Cocktail sauce is a tomato-based dip used with seafood, often flavored with chili sauce and/or horseradish, garlic, pepper, parsley or cilantro, and vinegar. It can be served with jumbo shrimp, crab, lobster, and oysters. Different variations are possible, and it is commonly served at cocktail parties and oyster bars. Double dipping is not recommended.
Cocktail sauce is a tomato-based dipping sauce. It takes its name from its classic use as an accompaniment to fish salads served as appetizers at cocktail parties. Spicy aromas are usually added to the tomato base that go well with seafood.
A basic cocktail sauce always starts with tomato sauce, tomato puree, ketchup, chili sauce, or any combination of any type of tomato-based sauce. Most recipes call for flavorings like chili sauce and/or horseradish. Also commonly included are minced garlic, pepper, parsley or cilantro, and sometimes minced celery. Red wine vinegar or cider vinegar is also often used, and lemon or lime juice will be added to almost any cocktail sauce.
Cocktail sauce can “wake up” any type of fish or seafood salad. In a classic presentation, jumbo shrimp are arranged neatly around the edge of a bowl with the sauce placed in the center as a dip. Another common way to serve it is with smaller shrimp and/or chunks of crab or lobster served in a dish with the sauce on top or layered with seafood.
Many different versions are possible and are only limited by the imagination. For example, one type of salsa may use salsa as a base and crushed red pepper and cumin for flavor. A Mediterranean version might have tomato sauce, balsamic vinegar, garlic, lemon juice, and black olives.
Cocktail sauce is great for serving with appetizers like jumbo prawns and cheese and crackers at cocktail parties. Of course, double dipping is a definite “no” when people are served shared dipping sauces. Double dipping is dipping a piece of food into the sauce, biting into it and dipping it again and should never be done when a group of people are sharing a plate of food.
In oyster bars, dishes of oysters are often served with cocktail sauce and lemon wedges. Cocktail forks are used to help hold oysters for dipping. It is said that the sauce can make eating raw oysters more palatable. Breaded shrimp and other fried seafood can also be eaten with this sauce.
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