Molly Makes Classic Shrimp Cocktail

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Okay we have thirty seconds ordering

B.A.'s best shrimp cocktail (mumbles) I'm just kidding.

(upbeat music)

Hey everyone. Today I'm gonna show you how to make

B.A.'s best shrimp cocktail, which is a recipe

that I developed a couple of weeks ago.

There are a few crucial components to this

that I'm gonna take you through.

Number one: shell-on shrimp.

If you poach the shrimp without the shell on

they will be dry and rubbery and unpleasant.

Number two: seasoned poaching liquid.

Salt, sugar, and lemons. And I'll talk about that later.

Number three: make your own cocktail sauce.

And number four: ice bath.

These are only gonna cook for three and a half minutes

so as soon as we hit the three and a half minute mark

we're gonna plunge ice into our poaching liquid

and stop the cooking.

We're starting with shell-on shrimp,

but there's a little bit of work

that has to be done because there is an

unpleasant little vein that

runs down the back of the shrimp,

which is where they poo.

Okay, so I'm just gonna use this paper towel

and just pick it right out.

It pulls right out. No big deal.

So normally you would peel the shell off

and then de-vein it, and in this case

we're de-veining it keeping the shell on

because it's gonna protect the flesh

when it goes in the hot water.

And then the other thing to bear in mind is

that a nice way to eat the shrimp cocktail

is with the tail on.

So I'm making a slit only up until

the part of the shell where the tail begins

because we will serve them sans shells but avec tail.

Andy, do you wanna help me peel and de-vein

shrimp or not really?

Oh.

And these are 16-20's which refers to their weight.

It means that there are

between sixteen and twenty of these in a pound,

which I think is the perfect size for shrimp cocktail.

The next phase of this is creating our poaching liquid.

All you really need to create flavorful poached shrimp

is salt, sugar, and lemons.

So it's two lemons, a quarter cup of sugar

and a quarter cup of salt.

We'll go add that to our water.

Okay, so there's six cups of water in this pot

and it's coming up to a boil

but while that happens I'll add

one quarter cup kosher salt,

one quarter cup sugar, and then the juice of two lemons

and I'm also just gonna throw the

lemons in there as well. So that they can keep on giving

flavor to this broth. It's not really a broth.

It's a poaching liquid. So it doesn't matter

if a couple seeds drop in there.

It's all gonna get strained out later.

So the water just came to a boil,

and the salt and sugar has all dissolved.

So at this point I'm gonna turn off the heat

and just drop the shrimp in.

And then immediately set my timer.

Set my timer for three and a half minutes.

[Phone] I can't set the timer for a specific time.

I can't set the timer for a specific time.

Great.

So this is just gonna gently poach

in the less than boiling water here

for three and a half minutes.

At which point I'm going to plunge

eight cups of ice right into the pot.

And it will shock the shrimp and stop the cooking.

This is crucial because

shrimp can overcook in an instant.

If you consider this a three and a half minute cook time

and you're thirty seconds late,

that's 20%

give or take, longer. You know?

And that's when it overcooks.

So, now we wait three and a half minutes.

What are we at?

[Woman] You got two minutes to go.

Whoa. Time does not fly

When you're waiting on shrimp.

Seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.

Woo! Okay, ice bath in.

Stir stir.

And now we'll just remove this,

and bring it over here while we make our sauce.

Okay so now that the shrimp is

chilling in it's poaching liquid,

we're gonna make the cocktail sauce,

which begins with none other than Heinz chili sauce.

One cup. You could use ketchup

but then you're gonna have to add a lot more

other ingredients to it because

Heinz chili sauce is like ketchup.

Amped up ketchup basically.

And then about three-quarters of a teaspoon of lemon zest.

I'm gonna eyeball this but, you can

find the recipe online.

That looks about right.

We have two tablespoons of prepared horseradish.

Three-quarters of a teaspoon of tabasco sauce

for a little extra heat.

I'm gonna do two tablespoons of lemon juice,

which is approximately one lemon

just so you know for the futche.

And, thank you,

two teaspoons of freshly ground black pepper.

Alright, cocktail sauce done. That was super easy.

We're gonna go into a serving bowl.

And then we're gonna peel our shrimp.

It's nice and cool here in the shrimp-poaching vessel.

So I'm gonna drain it. Alright.

Draining these. Going to discard these lemons.

They've given everything they can.

And then just gonna transfer these to paper towels

to pat dry.

They look great.

[Man] They look great.

They look so great.

And now I'm just gonna peel all the shells off.

Except for I'm gonna leave the tails.

If anybody wants to peel shrimp on camera,

or not on camera just help. Thank you.

And then we can go right onto this

lovely platter of ice.

Okay so we're just peeling the shells

right off the shrimp, but we're leaving

this much of the tail as just a little grabber,

and then throwing them right onto ice.

And then the final garnish will be some lemon wedges

Just scatter those around.

And the cocktail sauce right in the middle.

Little squeeze of lemon.

Mmm.

Delicious.

It really is though.

We're ready to party so just swoop on in and snag one.

[Man] Well you're gonna have to feed me.

Okay that just sounds even more fun.

[Man] Or you'll have to eat it all.

I mean is that the best shrimp

cocktail you've ever had or what?

Is it a single portion?

Yeah yeah I was just sharing.

Then you'll just bring it in the other room?

Yeah yeah, I'll bring it for you.

Alright cool.

He loved it.

So Bon Appetite's best shrimp cocktail,

shell-on, de-veined, sugar-salt lemon water

homemade cocktail sauce. That's all you need.

Oh whoops.

[Man] Did you get a selfie?

Selfie.

That's one of my best.