Richard Wright > writes (both at >>> and
at > level):
....
>>>Mid 19th century in US? What's the source? The Oxford English
>>>Dictionary does not record the phrase in the USA until 1939:
>>>
>>>1937 America's Cook Bk. 180. "Lobster or shrimp cocktail . . . Chill
>>>thoroughly and serve in cocktail glasses."
....

I have a precitation for that (below), which I shall take care
to forward to the OED.

....
>That's a proper 'cocktail' recipe, certainly. I made a mistake when I
>typed". . . in the USA until 1939". Should have been 1937, the date of
>the OED citation.
>
>No details of the recipe given, but 'shrimp cocktail' is on a
>suggested menu in "Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service" by Ida C.
>Baily Allen [Doubleday:New York] 1924.
....

The 1932 edition of "Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service",
reissued under the title "Ida Bailey Allen's Modern Cookbook",
has a recipe for "Lobster, Shrimp, or Crabmeat Cocktail" in
the "Savoury Cocktails" section of the chapter on "Foods that
Begin a Meal".

Savoury cocktails are usually made of raw fish, although
combinations of raw and smoked fish are sometimes used, and
in rare instances good-sized bits of broiled mushrooms and
sweetbreads are used instead of the fish.

These savoury cocktails should be properly served in cocktail
glasses, which are in turn imbedded in cracked ice--soup plates
or the new glass oyster plates being used for the service. If
the cocktail is mixed with the sauce in the glass, a bit of parsley
may top it, or pieces of green may be placed, wreath fashion, around
the cocktails. If you do not possess cocktail glasses, hollowed-out
green peppers or tomatoes may be used, or the cocktail sauce with
the savour ingredient may be thorougly chillled and served in ordinary
small cocktail glasses. In this case the green is placed at the base.

General Recipe for Cocktail Sauce
(Individual Service)

1/2 tablespoonful tomato catsup or 2 drops tabasco sauce
chili sauce 1/4 teaspoonful celery salt
1/2 tablespoonful lemon juice 3 drops Worcestershire sauce

Combine the ingredients in the order given, mixing them well. IF
desired, a half teaspoonful of olive oil may be added.
....
Lobster, Shrimp, or Crabmeat Cocktail

Allow to each person one-third cupful of diced lobster meat,
diced cooked or canned shrimps, or shredded crabmeat; combine
with cocktail sauce and serve as directed.

(Op. cit., pp. 112-113)

Lee Rudolph