The Tabasco Cookbook: 125 Years of America's Favorite Pepper Sauce (Hardcover)

by Paul McIlhenny (Author), Barbara Hunter (Author) "A Louisiana tradition, these spicy pecans are eagerly anticipated by friends visiting our home during the holidays..." (more)
Key Phrases: cup chopped green pepper, pepper sauce, Avery Island, New Orleans, Uncle Ned (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
This appealing little book features a wide variety of recipes, a lively text, and an entertaining selection of culinary lore and trivia, illustrated with period photographs and memorabilia. McIlhenny, the great-grandson of the inventor of Tabasco sauce, describes the evolution of the Louisiana-based family firm and presents Cajun, Creole, and other favorite recipes spiced, both mildly and wildly, with the hot pepper sauce. For area libraries and larger collections elsewhere.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
What originally was Louisiana now belongs to all of us. Thank goodness for that! The Tabasco Cookbook uses Tabasco sauce very subtly here and there and at other times is just dumped on. I like it dumped on! And, I like this cookbook. I shall continue to buy Tabasco in the quart-size bottles. Yes, I really do."

J'eff Smith,

"The Frugal Gourmet"

"Tabasco sauce is as basic as mother's milk."

Craig Claiborne

"Finally, a cookbook as lively as the sauce itself!"

Nathalie Dupree

"Being a native Louisianian, anything with Tabasco in it suits ,me just fine."

Lee Bailey

From guacamole to gumbo, catfish to corn pudding, gear cooks know that there is no substitute for the distinctive kick of Tabasco sauce. With more than 80 recipes, plus tips. lore, and trivia, The Tabasco Cookbook shows why Tabasco sauce has been America's favorite seasoning for 125 zesty years -- Review

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter (January 19, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517589656
• ISBN-13: 978-0517589656
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #746,180 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best "niche" cookbooks around., September 5, 1999

By A Customer

This cookbook utilizes Tabasco sauce in all the recipes, but they are not all firey hot. Rather, this cookbook uses Tabasco like a spice or flavoring agent, to add dimension to all kind of recipes.

I highly recommend this to anybody that likes good food and likes their food to have flavor instead of just heat.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An unusual dichotomy of cooking and eating, June 30, 2008

By	Patrick W. Crabtree "The Old Grottomaster" (Lucasville, OH USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This is sort of a "guys'" cookbook so far as who will most savor these spicy-hot dishes. But if you're a guy and your spouse/companion does all the cooking (which is still by far the predominant actuality in America, even though this trend is shifting somewhat) then you need to be aware that most of the recipes herein require some level of culinary experience.

Now, the fact is that many women will love these dishes too, and, many men are quite capable of preparing these recipes -- but I did want to particularly mention this culinary skill level issue. These recipes are not especially difficult as recipes go but this is really not a cookbook for those who have yet to develop their basic cooking skills.

As to the book's content, these are some wonderful recipes. Each is rated as to the intensity of heat, represented by tiny Tabasco bottles... one bottle means mild, two means it's hotter, and so on, up to a rating of four (Diablo!). This work is more-or-less an official Tabasco publication since Paul McIlhenny is one of the co-authors -- Barbara Hunter is a public relations person who likely organized McIlhenny's thoughts and recipes into a very comprehensible format.

The book also contains a history, mostly of Tabasco [brand] Hot Pepper Sauce and is nicely illustrated with black-and-white photos from the company archives. The dishes themselves are not illustrated but I did not find that this diminished the book in any significant major way.

Here is the table of contents:

1. Introduction
2. Soups & starters
3. Breakfast & brunch
4. Entrées
5. Vegetables and side dishes
6. Condiments and sauces
7. Mail order suppliers [for seafood, venison, etc.]
8. Index

I own the hardcover 1993 edition of this cookbook. It's 144 pages in length and the book's dimensions are 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" x 1/2" and the two-page index is nicely organized. Typical of the recipes you'll find are "Eggplant New Iberia" (page 19), "Classic Bloody Mary" (page 51), and "Mustard Crusted Leg of lamb" (page 100). In fact a good many of the featured recipes are either Creole or Cajun in their ethnicity.

While not a "general cookbook" by any stretch of the imagination, "The Tabasco Cookbook" is still a great specialty volume which will appeal heavily to those who enjoy cooking and/or eating spicy dishes. Highly recommended.

5.0 out of 5 stars Add A Little Spice - to Everything!, May 16, 2009

By	Mark Webb (Pasadena, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Tabasco Cookbook: 125 Years of America's Favorite Pepper Sauce (Hardcover)

Tabasco® is the quintessentially American sauce. Simple, straightforward, unaffected by the elements, it stands proud on tables from Boston to Los Angeles. Breakfast, lunch, or dinner will find someone reaching for the special pepper sauce from Avery Island, Louisiana. It is only fitting that the McIlhenny family committed to writing their favorite recipes highlighting their family's ubiquitous condiment. The Tabasco® Brand Cookbook is compact and entertaining. A touch of history, a dash of anecdote, and many signature Cajun and Creole recipes makes this an essential and amusing addition to your cookbook library.

As one would expect from a sauce that is at home on scrambled eggs or in clam chowder, the many and varied uses for Tabasco are explored in this book. While its uses are diverse, it is more than a way to add some "zip" in a dish. Its unique recipe produces a unique flavor, and though there are many challengers in the hot sauce section of your local grocery store or gourmet shop, there is only one sauce from Avery Island. While the book predates their expanded product line, many of these dishes could use the chipotle infused Tabasco or - if you really want to heat things up - the habañero brand. If you have the sauce, you need to have the cookbook, and if you don't have either, what are you waiting for?