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Tartar Sauce & Cocktail Sauce Recipes the Way We Made It on the Gulf

  • Writer: Karen Hand Allen
    Karen Hand Allen
  • Nov 12, 2025
  • 2 min read

Updated: Nov 12, 2025


Seafood caught and cooked straight from the Gulf are delicate and sweet as can be. Living near Galveston allowed us to catch just about anything swimming in the bay and have it cooked within the hour, so it was hopping good and about as delicious as any seafood anywhere on the planet. Our little café, the original Alta Loma Café served fried shrimp and oysters, but at home we cooked whole flounder, stuffed crabs, sautéed trout in butter sauce and red fish, fried and blackened.



Glass jar and small container with red sauce on black countertop. A spoon rests in the jar. Red and white cloth in the background.

Just as with any fresh seafood, one needs Tartar Sauce and Cocktail Sauce, and you can forget that bottle stuff, it would never cut muster at the café or at home. My daddy woulda had a conniption fit if we ever even whispered it. Perish the thought. I’d often go home and find mama mincing onion, dill pickle, mayonnaise and lemon and my mouth would go to watering. Tartar sauce! Then, she’d whip together catsup, horseradish and lemon for the Cocktail sauce. Daddy must-have caught a big red. Walla, seafood supper, time to boogie! 


A large bowl and small container of creamy dip sit on a dark countertop. A spoon is in the bowl. A colorful cloth is to the side.


Tartar & Cocktail Sauce

Recipe By: Karen Hand Allen (www.karenhandallen.com) 


Well, La Te Da, on any seafood, whether fish, shrimp, oysters or crab, you’ll swoon when your taste buds hit these sauces on your fresh catch straight from the Gulf! The creamy Tartar’s punch adds that just right zip to anything under the sea. Cocktail’s tangy sauce will make your mouth water and your heart sing, it’s that refreshing and palate pleasing. So, belly up to the seafood bar and add a little dab here, a little dab there. Nothing’s any better matey! 



Servings: 8

Prep Time: Tartar Sauce 10 mins | Cocktail Sauce 5 mins Cook Time: none  Total Time: 15 mins


Ingredients: 

Tartar Sauce:

  • 1 small white onion (finely diced)

  • ½ Cup dill pickle relish (drained)

  • Juice of ½ a lemon

  • 1 Cup mayonnaise (I use Hellman’s)

  • Salt & pepper to taste

Cocktail Sauce:

  • 1 Cup ketchup (I use Whataburger)

  • 2 Heaping Tablespoons prepared horseradish

  • Juice of ½ a lemon

Instructions:

Tartar Sauce:

  1. Peel and finely dice onion

  2. Put mayonnaise in a mixing bowl, adding chopped onion, drained relish, and lemon juice

  3. Mix well & season to taste

Cocktail Sauce:

  1. Put ketchup, horseradish, and lemon juice in a mixing bowl

  2. Mix well



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