With the proliferation of hot pepper sauces that crowd
supermarket shelves, it's easy to forget that once upon a time
there was only one hot sauce in the US: Tabasco. The vinegar-based
pepper sauce was introduced in the 1860s by prosperous
Louisiana banker and avid gardener Edmund McIlhenny.
In February, Tabasco unveiled a brand new museum, visitor center, and
restaurant on Avery Island, home of Tabasco since its
inception.
Avery Island used
to be off limits to outsiders, but now hot sauce fans can take a
factory tour, where they can observe a sauce-making process that
has changed little since McIlhenny invented his concoction over 100
years ago. The center also offers visitors the chance to see
McIlhenny family artifacts and videos. Angie Schaubert, senior
manager of brand sales at McIlhenny Company, said the goals of the
museum were "to show visitors and
Tabasco fans how McIlhenny Company and its surrounding region in
Southern Louisiana are intertwined, how Tabasco Sauce has impacted
the culinary culture throughout history, and give visitors an
up-close look into the production process from seed to bottle in
celebration of nearly 150 years on Avery Island."
The restaurant, named 1868 after the founding year of the
company, offers many dishes that, unsurprisingly, contain
Tabasco. The menu includes authentic regional Louisiana
favorites like crawfish etouffee, red beans and rice, crawfish corn
maque choux, and boudin, plus highlights how people can use Tabasco
in their everyday cooking. You can also draw inspiration from the
EYB Library, which features over 1,200 recipes using Tabasco.
Photo of Tabasco
chicken burgers from indexed blog What's Gaby
Cooking