Perfect Shrimp Cocktail Recipe by Chef Brad Miller

This Shrimp Cocktail recipe was written by celebrity chef and THOR Kitchen brand ambassador Brad Miller. Chef Miller will be firing things up in the kitchen, using his own suite of THOR Kitchen appliances to create exclusive recipes!

Shrimp cocktail is an old familiar friend for me. Growing up, the only time I could get my hands on this delicious dish was Christmas eve. Every year family and friends would gather around the buffet table filled with chips, dips, and casseroles brought in by different family members who had their signature dish. I would always have my eye on that black plastic platter (which seems to be the go-to for every store’s cocktail shrimp platter) adorned with little soldiers all lined up in a circular pattern. While other kids were begging to have cookies before they ate, I was planning on how many shrimp I could grab without being told: “save some for the guests.”. Now it seems to be on every steakhouse menu across the nation – and rightfully so!

I have eaten and tried many shrimp cocktails and restaurant versions of the classic cocktail sauce all over this planet. I’ve only found a few places doing it the justice and attention to detail it deserves. This is why I have shrimp cocktail on the menu at my restaurant. I wanted to showcase how amazing technique-driven and thoughtfully prepared shrimp cocktail could be. I also wanted an excuse to eat it without waiting till the Holidays!

For The Poaching Liquid: First thing we want to do before anything else is getting our poaching liquid rocking and rolling. We want to add a large carrot diced, a celery branch diced, and a medium white onion diced.

Squeezed lemon, and remains of lemon go in.

Then the rice wine vinegar, kosher salt, thyme, bay leaves, water, black peppercorns, mustard seeds, chili flakes, and coriander together in a pot.

Now we need to turn our heat on full blast under our pot. This needs to boil at the very least for 20 mins. This will flavor our liquid and make it nice and tasty for our shrimp. While you’re waiting 20 minutes for the poaching liquid, we can make our dipping sauces.

Cocktail Sauce: Peel off the outer skin of the horseradish and grate it with your microplane until you have about 2 tablespoons. Then add it to your ½ cup ketchup, 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, and the Juice of a ¼ lemon. Stir it up until everything is incorporated. Put in your ramekin for later.

Yuzu Aioli: Combine ½ cup best foods mayonnaise, 2 tablespoons yuzu juice, 1 tablespoon fresh, chopped chives, and ½ teaspoon of salt. Mix it up until everything is incorporated. Place a little sauce in a small ramekin and reserve for plating.

Cooking our Shrimp: Our poaching liquid should be nice and flavorful by now, so let’s turn off the heat and cook our shrimp. After turning off your heat, gently place the shrimp in the liquid and stir. It should take about 3-5 minutes to cook. Once cooked through, remove the shrimp and place in an ice water bath for 5 minutes or till cold.

Once the shrimp are cold, remove them from the ice water bath and pat them dry with a towel

Assembling the dish: Fill up a shallow bowl with ice. Place one of each sauce ramekin in the middle of the ice. Pile your shrimp high with lemons all around and inside the bowl with the shrimp. Garnish your cocktail sauce with more fresh horseradish on top. Place seaweed all over your bowl to garnish the shrimp.

Take little pieces of bibb lettuce and tuck them inside the ice, so a little bit is popping out. Enjoy!

So Perfect. Enjoy!