Q&A for How to Make Seafood Sauce

To make a sauce for a seafood boil, start by combining water and beer in a pot. Beer adds extra flavor to the sauce. Adjust the spiciness according to your preference by adding cayenne pepper, ancho chili, salt, white pepper, and other spices like oregano. Balance the heat with sugar to create a well-rounded flavor profile. Alternatively, to prepare a seafood boil sauce without beer or alcohol, start by using water as the base in a pot. Adjust the spiciness to your liking by adding cayenne pepper, ancho chili, salt, white pepper, and other preferred spices, such as oregano. Balance the flavors with sugar to offset the heat, and add plenty of water to intensify the sauce's flavor. For a tangy twist, incorporate halved lemons and limes into the water.

It's tough to beat a classic cocktail sauce with seafood like shrimp, oysters, clams, and crab. It's also super simple to make. Get out a small bowl and put 1/2 cup (115 g) of ketchup into it along with 2 tablespoons (30 g) of horseradish, 1 teaspoon (4.9 ml) of lemon juice, 1⁄2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of Worcestershire sauce, and 1⁄2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) of hot sauce. Use a fork or a whisk to stir and mix the ingredients together until they form a smooth, consistent paste. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasonings until it's just right. Enjoy!

It's tough to beat a tasty garlic butter sauce on pretty much anything, but especially on seafood. Put a small saucepan on your stove and set it to medium heat. Add 1/4 cup (56 g) of butter into the pan and let it melt completely. Mince 1 clove of garlic and stir it into the melted butter in the saucepan for 2-3 minutes. Then, add 1 1/2 teaspoons (0.8 g) of dried parsley and 1/8 teaspoon (0.7 g) of salt to the butter sauce. Taste test the sauce to see if it needs more salt. And that's it! You can dip your crab, lobster, or any other cooked seafood into the delicious, buttery sauce. You could also coat cooked fettuccine with the sauce and stir in cooked seafood to make a quick and easy pasta dish.

Besides being a tasty and delicious flavor, lemon actually serves a really great purpose as a seasoning for seafood. Seafood contains chemicals called amines, which give it the characteristic "fishy" smell. The acid in the lemon actually reacts with the amines to form amine salts, which don't have a smell or taste. So, adding lemon to seafood not only enahces the flavor, it also neutralizes the unpleasant smell. That way, you can enjoy your seafood without it smelling or tasting too "fishy."