How to Cook and Can Cocktail Sauce
Cocktail sauce is a bit of a staple condiment here on the east coast of North Carolina. You can’t go to a restaurant that serves fish without finding a bottle of cocktail sauce chilling out on the table next to the ketchup and the tartar sauce. But as much as my children love fried and baked fish, finding a good store-bought cocktail sauce is hard. We tried just about every brand I can get locally.
They all tasted…off.
Some had too much kick. So much so that you couldn’t taste the fish anymore. Some were way too salty. Some had so little flavor that they should have just been labeled as tomato sauce.
So, off to the kitchen I went, and after many test trials, I found a combination that every fish-eater in my house loves. It has kick. A good kick. But it’s not so strong that you can’t taste the trout or catfish that you are eating. It’s also absolutely delicious to use as dipping sauce for french fries.
This recipe makes approximately 10 pints of cocktail sauce, if you only use one cup of horseradish. Sterilize 2–3 extra jars if you add more horseradish to your recipe.
Let’s grab our canning essentials and a large stainless steel pot, and let’s make some cocktail sauce.
Ingredients
- 13 cups tomato puree
- Zest and juice of 2 lemons
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 cup white vinegar
- 2 Tbsp Non-Iodized salt
- 4 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tsp dry mustard powder
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp black powder pepper
- 1–2 cups of finely grated horseradish (can go up to 3 cups if you like it stronger)
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in a large stainless steel pot. Bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring occasionally, until mixture has reduced by about half (if you want it thick. Less time if you want it to be a little on the runnier side.) Feel free to use an immersion blender if you prefer your cocktail sauce to be smoother.
Once you have reached the desired consistency and all the flavors have blended together, ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more sauce. Wipe jar rims and add lid. Screw on rings until fingertip tight.
Place jars in a boiling water canner, making sure they are completely submerged under the water with about an inch between the top of the jar and the top of the water. Bring pot to a rolling boil and process the jars for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid so that steam vents AWAY from your face. Remove jars with canning tongs and set on a towel to seal and cool.
=^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^= =^..^=
Grindle Creek Homestead is a homestead in Eastern North Carolina. It is owned and operated by Jessica Cauthon, who has been gardening and preserving food for most of her life. She runs four Medium publications: Around the Homestead — a journal of our day-to-day life on the homestead, Stocking Up — a publication dedicated to canning, freezing, and other means of food preservation, In Stitches — a home for crochet patterns, knitting patterns, and everything crafty, and Down in the Garden — a publication devoted to growing fresh food and being a steward to the land. Grindle Creek can be found online on Payhip and on Facebook.
