Prawn Cocktail (British Christmas Starter — Classic)

Prawn cocktail is the great British Christmas starter — simultaneously retro and beloved, the dish that defines a particular era of British entertaining (1970s) but refuses to go out of fashion because it is, at its best, genuinely delicious. The preparation is simple: cooked prawns dressed in a sauce of mayonnaise, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, Tabasco, and lemon juice (Marie Rose sauce), served on a bed of iceberg lettuce, with brown bread and butter. Its power as a Christmas dish is cultural: it evokes a specific period and a specific memory for several generations of British diners. Made with quality ingredients — fresh, properly cooked prawns, a Marie Rose sauce made from scratch with a good mayonnaise — it stands up to serious scrutiny. Made with defrosted prawns and bottled sauce, it is disappointing, but nostalgia often forgives the preparation its failings.