail sauce. Next time, I might just add some garlic to the melted butter and have garlic shrimp with dinner.
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