Recipes
Food In Mexico
Best of Mexico

Published Oct, 2001

Dear Carl and Lorena: I became addicted to cocteles de mariscos and desperately want a good recipe for the red sauce so I can try and reproduce un coctel at home. Can you help? Thanks! Justin

We passed your question on to a major seafood fan, David "El Codo" Eidell. Here's his recipe

INGREDIENTS

1. Fresh Tomatos
2. Raw horseradish root (the best comes from Oregon)
3. Limones
4. Crude brown sugar
5. White pepper

The following recipe will bathe a few kilos of boiled shrimp:

1. One kilo of blood red vine-ripened tomatoes
2. 8 Oz of raw horseradish root
3. Juice of three small limones
4. Two heaping tablespoons on crude piloncillo sugar
5. One teaspoon white pepper

DIRECTIONS

1. Blanch the tomatoes in boiling water for thirty seconds then peel the skins and discard the skins.

2. One by one, mash the tomatoes in a molcajete or use a potato masher and a bowl. Grind the flesh until it becomes semi-liquid.

3. Grind the horseradish root to pulp until it starts to liquify. I've used a hammer and an old frying pan in an emergency for this step.

4. Put the sugar in a frying pan, set on a low flame until it melts. Stir the molten sugar into the tomato puree.

5. Slowly drizzle the tomato and molten sugar mixture into the horseradish. while stirring like crazy.

6. Squeeze the limones and add the juice to the tomato and horseradish.

7. A bit at a time, add enough white pepper to add a lick of heat to the finished mix.

Don't be afraid to play around with the quantities listed here. Personally I like enough horseradish in my salsa to periodically lift my scalp a few inches during a shrimp feeding frenzy.