Best and Worst Appetizer?

Scallops wrapped in bacon, yum. And oysters wrapped in bacon, yum yum.

Dolmas? I loved them the first time i tried them, despite looking at them suspiciously. Yum! Greasy and sour, what’s not to like.

YES! And so see that crap sold as “shrimp cocktail” should be a crime.

Nachos.

I can’t believe it’s taken 44 posts for anyone to mention nachos. Just a big ol’ pile of chips with carne asada and pico de gallo and beans and sour cream and guacamole and a metric fuckton of melty cheese.

There’s no meal that can’t be improved by serving nachos as the first course.

In fact, skip the meal and just gimme the nachos.

Restaurants may be failing in their shrimp cocktail mission, but it’s still possible to make good stuff at home. I just get a bag of large or jumbo black tiger shrimp from a reputable seafood market, and make up a batch of cocktail sauce with ketchup, hot horseradish, and a teaspoonful of Lao Gan Ma chili crisp.

I actually prefer “large” rather than super-large shrimp for cocktails. Huge shrimp are great when marinated and grilled in the shell – the’re much like lobster and I sometimes like to dip them in melted garlic butter. But for cold shrimp cocktails they’re just a bit too big.

Here in Indianapolis, we have a steak house that is apparently world famous for their shrimp cocktail. It’s vastly overpriced, but is absolutely the best I’ve ever had. 6 monsterously large shrimp bathing in a small bowl of freshly made cocktail sauce. They use an insane amount of horseradish - it’s worth busting your budget on one dinner just to watch other tables react to their first St. Elmo’s cocktail experience. If you’re ever in the area, you can buy the sauce in grocery stores.

:cry:

ThelmaLou sadly cancels the Super Size Mammoth Gargantuan order of roll-ups from Tortilla Pinwheels R Us scheduled to be delivered to @ParallelLines’ home on New Year’s Eve.

(I hope I got through to them in time…)



:smiley: Seriously, tortillas (both flour and corn) are best fresh and hot with appropriately compatible fillings applied only moments before. Hot homemade corn tortillas (which, happily, are available at many San Antonio restaurants these days) need only a sprinkle of salt and (if you must) the merest schmear of good quality butter (usually not found in restaurants).

Aside: Hope the holidays were good at the P.L. household. I’m still lovin’ it at The Home. I’ll post an update soon.

Now returning to our regularly scheduled broadcast.

Friends decided to have a shrimp boil that we all piched in for on a camping trip. they had jarred cocktail sauce. Ididnt even know they made jarred cocktail sauce. I had only ever had what we mixed ourselves, Ketchup, horseradish and worcestershire sauce. Next time we have this I will volunteer to bring cocktail sauce. +

Ooh, good one.

I also love a good shrimp cocktail. I like to experiment with the sauce-- the basic ketchup + horseradish, plus (not all at once, and in small amounts so as to not be overwhelming) Old Bay seasoning, granulated (or very small amount of fresh grated) garlic, cayenne powder, hot sauce, Worchestershire sauce, and lime juice (squeezed in a thin layer over the top, not mixed in).

For worst-- how about meatballs in a sauce that’s half BBQ sauce, half grape jelly?

ETA: didn’t notice the previous thread. We’ll have to have a sauce-off :smirk:

That sounds pretty horrible.

I admit, I’m not a huge sauce fan. When i am served shrimp cocktail, i eat the shrimp and leave the sauce for other people. And i enjoy shrimp, even if they are a little soggy from the freezer. Of course, good shrimp are better. But i enjoy mediocre shrimp, too.

(Timidly…) Um, I kinda like those.

fair enough.

Red currant jelly and mustard makes a superb cocktail weenie sauce.

Now THAT sounds really good. Maybe add a little horseradish?

It does sound horrible - and they’re delicious. You don’t taste a bit of “grape”, just sweetness. I add a good squeeze of gochujang for heat.

It’s a Midwestern thing. At a potluck you’d likely find it between the tater tot hot dish and the ambrosia salad.

And yeah, it’s actually not bad. It’s worse as a concept than in reality, as Munch (heh, how apropos) points out. But, as others have said, I have a hard time thinking of any appetizer I straight out don’t like, so that’s the best I could come up with.

Never met a shrimp I didn’t like except once (old people’s restaurant…the place where everyone seems over 80). The plate was a pile of white rice with lots of those very little shrimp piled on top and then, literally, jarred BBQ sauce poured over the top. It wasn’t even remotely good jarred BBQ sauce.

I like sauce, love cocktail sauce, but that was not good.

Best? Probably grilled oysters.
Best but available day-to-day? Chicken wings.

I confess to the same.

Eww, gross, jelly. Yuck! Ok, best eat one to be polite. Well, this one is small, maybe this small one and another regular one, do the host a favor. slurp Dreadful! Now my toothpick’s dirty. Just another quick meatball. munch Terrible! Why are these plates so small? Ok, seven more, but THAT’S IT.

The meatballs with grape jam are much better than they sound (though you can do better). But they pale in comparison to well made nachos. I love shrimp and horseradish elevates everything, especially beef. Surprised tartares have not been mentioned, and carpaccios barely.

Will have to try some of the shrimp sauce additions suggested here (I use ketchup, fresh horseradish, Worcestershire, Tapatio; will try adding Angry Grandma, garlic, Old Bay etc. Wonder about adding hot lime pickle, lemon powder, fennel, mango pickapepper, though perhaps trop de cuisiniers gâtent la sauce?)

Which reminds me of the best Single Guy appetizer: a block of Philly cream cheese covered in Pickapeppa sauce with a box of Wheat Thins.