Many years ago we taste-tested available seafood cocktail sauces and settled on Crosse & Blackwell. We go through 1-2 bottles per year. As I shopped for a replacement bottle this week I found it’s no longer available at my usual stores, nor anywhere else in MN, per their website. And I’ve not found an online source either.
Have any of you done similar taste-tests and come up with a sauce that’s close in flavor? Or developed your own copycat recipe?
I searched high and low for an online source and had no more luck than you did. You could try emailing corporate J.M. Smucker here in the US since they have third ownership to see if it will become available again. Can’t help you out with a substitute or copycat recipe since I’ve never tried it. But now I want to!
Thanks @Miss_belle. I did find a product description that listed a phone number for J.M Smucker and said the product was/is produced in our next-door state of WI. So if my homemade attempts fail, I’ll be making a phone call.
Wading through recipe search results I came across this one by Jeff Frey who says Crosse & Blackwell is his favorite and he believes his recipe comes close. I’ll be making a test batch and report the outcome.
I’ve never tried the C&B but I prefer just mixing Heinz chili sauce and horseradish better than any of the bottled sauces I’ve tried.
What do you think is the secret ingredient that distinguishes Crosse & Blackwell from all the other cocktail sauce entries?
This is what we do, although I also add a bit of Worcestershire. Mixing it at home, I can individualize it with more horseradish for me and my son, less for my wife and the girls.
Although (just looked at ingredients) the Crosse & Blackwell is maybe preferable to some because the sugar is just sugar (total sugars 16 g per quarter cup) whereas the Heinz chili is HFCS and corn syrup (but overall less sugar - total sugars 12 g per quarter cup).
This usually works for me as well, but I do like the other ingredients added in the recipe linked just above by @MidwesternerTT, which also include Worcestershire sauce, which I think would give it a great depth of flavor.
Nancy’s Chili Sauce doesn’t have HFCS
But note if you start from the chili sauce base, you’ll already have at least some garlic, onion, etc. in it. Mr. Frey (author of the linked recipe, which I would like to try) starts from catsup, which usually don’t list garlic (at least best sellers like Heinz and Hunt’s don’t).
So if I start from the chili sauce trying Mr. Frey’s recipe, I’ll tread lightly on the onion/garlic addition and taste as I go. I guess it’s probably better to just try his recipe as writ, though, instead of trying to wedge it into my preconceived version starting from the chili sauce.
List of ingredients in C & B seafood cocktail sauce.
Water, Sugar, Tomato Paste, Distilled Vinegar, Horseradish, Salt, Corn Starch, Worcestershire Sauce (Distilled Vinegar, Molasses, Sugar, Water, Salt, Onions, Anchovies, Garlic, Cloves, Tamarind Extract, Natural Flavorings, Chili Pepper Extract), Lactic Acid, Onion, Spice, Garlic.
Not a clue. Our decision was based on simple side-by-side taste tests of 3 or 4 sauces, C&B was deemed “best” and we continued on happily for more than 20 years. Ingredient analysis wasn’t part of the process.
Me too, but I also add L&P Worcestershire sauce.
we don’t need “cocktail sauce” all that often, so I simply use Heinz ‘no sugar added’ with a liberal dose of Gold’s horseradish…
simple dumb works.
In a lot of things, even cooking.
In addition to the horseradish I use some dry English mustard, black pepper, and Tabasco for a bit more kick.
If I’m making a dip for fried shrimp I’ll sometimes add hot mustard or wasabi.
What do you use? I find most supermarket wasabi pastes to contain mostly horseradish.
I use Beaver wasabi powder, it’s not pure but the main ingredient is wasabi.
Our family standby is
Catsup
Lea and Perrins
Horseradish
Lemon Juice
In our opinion.superior to C & B.
Actually, the main ingredient is horseradish, followed by mustard, spinach, and finally wasabi.
