Want FREE or discounted shipping?
Join the VIP Club. Learn More
Shelled Shrimp Cocktail cooked in seafood broth
45 mins prepping and cooking
I thought I knew what I was doing when it came to shrimp cocktail. You know dropping the cold shrimp (shells on) in hot boiling water. Yeah no. After reading a Serious Eats article on their method of shrimp cocktail, I’ve since adapted my recipe to add a lot of their flavorful details. Take a look and if you are unsure, consider doing a shrimp taste test. Blindfold your guests and see which method they prefer boiled with shells on or off. (The link to the original Serious Eats recipe is below.)
Directions
- Bring 2 quarts of water in a large stock pot to a boil. Add in the old bay seasoning, lemon juice, onion, garlic, beer, and parsley stems, a pinch of chili pepper, and the shrimp shells, and bring to a boil. Cook the broth for about twenty minutes at a lazy boil. When it is done you will strain out everything and put the broth back into a clean pot.
- While the broth is happening, place the peeled shrimp into a large Ziplock bag and toss in 1 teaspoon of salt and the baking powder. Close it up and shake until the shrimps are coated and place them in the refrigerator to chill.
- When the broth is ready and so are you, place the chilled shrimps into the strained broth and cook them over medium high heat until the water reaches about 170 F. Do not, I repeat do not let it slip over that number. (Yep, you guessed it, this is a Serious Eats detail)
- Remove the shrimp either with a slotted spoon or colander and place them in a super-sized plastic storage food container and set it over an ice bath. If you need to put the lid on so the water doesn’t leak in, that’s ok. If you need a few ice baths and containers do get all the shrimp cooled, do that. Serious eats uses ziplocks but I don’t actually do it that way. The goal is to cool the shrimp down as quickly as possible—so do what works.
- After about ten minutes in the ice bath, when the shrimp has cooled, transfer it to the refrigerator to cool even further. About 20 minutes. (Could be more, if needed)
- Meanwhile prepare the cocktail sauce. In a small bowl combine the ketchup and horseradish and mix until well combined. Go ahead and serve on a decorative platter or serve in salads, or really whatever.
Note on other Flavors to include, you can literarily put whatever you want in the pot to season the shrimp. Other ingredients to include are chopped celery, bay leaves, chopped shallots, cilantro, lime juice, and a drop of Tabasco sauce, to name a few.
Note on Deveining Shrimp and Peeling Shrimp: I like to devein my shrimp before preparing them. I use a few different techniques: to keep the shrimp whole, I use the toothpick method which wedges a toothpick under the vein to access it and once you have it, you gently pull it out. You can start this anywhere along the shrimp’s back however I try the ends for only one poke. Otherwise, I’ll just butterfly them which does tend to be easier.
Serious Eats article: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2015/07/shrimp-cocktail-recipe.html
2023 updated article: https://www.seriouseats.com/shrimp-cocktail-recipe
Ingredients
For the Shrimp:
2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning (most people don’t use this because it will leave an old bay residue on the shrimp, but I just LOVE Old Bay)
Lemon juice from one lemon
1 white onion chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 beer (a bright tasting one is best); fancier way to do this is with white wine
7 parsley stems (leaves removed, chopped, and set aside as garnish)
Optional: pinch chili pepper to spice it up
2 lbs Big Momma Gulf shrimp, deveined with shells removed, but for the little tail; these shells are used for broth making so don’t throw them out
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder (This is totally a serious eats detail that I never ever considered and really makes a huge difference)
For the Cocktail Sauce:
2 cups your favorite ketchup
a dollop of your favorite BBQ sauce
3 tablespoons freshly grated horseradish (more if you like it super spicy)
