# Help preparing shrimp and cocktail sauce **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 21, 2019, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959 "2019-02-21T13:31:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/41 "2019-02-23T17:39:16Z")
[Hunh](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nephrops_norvegicus). ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/42 "2019-02-23T18:03:30Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > But my point was it’s not the name of a dish or cooking style, it’s the name of the ingredient. Perhaps I should have said it sounds like “I’m making shellfish shellfish” to be more accurate. And my point is that in the US English it is indeed the name of a cooking style and it’s the name of a _different_ ingredient in Italian , so I still don’t know where \*scampi \*is the name of any ingredient in English. Because if what you mean is that in your country , a menu reference to “scampi” is assumed to be shrimp prepared in that style that still doesn’t mean it’s the name of an ingredient rather than the name of the dish. A reference to “grilled scampi” or “scampi cocktail” would mean that scampi was the name of the ingredient. ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/43 "2019-02-23T18:24:40Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > I know this is an actual American dish, but y’all should know - to the rest of the world, it sounds like you’re saying “I’m making shrimp shrimp” What about peri peri, aka pepper pepper? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/44 "2019-02-23T19:15:26Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > What about peri peri, aka pepper pepper? :dubious: I can’t seem to find an etymological dictionary that agrees with this. I could find that “periperi” or “pilipili” means “pepper,” but not that the stem does. Reduplication is common in many languages, such that word “fnord” means one thing, but “fnordfnord” means another. (See: “boo” vs “boo boo” in English.) Or that simply “fnord” on its own means nothing, but “fnordfnord” means something. You see the same phenomenon in words like “couscous.” The word _periperi_ seems to be a variant of _pili-pili_, which is a varient of the Arabic word [pilpil](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D9%BE%D9%84%D9%BE%D9%84), which simply means “pepper.” I can’t seem to drill down any farther to find if _pil_ on its own means anything. Perhaps one of our resident linguistic types may know? I don’t see any evidence that “peri” on its own means “pepper,” anymore than “cous” on its own means “pasta” (or “small grainy pasta”). ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/45 "2019-02-23T20:58:20Z")
Sweet jumping Jesus, can I plead for taking off the freaking tail shells too? I detest trying to figure out a delicate way to look good while slurping and fighting to get the nugget of meat out of the little tail segment, then figuring out what to do with the now piece of trash? Is this for a sit down meal or for grab and graze cocktail party food? Sheesh. Who wants a pile of shells hanging around, or looking like a neanderthal going after that last bit of meat? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/46 "2019-02-23T22:56:34Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > I use a “deveining tool” that I’ve owned forever. A small knife works just as well. NO, a small knife does not WORK JUST AS WELL. Buy the god damn deveiner…available in pretty much every fishmonger for three bucks or less. Just look for the red plastic handle. They ALWAYS have red plastic handles. You slip the blade under the shell, yank up, and shell and vein go kerplunk in the sink. My older sister worked in restaurants in the ‘60s, and gave me her very old wood-handled deveining knife. It has CHANGED my shrimp eating life. The tedious deveining job is now just zip-zip-zip shrimp-ready-to-cook! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/47 "2019-02-23T23:03:41Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > As anyone who has ever had the pleasure of eating a dozen raw oysters anywhere in New Orleans knows, one of life’s great joys is the Sacred, Sacramental Ritual of preparing your own little saucer of cocktail sauce using the ingredients invaribly provided, specifically, catsup, fresh grated horseradish, Worcestershire sauce, fresh lemon juice and hot sauce, preferrably Crystal, Louisiana or Trappey’s, depending where you are at. Never exactly the same twice, a mystical elixir to cleanse the soul of even the darkest trespasses. > > Done right, it’s spiritually akin to alchemy, like making the perfect Bloody Mary from scratch when savagely hungover like a son of a bitch, or deciding on what flavor of Boone’s Farm pairs best with a Taco Bell Nacho Gordita… I completely agree. North of the Mason-Dixon Line I am a prig about my ersters…raw with just a squeeze of lemon, please. Down in Chincoteague or New Orleans where the little boogers are flabbier and have less intense flavor I cheerfully eat Oysters Rockefeller, fried oysters, oyster roast, oyster fritters, whatever. And goose them up with a personal mix of sauce. In New Orleans they call it “oyster dope,” which adds to the charm. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2019, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/48 "2019-02-23T23:17:25Z")
What, no love for mignonette? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/49 "2019-02-24T00:42:10Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I can’t seem to find an etymological dictionary that agrees with this. Peri peri is Swahili for ‘pepper pepper’ > **[Piri piri](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piri_piri)** > > Piri piri (/ˌpɪri ˈpɪri/ PIRR-ee-PIRR-ee), often hyphenated or as one word, and with variant spellings peri-peri (/ˌpɛriˈpɛriː/) or pili pili, is a cultivar of Capsicum frutescens from the malagueta pepper. It was originally produced by Portuguese explorers in Portugal's former Southern African territories and then spread to other Portuguese domains. > Pilipili in Swahili means "pepper". Other romanizations include pili pili in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and peri peri in Malawi, deriv... ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/50 "2019-02-24T00:43:53Z")
> [@Royal\_Nonesutch](#): > > one of life’s great joys is the Sacred, Sacramental Ritual of preparing your own little saucer of cocktail sauce There’s definitely a ceremonial quality to it, isn’t there? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/51 "2019-02-24T00:52:47Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > I have been tasked with preparing shrimp cocktail for main course. Am I the only one who finds odd the idea of shrimp cocktail as a main course? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/52 "2019-02-24T01:47:48Z")
Pretty much. Use big enough shrimp and it’s all you need. Plus cocktails, of course! ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/53 "2019-02-24T03:01:06Z")
I could definitely gobble down a half-pound of steamed shrimp with cocktail sauce and call it dinner. When I was a kid (1970s) they garnished it with chopped iceberg lettuce. I could dab forkfuls of that in the sauce and call it the green vegetable. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/54 "2019-02-24T03:23:46Z")
I was just going to say serve it with a salad and I’d be all set. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2019, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/55 "2019-02-24T07:38:12Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > Because if what you mean is that in your country , a menu reference to “scampi” is assumed to be shrimp prepared in that style No, I’m saying it \*would \*be referring to the langoustine ([hopefully](https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2357200/Ever-wondered-whats-REALLY-scampi-Youll-wish-hadnt-asked-.html)). Most often, something[like this](https://www.fishfanatics.co.uk/product/whitby-breaded-scampi/). ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/56 "2019-02-25T13:35:15Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Am I the only one who finds odd the idea of shrimp cocktail as a main course? Well, I’ve just had it for my whole lunch, so there’s that. As to the scampi discussion - the ‘dish’ known as scampi in the US, is it a kind of [scampi/shrimp deep fried nugget](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB766GB766&biw=1685&bih=1087&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=8-5zXL_UG_iJ1fAPurq5wA0&q=deep+fried+scampi&oq=deep+fried+scampi&gs_l=img.3..0j0i24l2.4007.5802..5951...0.0..0.59.469.10......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i8i7i30j0i5i30.Bh6KVNlwhio)? Because that’s what it is in the UK (and does normally use langoustine, not that most Brits know this). I realise it’s different from the Italian ingredient. Oh, and we (sometimes) put horseradish in the cocktail sauce. That or tabasco. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/57 "2019-02-25T15:23:53Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Well, I’ve just had it for my whole lunch, so there’s that. > > As to the scampi discussion - the ‘dish’ known as scampi in the US, is it a kind of [scampi/shrimp deep fried nugget](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB766GB766&biw=1685&bih=1087&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=8-5zXL_UG_iJ1fAPurq5wA0&q=deep+fried+scampi&oq=deep+fried+scampi&gs_l=img.3..0j0i24l2.4007.5802..5951...0.0..0.59.469.10......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i8i7i30j0i5i30.Bh6KVNlwhio)? Because that’s what it is in the UK (and does normally use langoustine, not that most Brits know this). Nope. It’s some type of seafood, fish or chicken sautéed in either olive oil or butter, and garlic. There are of course variations- lemon juice or wine might be added. The varying proteins is why it is often called “shrimp scampi” in the US - if I remember correctly, when was young, it was simply called "scampi’ and the only kind available was made with shrimp. Deep-fried whole large shrimp is simply called “fried shrimp” , “popcorn shrimp” is deep-fried small shrimp that have had the tails removed and “shrimp nuggets” are made of shrimp paste as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2019, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/58 "2019-02-25T15:44:12Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Well, I’ve just had it for my whole lunch, so there’s that. > > As to the scampi discussion - the ‘dish’ known as scampi in the US, is it a kind of [scampi/shrimp deep fried nugget](https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1C5CHFA_enGB766GB766&biw=1685&bih=1087&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=8-5zXL_UG_iJ1fAPurq5wA0&q=deep+fried+scampi&oq=deep+fried+scampi&gs_l=img.3..0j0i24l2.4007.5802..5951...0.0..0.59.469.10......1....1..gws-wiz-img.......0i7i30j0i7i5i30j0i8i7i30j0i5i30.Bh6KVNlwhio)? Because that’s what it is in the UK (and does normally use langoustine, not that most Brits know this). > > I realise it’s different from the Italian ingredient. > > Oh, and we (sometimes) put horseradish in the cocktail sauce. That or tabasco. [Here is the NYTimes version of “classic shrimp scampi”](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/9101-classic-shrimp-scampi) to give you an idea of what it means in the US. Basically, garlic, wine, and butter sauce with shrimp. (ETA: as **doreen** said, wine may be omitted, lemon juice can be added, but it’s not a deep-fried breaded shrimp dish.) ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/59 "2019-02-26T16:55:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Basically, garlic, wine, and butter sauce with shrimp. (ETA: as **doreen** said, wine may be omitted, lemon juice can be added, but it’s not a deep-fried breaded shrimp dish.) My WAG is that actual scampi, i.e. langoustines, aren’t indigenous to US waters, so Italian immigrants substituted shrimp, cooked in “scampi” style (the garlic/wine/butter/lemon preparation). Eventually the whole “scampi” as being the original crustacean for the meal got confused with the preparation itself , and we ended up with “Shrimp Scampi” It would be like saying “Chicken cooked like veal”, and due to linguistic difference, this ends up as “Chicken veal” eventually. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2019, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959/60 "2019-02-26T17:01:02Z")
> [@bump](#): > > My WAG is that actual scampi, i.e. langoustines, aren’t indigenous to US waters, so Italian immigrants substituted shrimp, cooked in “scampi” style (the garlic/wine/butter/lemon preparation). That’s pretty much what the NYTimes recipe I linked to above says, but, for some reason, now I’m getting a block on it that I have to subscribe to NY Times cooking, whether I click on it in a normal window or incognito/private window. So, for those who can’t read it, it says that “Scampi are tiny, lobster-like crustaceans with pale pink shells (also called langoustines). Italian cooks in the United States swapped shrimp for scampi, but kept both names. Thus the dish was born, along with inevitable variations.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-preparing-shrimp-and-cocktail-sauce/829959.md?page=4)