Campechana (seafood cocktail)
Entry in progress—B.P.
Goode Company Seafood (Houston, TX)
Campechana De Mariscos (Mexican Seafood Cocktails)
Shrimp…10.95
Crab…10.95
Campechana Extra Shrimp & Crab)...11.95
19 August 1963, Brownsville (TX) Herald, pg. 4, col. 5:
Also a rare cocktail which is oysters and shrimp mixed together in catsup with a slightly hot sauce. They call it campechano but nobody seemed to know why.
(Story from Vera Cruz, Mexico—ed.)
Google Books
Gastronomic Tour of Mexico
By R. B. Read
Garden City, NY: Doubleday
1972
Pg. 102:
For starters here, at 10 pesos, you must choose a cocktail from a list which includes oyster, shrimp, abalone, octopus, squid, campechana (mixed) and several kinds of ceviche (marinated fish).
13 July 1974, El Paso (TX) Herald-Post, Showtime, pg. 9, col. 4 ad:
Campechana Cocktail
(Sylvia’s Restaurant inside Hotel Sylvia’s, Juarez, Mexico—ed.)
16 April 1976, Las Cruces (NM) Sun-News, pg. 10, col. 2 ad:
“COCKTAILS”
CAMPECHANA
(El Apetito restaurant—ed.)
8 October 1978, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “Finding the Action in Cuernavaca” by Ed Schwartz, pt. 9, pg. J6:
A wide selection of appetizers includes ceviche, fresh eels, small tamales and campechana, a mixed seafood cocktail.
Google Books
The Volcanoes from Puebla
By Kenneth Gangemi
Boston, MA: Boyars
1979
Pg. 26:
I sometimes had the Campechana cocktail, which is a combination of oysters and shrimp.
Google Books
June 1979, Texas Monthly, pg. 47, col. 1:
A recent dinner here featured an exemplary juicy steak with lemon and herbs, called Dona Lola, and a fine campechana cocktail of ripe avocado, ceviche, oysters, and shrimp.
27 July 1979, Chicago (IL) Tribune, “El Pelicano a great catch in seafood arena,” sec. 3, pg. B7:
A similar shrimp and oyster combination is called campechana ($4);...
Google Books
Savoring Mexico: a travel cookbook
By Sharon Cadwallader, Linda Griggs and Gary Wulfsberg
New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Book Company
1980
Pg. 61:
Campeche restaurants specialize in fish of the area—black snapper, shark, crab, shrimp, and oysters. A splendid lunch break is a Coctel Campechana marinera (Shrimp and Oyster Cocktail) , a chilled, spicy combination of both Gulf favorites.
Google Books
September 1989, Texas Monthly, pg. 70, col. 2:
If we were picky we could say the guacamole is a mere chartreuse puree of avocado and salt, or that the campechana cocktail includes oysters and overcooked shrimp in a sweet, catsupy sauce with token bits of tomato.
Epicurious.com
shrimp campechana
Submitted by FKSABEL | April 24, 2005
Ingredients
1. 12 ounce bottle Heinz Chile Sauce
2. Juice of one lemon
3. 1 T. Worcestershire Sauce
4. 1 T. prepared horseradish
5. 12 ounce cold chopped shrimp
6. chopped green onion, chopped avocado, ½ bunch chopped cilantro
Serve with tortilla chips.
Preparation
Mix all ingredients together and chill 1-2 hours before serving.
Houston (TX) Press
Bolillo’s Campechanas
By Robb Walsh in On the MenuTue., Dec. 8 2009 @ 11:06AM
As my friend Barry Popik explains, the word “campechanas” first entered the Texas food lexicon in the 1930s as the name for the flaky Mexican pastries that crumble into sweet flakes when you bite them. The glazed rectangles are similar in texture to the French “elephant ears.”
The pastries are dry, but they are intended to be consumed with a breakfast beverage. El Bolillo, the Mexican bakery on Airline across from Canino’s, makes a particularly fine example of this traditional pan dulce. I ate one from the bakery a few days ago with a coffee mocha made with half Mexican hot chocolate and half dark roast coffee.
The name of the pastry is a little confusing in Houston because when we hear the word “campechana,” most of us think of the seafood cocktail made famous by Goode Company Seafood. Jim Goode’s Mexican seafood cocktails contain lots of lump crabmeat and salsa and no ketchup. I am not sure when or where the campechana seafood cocktail was invented, or if it predates the pastry—I’m hoping the master food etymologist, Barry Popik, will figure it out and get back to us.