Mexican Shrimp Cocktails

Tasty Appetizer

I believe the first time I had a shrimp cocktail was in good old Ciudad Juárez Mexico. I was visiting relatives and we happened upon a seafood restaurant for dinner. After looking over the selection of appetizers, I settled on having a Mexican shrimp cocktail. The list of ingredients looked appealing and I’ve never been one to shy away from seafood.

To be honest, I didn’t know what to expect when it arrived and placed before me. I took my spoon and stirred the ingredients around before scooping up a heaping portion and placing inside my mouth. To a virgin, this was as close to having a first kiss as possible. Sweet, salty, and a hint of spicy Serrano rounding out the palate as I went back for another spoonful.

Ever since then, I’ve made sure to look for shrimp cocktail on the appetizer side of the menu. But of course, as my culinary skills have increased, it was only natural to add it to the list.

Ingredients

1 pound of shrimp (shell and tail on)
3/4 cup of ketchup
1 cilantro bunch
1 Serrano
1 Jalapeno
1 1/2 roma tomato
1 white onion
1 large avacado
1 lime
1 cup of Clamato juice
1 cucumber
Tapatio hot sauce (you can use any hot sauce you like)
3 cloves of garlic
Salt and pepper

Instructions

1. Peel and devein your shrimp, but do not discard the shells as we will be using this to make a stock.

2. Finely dice all of your vegetables and place in a bowl. We’re essentially making a Pico de Gallo but with the addition of avocado, cucumber, and garlic. Make sure to remove the seeds from the cucumber. Salt to taste and don’t forget the juice of 1/2 a lime. Heads up, Serranos can be like a box of chocolates, you never know how hot those spicy little !@#$% can be. Some are nice and spicy and others are down right nuclear. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

3. In a sauce pot, add 4 cups of water along with 2 cloves of garlic, a half of a Roma tomato and a 1/4 of white onion. Salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a boil then simmer for 10 minutes. After ten minutes add the shrimp shells and simmer for another ten minutes. Remove all the ingredients, and poach the shrimp for 3-5 minutes. Followed immediately by an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Place in the fridge and allow to chill for 2 hours

4. In a large bowl, combine 1 cup of Clamato juice, 3/4 of ketchup, and 1/4 cup of the shrimp stock ,the juice of one lime, and a few dashes of Tapatio hot sauce. Salt and pepper to taste. Add in the vegetable mixture and chill for 2 hours as well.

5. After 2 hours, I pulled out all the ingredients, grabbed an 180z schooner, added a generous amount of shrimp followed by the cocktail sauce.