A Mexican cocktail sauce built on SoCal Original Red, lime and cilantro. Cold shrimp get folded through it with diced tomato, onion and cucumber, then it goes into a big glass with avocado on top, more shrimp hooked on the rim and saltines on the side. It looks like a drink and eats like dinner. Red is built on tomato, onion, carrot and garlic, so a third of a cup in the sauce does not sit on top as heat, it becomes the sauce. Make it in the morning, chill it, and it is ready when the game starts.

Ingredients

Shrimp

• 2 pounds large shrimp (21 to 25 count), peeled and deveined, tails on
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 lime, halved
• 2 bay leaves

Sauce

• 1 cup ketchup
• ¼ cup tomato juice or Clamato, chilled
• ⅓ cup SoCal Original Red
• ⅓ cup fresh lime juice (about 4 limes)
• 2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and finely diced
• ½ white onion, finely diced
• 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and finely diced
• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 jalapeño, seeded and minced (optional)

To serve

• 2 ripe avocados, cut into chunks
• Lime wedges
• Saltine crackers or tostadas
• More SoCal Original Red for the table

Directions

1. Bring 3 quarts of water to a boil with the tablespoon of salt, the halved lime (squeeze it in, then drop it in) and the bay leaves. Add the shrimp, turn off the heat, cover, and let them sit 3 to 4 minutes, until just pink and curled.
2. Drain the shrimp and spread them on a sheet pan in the refrigerator to cool fast, about 15 minutes. Save 12 of the best-looking shrimp whole for the rims and cut the rest into bite-size pieces.
3. Dice the tomatoes, onion and cucumber small and even, about the size of a pea, and chop the cilantro.
4. In a large bowl, whisk the ketchup, Original Red, lime juice, orange juice, Worcestershire and salt until smooth. Add the tomato juice a splash at a time only until the sauce falls slowly off a spoon.
5. Stir in the diced tomato, onion, cucumber, cilantro and jalapeño, then fold in the cut shrimp until every piece is coated. Cover and chill at least 1 hour. Taste before serving and add salt or lime if it needs it.
6. Spoon the cocktail into six tall glasses or goblets. Drag each whole shrimp through the sauce so it comes out coated, then hook two by their tails on the rim of each glass.
7. Top each glass with avocado chunks and a lime wedge on the rim. Serve cold with saltines or tostadas and the bottle of Original Red on the table.

Tips

Do not overcook the shrimp. Off the heat in salted lime water for 3 to 4 minutes is all they need; rubbery shrimp ruin the glass.

Keep it cold. Chill the glasses too; a coctel should be served ice cold.

Dice small. Everything in the sauce should fit on a cracker with a piece of shrimp. Big chunks turn it into a salad.

Make it ahead. The sauce is better after an hour in the refrigerator and holds up to a day. Add the avocado right before serving so it stays green.

Stand style. Use Clamato for the splash if you like it, and serve a cold Mexican lager next to the glass. If you want to turn it into a cocktail, half an ounce of mezcal or tequila stirred into each glass does it; the smoke plays off the tomato and lime.

Original Red goes in twice on purpose. A third of a cup in the sauce makes it the backbone of the glass, and the bottle on the table is there for anyone who wants it hotter.