I’ve been feeling a tad nostalgic of late — especially pining for sauces that I haven’t tasted for years. There are very relevant cultural reasons for this, as the two sauces in question are cocktail sauce for shrimp (or seafood), and sauce a l’orange for duck.

Being half American and living in the UK means that I must surrender to my British half, and make do with British cocktail sauce, more commonly known as Marie Rose sauce. Unlike the spiky, tangy American sauce, Marie Rose is a more delicate creamy pink sauce that, at its best, is tinged with brandy and offers classy accompaniment to shrimp, prawns or crab. At worst however, it can be cloying and, when mixed into pre-frozen shrimp or prawns and the inevitable iceberg lettuce, it turns watery and dull.

Now I don’t claim that the American sauce is better – just that it’s more of a dipping sauce for larger shrimp (or prawns) and offers a contrast, rather than a tonal agreement with the shellfish. It’s worth mentioning here that there is a transatlantic confusion regarding shrimp and prawns. In the UK, the larger of the two are called prawns and the smaller shrimp and the opposite is true in the US. The reason that I pine for the US version so, is that you simply don’t find it here – unless you find one of the bottled versions in the odd deli that sells American foodstuffs. For which you pay an exorbitant amount, by the way. Now I don’t intend to spend weeks on end eating the stuff so it’s simply not worth the wastage-financial and otherwise.

But I do want it as a treat, so I decided to see if I could make it from memory. And I could!

As for the sauce a l’orange, you simply can’t get that here either, but for an entirely different cultural reason. Duck a l’orange was the main course du jour for dinner parties (and in restaurants) here during the 1970s, and into the 80s, and as such is now considered unutterably passe. In fact it’s considered a culinary joke. With the 1990s came Raspberry sauce instead, and then that too became passe. Sometimes I wonder how people here have the courage to find a sauce for duck at all.

But I’ve always been very fond of sauce a l’orange, and since there isn’t even a commercial version of that anymore, and it was one of the first sauces I learned to make, I again decided to see if I could make it from memory. And again I could!

Both these sauces are terribly easy to make and-the odd spot of orange liqueur aside- require no hard-to-find or expensive ingredients. If you happen to not like duck, or find it intimidating to cook, fear not. The sauce a l’orange is made separately, and also works well with pork, chicken, and especially lamb.

Quantities for both recipes serve two.

Cocktail Sauce For Shrimp (Or Prawns, depending on where you live)

• 1 cup Ketchup
• 2-3 teaspoons Horseradish sauce (or grated canned horseradish)
• A good squeeze of lemon juice
• A dash of Worcestershire sauce
• A dash of Tabasco (or other hot) sauce

Simply combine all ingredients in a small bowl, adjusting to desired heat and sweet/sour balance. You may want to add a bit of salt. Chill thoroughly before use.

Sauce A L’Orange

• 3 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• Rind of one orange (either grated, or pared thinly and sliced, or zested)- no pith!
• Juice of 1-2 oranges, to make 1 1/2 cups
• 1 scant teaspoon concentrated chicken stock (or 1/2 crumbled stock cube)
• 1 teaspoon soft butter mixed to a paste with 1 1/2 teaspoons flour
• a generous slug of Cointreau or other Orange Liqueur (optional)

In a smallish saucepan, bring the vinegar, sugar, and rind to a boil. Simmer until reduced by half, then add the orange juice and bring up to a simmer. Simmer for 10 minutes, then add about half the chicken stock or 1/4 of the cube. Taste for the balance of sweet and sour and savoury depth. If the sauce tastes thin (basically just sweet and sour and flat), add more stock. Add a few drops more red wine vinegar if the sauce is too sweet. Once you’ve got the balance you want, then add the butter and flour mix a bit at a time and whisk until the sauce has thickened to your taste. Then if you’ve got it to hand and are truly feeling retro-tastic, add a generous slug of your Cointreau and let that cook in for five minutes before serving.